It has been losing money on $1.5bn worth of contracts with governments around the world. However, usually, the resulting contracts remain locked in a cabinet, known only to a few government officials and company employees. That’s an unnecessary limit on freedom of information: citizens have the right to know what the government is signing on their behalf. Many allow for reactive publication of contracts, yet some governments now publish contracts proactively, including the UK, Colombia, Slovakia and Georgia. The World Bank’s road cost knowledge system provides data on costs including resurfacing, upgrading and widening based on data from World Bank-financed contracts.