Fiscal Transparency and Gender Budgeting in Southern Africa

Posted by Robert Clifton, Edwin Vela-Moyo, and Johann Seiwald[1]

Strengthening fiscal transparency and gender-responsive budgeting are priority PFM reforms in Southern Africa, the potential benefits of which are widely documented in the literature. Good progress has been made in South Africa, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Mauritius, especially on fiscal transparency, but more needs to be done in other countries. A recent workshop was organized by the IMF’s Regional Technical Assistance Center for Southern Africa, AFRITAC South (AFS), to discuss the opportunities and challenges of these reforms.[2]

How Budget Managers Make Sense of PFM Reforms

Posted by Johann Seiwald[1]

Exploring the impact of PFM reforms is still an underdeveloped area. In general, impact can be assessed through financial indicators such as forecasting errors or changes in budget composition or growth. Another approach is to analyze the perception of the change outcomes by key practitioners (for example, financial managers, economists, and accountants) and other actors. A recent study investigates how 34 senior managers responsible for PFM reforms in the UK, Austria, and Italy made sense of the perceived change outcomes. The main research question is: How do these actors perceive the reforms and how efficiently do they use the financial and budgetary information that is generated for decision making? Managers from ministries responsible for Finance, Agriculture, and Higher Education were interviewed about their experience of the design and implementation of a range of accounting and budget reforms. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/abac.12168)

Making Public Investment More Efficient in the Philippines

Posted by Jonathan L. Uy, Roderick M. Planta, and Sailendra Pattanayak[1]

In August 2018, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) of the Philippines invited a team from the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department to carry out a review of the country’s public investment practices and related institutions, using the IMF’s Public Investment Management Assessment (PIMA) framework[2] which has been employed in more than 50 countries around the world. The PIMA report—which was welcomed by NEDA—has now been published by the IMF. In a letter to the IMF in February 2019, the Secretary of NEDA noted that the report's findings are fair and acceptable and “while the Government of the Philippines has an existing effective management mechanism, there is room for improvement for better public investment management.”

Bringing Brazil’s States Back to Financial Health

Posted by Paulo Medas

Many Brazilian states are facing a fiscal crisis. With high debt levels, liquidity pressures, and accumulation of large payment arrears, several states have been unable to pay wages, such as for teachers and police officers.

Sanear las finanzas de los estados de Brasil

Publicado por Paulo Medas

Muchos estados brasileños enfrentan una crisis fiscal. Debido a los altos niveles de endeudamiento, las presiones de liquidez y los grandes atrasos de pagos acumulados, varios estados no han podido pagar salarios, como los de docentes y policiales.

How Public Assets Makes Countries Stronger

Posted by Seyed Reza Yousefi[1]

We all know about government debt. It is widely reported and a key issue in formulating public policy. And we understand that high debt makes countries vulnerable, leading to higher interest charges on this debt. For these reasons, government debt is a key focus in macroeconomic analysis.

Introducing Spending Reviews in Chile

Posted by Teresa Curristine and Laura Doherty[1]

 

Chile is among the first countries in South America to adopt spending reviews (SRs). Spending reviews are institutionalized processes for analyzing spending to identify options to reduce or redirect expenditures and/or improve value for money. In OECD countries, SRs have increasingly been adopted as a core part of the public financial management framework and over two-thirds of OECD countries conduct SRs. The objectives of spending reviews vary by country. They include helping with fiscal consolidation, creating fiscal space to fund new priorities, and increasing value for money and efficiency in the public sector.

Public Financial Management Hackathon: Streamlining the Payment System for Social Programs in Costa Rica

Posted by Gerardo Uña and Felipe Bardella[1]

The adoption of digital technology in public finance is expanding rapidly and has vast potential to improve public finance outcomes and strengthen fiscal institutions. The IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) and the Costa Rican Ministry of Finance organized the first public financial management (PFM) hackathon in Costa Rica on July 29-30. It focused on improving the Costa Rican payment system for social programs and promoting financial inclusion amongst beneficiaries, especially women. This event was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and facilitated by Disruptica, an artificial intelligence firm based in Washington, DC.

TADAT Launches a New Podcast

Posted by Thibault Vermeulen, Chrys-Michel Esseau, and Deise Miller Silva[1]

The TADAT (Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool) Unit of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) is pleased to announce the launch of its new TADAT Podcast!

The podcast was created in response to comments from a recent TADAT survey, which reflected the need for more regular feedback to the TADAT community from the TADAT Secretariat. The podcast takes the form of interviews with FAD staff as well as experts on tax administration from around the world. Its main goal is to establish a real-time knowledge exchange platform for tax administration officials and capacity development partners to explore their experiences with improving tax administration in line with international good practices. The podcast will be available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Fiscal Rules for the Western Balkans

Posted by Edith Kikoni, Sanja Madžarević-Šujster, Tim Irwin, and Charl Jooste[1]

National fiscal rules can be difficult to enforce legally. A government that has the power to pass a law that restricts its deficit, debt, or spending may have the power to repeal the law if the restriction becomes inconvenient. And it may be able just to ignore the law.