Budget Transparency and Participation


Book Description

In the concluding decade of the 20th century Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia all underwent democratic or constitutional renewal, raising expectations of increased transparency, accountability and participation in public budgeting, stepping stones towards reduced corruption and improved spending outcomes. This book assesses the progress made against a systematic framework of internationally accepted standards. Each of the country chapters looks at transparency through the eyes of the ordinary citizen and the legislatures and asks what information they would need to assess the link between policy priorities, spending and services. Therefore while the study poses the standard codified questions on the availability, accuracy, timeliness and usefulness of information, it asks them with one yardstick in mind: is the information adequate to enable meaningful participation of citizens. In addition it asks a series of questions about participation itself. The assessments were done by in-country non-governmental organisations over a two-year period and as such offer a rich understanding of the technical and political obstacles to open management of the public purse.These and other cross-country implications of the study are captured in a synthesis chapter.




Budget Transparency and Participation II


Book Description

This study is the product of a comparative research project examining government transparency and civil participation in nine African countries. The project involved civil society organisations in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Namibia, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia, working in liaison with the Africa Budget Project of IDASA's Budget Information Service in South Africa.







PEFA, Public Financial Management, and Good Governance


Book Description

This project, based on the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) data set, researched how PEFA can be used to shape policy development in public financial management (PFM) and other major relevant policy areas such as anticorruption, revenue mobilization, political economy analysis, and fragile states. The report explores what shapes the PFM system in low- and middle-income countries by examining the relationship between political institutions and the quality of the PFM system. Although the report finds some evidence that multiple political parties in control of the legislature is associated with better PFM performance, the report finds the need to further refine and test the theories on the relationship between political institutions and PFM. The report addresses the question of the outcomes of PFM systems, distinguishing between fragile and nonfragile states. It finds that better PFM performance is associated with more reliable budgets in terms of expenditure composition in fragile states, but not aggregate budget credibility. Moreover, in contrast to existing studies, it finds no evidence that PFM quality matters for deficit and debt ratios, irrespective of whether a country is fragile or not. The report also explores the relationship between perceptions of corruption and PFM performance. It finds strong evidence of a relationship between better PFM performance and improvements in perceptions of corruption. It also finds that PFM reforms associated with better controls have a stronger relationship with improvements in perceptions of corruption compared to PFM reforms associated with more transparency. The last chapter looks at the relationship between PEFA indicators for revenue administration and domestic resource mobilization. It focuses on the credible use of penalties for noncompliance as a proxy for the type of political commitment required to improve tax performance. The analysis shows that countries that credibly enforce penalties for noncompliance collect more taxes on average.




Republic of Uzbekistan


Book Description

This Fiscal Transparency Evaluation report highlights that Uzbekistan is embarking on a comprehensive reform program to strengthen public financial management and fiscal transparency. Wide-ranging reforms to improve the coverage, reliability, quality, and accessibility of fiscal reports are being developed and implemented, and some good progress already made. This assessment of fiscal transparency practices has been undertaken to support the government’s efforts to increase transparency by identifying priority areas for reform. An evaluation of practices against the IMF’s Fiscal Transparency Code (the Code) finds that tangible gains have been made over 2017 and 2018. In several areas where Uzbekistan’s practices do not currently meet the basic standard required under the Code, quick progress can be made. The report also provides a more detailed evaluation of Uzbekistan’s fiscal transparency practices and recommended reform priorities. Strengthening legislative oversight of the state budget with a view to reducing the extent to which in-year changes can be made to aggregate expenditures without prior parliamentary approval.




Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Risk


Book Description

This paper surveys that state of fiscal transparency in the wake of the current crisis and looks at what can be done to improve it. It examines the relationship between fiscal transparency and fiscal outcomes; reviews progress in promoting greater fiscal transparency over the past decade; considers the lessons of the recent crisis for existing fiscal transparency standards, practices, and monitoring arrangements; and makes a series of recommendations for renewing the global fiscal transparency effort in the wake of the crisis.




Budget Transparency


Book Description




Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management


Book Description

Traditionally, economics training in public finances has focused more on tax than public expenditure issues, and within expenditure, more on policy considerations than the more mundane matters of public expenditure management. For many years, the IMF's Public Expenditure Management Division has answered specific questions raised by fiscal economists on such missions. Based on this experience, these guidelines arose from the need to provide a general overview of the principles and practices observed in three key aspects of public expenditure management: budget preparation, budget execution, and cash planning. For each aspect of public expenditure management, the guidelines identify separately the differing practices in four groups of countries - the francophone systems, the Commonwealth systems, Latin America, and those in the transition economies. Edited by Barry H. Potter and Jack Diamond, this publication is intended for a general fiscal, or a general budget, advisor interested in the macroeconomic dimension of public expenditure management.




Participatory Budgeting


Book Description

This book provides rigorous and provocative understanding of the art and practice of participatory budgeting for those interested in strengthening inclusive and accountable governance.