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Business and Economics > Budgeting

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Qatar: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Qatar
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
Growth normalization after the 2022 FIFA World Cup continued with signs of activities strengthening more recently. Fiscal and external surpluses softened mainly due to lower hydrocarbon prices. Banks are healthy but pockets of vulnerabilities remain. Reform momentum has strengthened, guided by the Third National Development Strategy (NDS3).
Keywords:
Qatar national; holdings of SDR; Qatari economy well; headline inflation; hydrocarbon price; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Public sector; Capital spending; Global
Cover Technical Assistance Reports
South Africa: Technical Assistance Report-Fiscal Transparency Evaluation
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
South Africa has many elements of sound fiscal transparency practices. Based on an assessment of fiscal transparency practices against the IMF’s Fiscal Transparency Code, South Africa's practices are strongest in fiscal reporting, followed by fiscal forecasting and budgeting, and weakest in fiscal risk analysis. There is room to improve South Africa’s fiscal reporting, budget transparency and management of fiscal risks.
Keywords:
South Africa; Fiscal Transparency; Fiscal Reporting; Fiscal Risks; Budget planning and preparation; Economic sectors; Expenditure; Financial statements; Public financial management (PFM); Public sector.; IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department; Group chief financial officer; GFS Division; communication technology; Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF; Public sector; Africa; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Slovak Republic: Technical Assistance Report-Fiscal Transparency Evaluation
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This Technical Assistance report on the Slovak Republic focuses on the Fiscal Transparency Evaluation. The evaluation in this report confirms Slovakia’s generally strong record of accomplishment on fiscal transparency. It shows that most aspects of Slovakia’s fiscal reporting, budgeting and risk management are in line with the good or advanced practices of the IMF’s Fiscal Transparency Code (FTC). It highlights that the broad coverage of institutions in fiscal reports, which extends across the whole public sector, both in terms of stocks and flows, makes Slovakia one of the world leaders in the reporting of a public sector balance sheet. The evaluation also highlights several areas where Slovakia’s fiscal transparency practices could be further improved. In addition to the evaluation against the FTC, this report provides a series of recommendations to address the above-mentioned gaps. These recommendations are actionable and targeted and have been selected according to the importance of the key issues facing Slovakia. The report also compiles a public sector balance sheet for Slovakia using publicly available information and information supplied by the authorities and provides a comparison with country peers.
Keywords:
General government investment; local government; government finance statistics manual; multiannual expenditure ceiling; authorities of the Slovak Republic; Budget planning and preparation; Public sector; Financial statements; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Cyprus: Technical Assistance Report–Strengthening the Governance and Oversight of State-Owned Enterprises
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This paper presents Cyprus’ technical assistance report on strengthening the governance and oversight of state-owned enterprises (SOE). Cyprus' government has implemented measures to enhance financial oversight and strengthen the governance of SOEs over several years. The ongoing reforms have already yielded positive results. Additional measures are needed to strengthen SOEs corporate governance and accountability practices. Establishing and regularly updating a consolidated inventory of public entities is essential to ensure SOE accountability. Good SOE governance requires a coordinated and sequential approach to reforms. Coordination among various stakeholders and decision makers is paramount and calls for developing and publishing a reform strategy with benchmarks to track progress. A SOE ownership policy should also be developed. This policy could outline the state's ownership rationale and define the roles and responsibilities of the institutions involved in SOE oversight and governance to provide clarity on the objectives and guidelines for effective ownership and management of SOEs. The policy should set clear accountability lines of respective agencies involved in the SOE ownership, governance, and oversight process. Their responsibilities would depend on the chosen ownership model the government will decide.
Keywords:
Cyprus SOE Governance; request of the Ministry of Finance; IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department; oversight of state-owned enterprises; Cyprus asset management company Ltd; Public enterprises; Fiscal risks; Public sector; Budget planning and preparation; Corporate governance; Europe
Cover Policy Papers
Implementation Plan in Response to the Board-Endorsed Recommendations from the IEO Evaluation Report on IMF Engagement with Small Developing States
International Monetary Fund
This paper presents a Management Implementation Plan (MIP) with actions to take forward the Board-endorsed recommendations from the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO)’s report on IMF Engagement with Small Developing States (SDS). The actions in the MIP are broad in scope, touching on all modalities of the Fund’s engagement with SDS, and seek to be comprehensive, self-reinforcing, cost-effective, and designed to be adopted as a package. The MIP aims to support a targeted and effective recalibration of engagement with SDS; enhance IMF’s surveillance and capacity development in SDS members; strengthen the Fund’s lending engagement with SDS, in line with the applicable policy frameworks; and secure an effective, well-tailored and more continuous staff presence in SDS.
Keywords:
Capacity development; climate; lending; policy frameworks; training; small developing states; staffing; surveillance; SDS staff guidance note; SDS member; SDS-SGN update; presence in SDS; IMF's transparency policy; Climate change; Budget planning and preparation; Financial sector; Caribbean; Global; Central America
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Zambia: Technical Assistance Report-Diagnostic Report on Governance and Corruption
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
This technical assistance report on Zambia discusses the governance and anti-corruption assessment. Acknowledging the need to address corruption, strengthen governance and the rule of law, the President and authorities of Zambia have announced a series of important initiatives. Consistently high fiscal deficits, inefficient public investment and weak controls on spending led to Zambia accumulating large fiscal and external imbalances. In the challenging environment, the authorities sought the IMF’s assistance to analyse governance weaknesses and corruption vulnerabilities and make specific, country-tailored and feasible recommendations to address governance and corruption risks in wide-ranging areas. The report identifies on near-term reform steps and structural policy measures that require more time and resources but are necessary for sustainable change. All recommendations coming out of the diagnostic shall contribute to the formulation of governance and anticorruption policies and programs, improvement of the legal and institutional frameworks, as well as governance and anti-corruption reform measures agreed to in the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement for Zambia.
