OECD Good Practices on Performance Budgeting

Posted by Ivor Beazley[1]

Performance budgeting involves a shift in the focus of budgeting, away from management of inputs and towards a focus on the results of spending and the achievement of policy objectives. This represents a profound change in the character of the budget process, from a traditionally closed domain of budget specialists, focused on the numbers, to a more accessible, transparent and multi-disciplinary exercise, with greater involvement by the center of government, line ministries, the legislature and citizens.

Reviewing the UK Balance Sheet – Proving its (Net) Worth

Posted by Vincent Tang, Richard Hughes, Graham Prentice, and Mario Pisani [1]

In the UK, as in most other countries, fiscal policy-making has focused predominantly on the government’s financial flows (revenue, expenditure, borrowing). However, the IMF’s October 2018 Fiscal Monitor on Managing Public Wealth showed that the UK also has extensive holdings of other liabilities and assets. These more than trebled in the wake of the 2008 crisis, as a result the government’s financial sector interventions, unconventional monetary policy, and large operating deficits. It left the UK with net liability position of 125% of GDP in 2016, the second lowest net worth of the 31 countries sampled.

Passant en revue le bilan britannique – preuve de sa valeur (nette)

Publié par Vincent Tang, Richard Hughes, Graham Prentice et Mario Pisani [1]

Au R-U, comme dans la plupart des autres pays, la politique budgétaire s’est essentiellement concentrée sur les flux financiers du gouvernement (recettes, dépenses, emprunts). Cependant, le Fiscal Monitor du FMI d’Octobre 2018 traitant de la gestion des biens publics a mis exergue le fait que le Royaume Uni dispose également d’importants autres actifs et passifs. Ces derniers ont plus que triplé au lendemain de la crise de 2008, en raison des interventions de l’Etat dans le secteur financier, d’une politique monétaire non conventionnelle et de déficits d’exploitation importants. En 2016, la situation nette négative du Royaume uni s’établit à 125% du PIB, deuxième valeur la plus basse parmi les 31 pays sondés.

Public Sector Balance Sheets and Fiscal Policy Analysis: The Case of Indonesia

Posted by Vitor Gaspar, John Ralyea, and Majdeline El Rayess[1]

Public sector balance sheets provide the most comprehensive picture of public wealth, looking beyond simply debt and deficits, bringing into the picture not only what governments owe but also what they own.

A Global Picture of Public Wealth

Posted by Jason Harris, Abdelhak Senhadji, and Alexander F. Tieman

Our new data on government assets released today shows that when governments know what they own, they can make better use of the assets for the well-being of all their citizens.  We make these data free and publicly available for all to use because we believe transparency can help create better public policy.

Implementing Cutting-Edge Reforms in Financial Reporting

Posted by John Stanford[1]

The Fiscal Affairs Division of the IMF, the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) and the Governance Global Practice Division of the World Bank co-hosted a one-day seminar in Washington in March 2019 on “Leveraging Government Financial Reporting for Fiscal Policymaking and the Management of Public Wealth”.

Life at the Sharp End – Controlling Public Spending

Posted by Bryn Welham, Sierd Hadley and Mark Miller[1]

A former chair of the US Federal Reserve once wrote in relation to setting interest rates that it is the job of central bankers to take away the punch bowl just as the party gets going.  Budget officers – staff in finance ministries who supervise the in-year spending of line ministries – also have a similarly thankless task: making sure that just the right amount of punch is available as promised, but no more and no less.  A recent publication by the ODI looks at the critically important role of budget officers in the UK, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Slovenia, and Myanmar.

From Fiscal Transparency to Social Impact

Posted by the GIFT Coordination Team[1]

We are frequently confronted with the question: how relevant is fiscal transparency for improving public spending? There is no easy answer to this question, as there is no easy or unique path to transforming fiscal transparency into good social outcomes. But there is evidence that transparency can be a stepping stone to improving the quality of spending and accountability for the use of public resources (see de Renzio and Wehner 2015). The following diagram displays GIFT’s theory of change which links fiscal transparency to improved social economic and environmental results.

Building Capacity to Perform: A Strategy for the U.S. Federal Government

Posted by Steve Redburn[1]

Governments around the world increasingly employ a growing body of evidence about performance to inform their budget and policy choices and to implement those choices.  However, most of the routines established for this focus on the top leadership.  To fully exploit the opportunities offered by performance information, it is important to engage operating program managers and their staffs at all levels of the bureaucracy.