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Budgeting and public expenditures

 

The Public Management and Budgeting Division (PMB) is a leading source of budgetary governance and fiscal policy expertise worldwide. The division monitors and analyses global trends and innovations; advises a large range of member countries on their budget framework and fiscal issues; and contributes to the definition of international standards and best practices in areas as diverse as fiscal transparency, fiscal risk management and independent fiscal institutions. The division's recent work has contributed to the discussion on budget reforms to improve governments' governance and accountability and fiscal policy options to address fiscal challenges in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and, now, the COVID-19 crisis.

What we do

 

OECD Recommendations and Best Practices

Best practice principles support policy-makers in designing and implementing effective budgetary policies.

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Country Reviews

Country reviews provide a comprehensive overview of the budget process in the jurisdiction under examination to evaluate its experiences and provide policy recommendations in the light of international best practices.

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Future of Public Spending

The Committee of Senior Budget Officials is hosting a virtual Speakers Series on The Future of Public Spending. The aim is to broaden the discussion of the critical issues involved and the challenging decisions ahead by seeking perspectives beyond the Committee. Eminent speakers from outside government share their thoughts in an open and public forum.

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Databases

Our databases provide budget practitioners, academics and civil society with a unique and comprehensive source to compare and contrast national budgeting and financial management practices across OECD member countries.

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Parliaments and Fiscal Councils

Our work with parliaments and independent fiscal institutions (IFIs) supports democratic oversight of the budget. The budget process allows citizens and their representatives in parliament to provide input on government priorities and hold governments to account. IFIs enrich the public debate with non-partisan analysis of economic and fiscal policies.

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Financial Management and Reporting

We provide a key forum for governments to coordinate policies that ensure good fiscal management and transparent and accountable reporting on public finances.

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Performance Budgeting

Performance budgeting is the systematic use of performance information to inform budget decisions, with the aim to improve the quality of public policies.

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Green Budgeting

Green budgeting uses the tools of budgetary policy-making to help achieve environmental goals. This includes assessing the environmental impacts of budgetary and fiscal policies and evaluating their consistency. The OECD Paris Collaborative supports countries delivering their national and international commitments.

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Budget Transparency

Budget Transparency supports better quality fiscal outcomes, enhances accountability and supports integrity in the use of public funds. It strengthens inclusiveness and public trust. The "OECD Best Practices for Budget Transparency" is a reference tool for governments to improve transparency.

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Health Budgeting

Ensuring fiscal sustainability and resilience of public health systems while preserving access and quality is a shared challenge for budget and health officials. We provide support to Ministries of Finance and Ministries of Health to achieve this goal.

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Monitoring and Evaluation

Performance monitoring and evaluation provide robust evidence on the design, implementation or results of policies. M&E enables governments to understand what policies work, why and for whom, improve the quality of expenditure, optimise service delivery and increase policy transparency.

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Spending Reviews

Spending reviews analyse the stock of existing expenditure and are used by governments during the budget process to develop, assess, recommend and adopt policies. They enable governments to manage their aggregate expenditure levels and align them with their priorities while improving policy effectiveness.

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Fiscal Relations Across levels of Government

Providing policy analysis and statistical underpinnings on the relationships between national and subnational governments, and its impact on efficiency, equity and macroeconomic stability.

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Gender Budgeting

Gender equality is a fundamental human right. Gender budgeting is a way for governments to promote gender equality through the budget process. It can be a particularly powerful tool to promote women labour market participation, which can have a great overall economic impact.

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Medium-Term Expenditure Frameworks

An MTEF integrates policy objectives and budgeting by aligning the aggregate fiscal forecast and detailed medium-term budget estimates of existing policies. It brings together top-down and bottom-up approaches to identify actual resource allocations.

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Organisational Structures of Finance Ministries and Budget Offices in OECD Countries

This page presents the organisational charts of finance ministries and budget offices in OECD countries

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The Future of Public Spending

Journal of Budgeting

A unique resource for policy makers, officials and researchers

Drawing on the best of the recent work of the OECD Committee of Senior Budget Officials (SBO), as well as special contributions from finance ministries of member countries and others, the Journal provides insights on leading-edge institutional arrangements, systems and instruments for the effective and efficient allocation and management of resources in the public sector.

Our Team

Resources