by Warren Krafchik and Paolo de Renzio*— Aug 19, 2020
The COVID-19 crisis presents an opportunity for civic actors to push governments in the direction of realizing more equitable and inclusive societies. However, realizing that vision will mean a new social contract between citizens and governments – one that benefits everyone, rather than a privileged few.
by Alex Kreko, Program Officer, International Budget Partnership— Aug 18, 2020
This blog explores how Benin – which now ranks as the most transparent country in Francophone Africa on the Open Budget Index (OBI) – has expanded fiscal transparency, inclusiveness and accountability in recent years.
by Alex Kreko, Chargé de programme, International Budget Partnership— Aug 18, 2020
Cet article est également disponible en anglais. Alors que la pandémie de la COVID-19 continue de bouleverser la vie quotidienne dans le monde entier, les gouvernements se sont empressés d’utiliser tous les outils fiscaux possibles pour protéger la santé et les moyens de subsistance de leurs citoyens. Il est important de veiller à ce que leur […]
by Robin Hodess, Director of Governance & Transparency, The B Team— Aug 12, 2020
Fiscal transparency is critical as business and government look to rebuild economies across the globe. The case made for ‘open’ government budget systems often emphasizes the benefits to citizens and society, but open budgets are good for business, too.
by Vivek Ramkumar, IBP— Jul 31, 2020
In the past few months, governments have announced billions of dollars in emergency spending to mitigate the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and civil society groups have been encouraged to “follow the money.” This blog explores how groups can follow the COVID-19 money trail.
by Sanjay Pradhan, Chief Executive Officer of the Open Government Partnership— Jul 24, 2020
Ensuring that the huge sums of money headed for stimulus and safety net packages achieve their tremendous promise and the imperative of saving lives and livelihoods calls for mutually reinforcing actions by government, civil society, business associations, accountability institutions and international donors.
by Vivek Ramkumar, IBP— Jul 23, 2020
This blog explores national government budget data in 94 countries from detailed reports issued by the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) program to better understand the large discrepancies between what a government budgets for and what it actually spends.
by Alex Ciconello & Paolo de Renzio, International Budget Partnership— Jul 14, 2020
Today, in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic, IBP is launching a joint statement asking all Governments and Parliaments across Latin America to make all existing tax expenditures transparent, to review and eliminate those that provide unjustified and inequitable tax privileges and to redistribute the tax burden onto the wealthiest sectors of the population and those who can afford to pay more.
by Chris Lane, former IMF representative to the United Nations & Sally Torbert, Program Officer, IBP— Jul 08, 2020
A lack of transparency and fragmented systems for managing and reporting on government debt has left many lower income countries over-indebted and ill-prepared to finance necessary pandemic containment and mitigation measures.
by Paolo de Renzio, Jason Lakin & Vanessa van den Boogaard*— Jul 07, 2020
How can civil society help to shift popular perceptions of taxation and move the political needle on reforms? To get to tax systems that are more equitable, it’s time to build broad coalitions in support of progressive tax reforms.