Keywords:
governance weakness; governance arrangement; governance inefficiency; frameworks of Zambia's Revenue Administration; governance Rating; information framework; IMF resident representative; IMF recommendation; terms and conditions; risk assessment; prudential framework; Corruption; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Revenue administration transparency and accountability; Corporate governance; Budget planning and preparation; Southern Africa; East Africa
Cover IMF How To Notes
How to Design and Institutionalize Spending Reviews
Laura Doherty
and
Amanda Sayegh
Spending reviews refer to the process of conducting in-depth assessments of existing public expenditure in order to identify opportunities to reduce or redirect spending from low-priority, inefficient, or ineffective spending. They offer a systemic approach to ensuring that spending is aligned with the government’s policy priorities, is effective in achieving its intended objectives and is deployed efficiently. This How to Note outlines the various objectives of spending reviews and provides guidance on designing a spending review process, including the organizational architecture and roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders. It also discusses the various stages of con¬ducting spending reviews and mechanisms for integrat¬ing their outcomes into the budget process. This note draws on lessons and experiences from countries that have established spending reviews, while recognizing that this is an emerging area for further reform.
Keywords:
• Spending reviews; public expenditure; public financial management; budget planning; program performance; efficiency and effectiveness; analyzing spending; A. spending review objective; IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department; spending review methodology; PFM reform; Public expenditure review; Budget planning and preparation; Expenditure efficiency; Europe; Global
Cover IMF How To Notes
How to Manage Fiscal Risks from Subnational Governments
Mr. Sandeep Saxena
Subnational governments can create sizable fiscal risks for central governments. In addition to impacting service delivery at the grassroots level, unsustainable subnational finances can be a continuous drain on central resources. The need for stronger public financial management systems and capacities to analyze and manage risks at the subnational government level cannot be overemphasized. Central governments need to develop sound institutional mechanisms to systematically monitor the health of subnational finances to be able to proactively manage associated risks. This How to Note provides a framework for central governments that seek to assess and manage fiscal risks stemming from weak subnational finances. It analyzes the sources of subnational finance vulnerabilities and argues that central governments would benefit from putting in place the following: (1) a stronger regulatory framework, (2) improved fiscal reporting, and (3) enhanced central oversight. The lessons distilled from the international experience are particularly useful for developing economies where the management of risks can be improved.
Keywords:
fiscal risks; contingent liabilities; subnational debt; public financial management (PFM); fiscal institutions; public debt; fiscal policy; budget planning; subnational finances; Subnational government; Subnational contingent liabilities; national government; sound Subnational PFM system; borrowing regulation; Budget planning and preparation; Global
Cover IMF How To Notes
How to Prepare Expenditure Baselines
Mr. Claude P Wendling
,
Ms. Eliko Pedastsaar
, and
Mr. Fazeer Sheik Rahim
Expenditure baseline projections (hereafter, “base¬lines”) are a key analytical concept in budget preparation that refers to estimates of future expenditure on the assumption that current policies remain unchanged. They serve as reference points against which other data, such as proposed or approved budgets, or expenditure ceilings, can be compared. In many countries they are a basic tool for starting the preparation of the budget. They represent neither future spending allocations nor total expected outturn as they do not incorporate estimates of the cost of new policies and the expected impact of saving measures. Other features of baselines are that they are generally produced over a multiyear period, they can be calcu¬lated at any level or form of the budget classification (that is, ministries, economic classification, specific policies, functions or programs), and can be summed up to higher levels (such as the whole budget). Hence, they can be useful at both a micro and an aggregate level. This note aims to clarify and establish a framework that covers baselines’ various purposes and uses. It first discusses the definition and objectives of baselines and the methodology used for producing them before outlining how they should be prepared. It concludes with a discussion of the key success factors for making the most effective use of baselines.
Keywords:
expenditure baselines; economic policies; ministry of finance; line ministries and agencies; social welfare; pension spending; budget frameworks; expenditure baseline; publication order; publication service; baseline projection; spending needs; baseline expenditure; budget negotiations; Budget planning and preparation; Wages; Fiscal space; Wage adjustments; Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Azerbaijan: Technical Assistance Report-Government Finance Statistics Missions (May 17-21 and July 22-August 4, 2021)
International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.
Following the launch of the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia Regional Capacity Development Center (CCAMTAC) in February 2021, and in response to a request from the Azerbaijani authorities to support their statistical capacity development (CD) in government finance statistics (GFS), a series of technical assistance (TA) missions took place remotely (via Zoom meeting platform) during May 17−21 and July 22−August 4, 2021. Both missions were conducted by Mr. Roderick O’Mahony (GFS expert), who worked with the staff of the Ministry of Finance’s Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) Development Center as the main counterparts. He also met with other relevant agencies, including the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), the State Employment Agency, and the State Social Protection Fund.1
Keywords:
IMF-World Bank database; GFS compiler; IMF's Statistics Department; source data provider; authorities of Armenia; Government finance statistics; Medium-term budget frameworks; Financial statements; Budget planning and preparation; Public sector; Central Asia