Many governments around the world are making less information available about how they raise and spend public money, according to the results of the International Budget Partnership’s Open Budget Survey 2017.
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By Mar 21, 2019
Nigeria has long had severe budget credibility issues, and recent evidence suggests that the problem has not improved. This paper probes the various factors that that may be contributing to the low credibility of the budget in Nigeria and presents an analysis structured around an assessment of eight different hypotheses for what could be driving the problem.
By Mar 07, 2019
This report summarizes budget credibility research undertaken in partnership with 24 civil society organizations in 23 countries between October 2018 and January 2019. Each partner organization identified a budget credibility challenge in their country and scrutinized a case where the government consistently failed to raise or spend funds as it said it would at the start of the fiscal year.
By Feb 21, 2019
This paper looks at the information governments provide on the impact of their budget policies on poor and disadvantaged groups – and on poverty and inequality more generally. The analysis is based on the results of three questions from the Open Budget Survey 2017 meant to hone in on these issues. Findings demonstrate that, on average, governments publish very little information on these topics, thereby limiting the ability of civil society to monitor these efforts and hold their governments accountable.
By Feb 14, 2019
This paper outlines the elements of a proposal to reframe debates around public finance and government budgets, drawing on the inter-related concepts of justice, democracy, and human rights, and putting more emphasis on issues of equity, sustainability, effectiveness and inclusion. The authors address some of the shortcomings of current approaches and propose a more solid, normative foundation on which public finance decisions can be assessed and taken.
By Jan 16, 2019
Tax expenditures — provisions that reduce the amount of tax that is paid by providing special treatment to a particular class of individual, industry, or activity — have been on the rise in Latin America and represent a reduction of between 10 and 20 percent in total revenues collected by governments, with questionable impact. Because the available evidence shows tax expenditures tend to generate economic distortions and worsen inequality, civil society groups are increasingly becoming interested in engaging with tax expenditures to hold governments accountable for this important and opaque area of public finance. This paper examines tax policy and tax expenditures in Latin America and the role that civil society can play in related debates.
By Dec 10, 2018
This publication presents four stories that envision public finance in the year 2040 and illustrate the crucial role of public finance systems and policies in advancing — or undermining — economic equality, social justice, sustainable development, and human rights. Organizations working in the fiscal transparency and accountability field can draw on these scenarios to stimulate a dialogue about long-term strategies for advancing fiscal transparency and accountability in ways that will contribute to positive change in the lives of the poor and marginalized.
By Dec 03, 2018
Many communities living in informal settlements in metropolitan municipalities in South Africa receive basic services such as water, sanitation and refuse removal from outsourced service providers. This paper provides a detailed overview of the minimum level of procurement information South African metropolitan municipalities should be publishing on their supply chain management websites to support public engagement in the monitoring of the delivery of outsourced services and engagement in the tender process.
By Dec 03, 2018
In South African metropolitan municipalities, the provision of basic services like water, sanitation, and electricity to urban informal settlements is an ongoing struggle, but very little is known about what specifically goes wrong. This research examines the findings of social audits, provider bid specifications, and interviews with municipal officials to identify the systemic causes of outsourced service delivery challenges and outlines several issues local governments could address to improve service delivery to informal settlements at scale.
By Nov 26, 2018
This guide is designed to help informal settlement communities in South Africa find the documents that provide information about a service being delivered to their community, which can be used to monitor if services are being delivered according to government contracts, and to engage with the government to improve the delivery of the service.
By Nov 07, 2018
Program-based budgeting is about making budgets more transparent, ensuring that public money is spent on the right priorities, and linking budgets more closely to the purposes of spending. Program structure in program-based budgeting is central to some of the most fundamental questions in public finance reform. This paper, prepared with financial and technical assistance from the World Health Organization, aims to contribute to the global knowledge of program budgeting in low- and middle-income countries through the lens of program structure and its definition and evolution in the health sector.
