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This paper examines the rationale for a top-down approach to budget preparation and approval, and discusses some factors that have to be considered when reorienting the budget process along these lines. The paper argues that the sequence in which budgetary decisions are taken matters, and that a strong top-down approach strengthens fiscal discipline and improves policy prioritization and coordination. Top-down budgeting also alters the division of roles and responsibilities between the central budget authority and line ministries, and requires that the process of determining the total expenditure level, sectoral allocations and individual appropriations is clarified. Finally, the paper argues that strong top-down elements in the parliamentary budget voting process can be effective in addressing the risk of excessive and unsustainable amendments during budget approval.

Budgeting --- Public Finance --- National Budget --- Budget Systems --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Fiscal Policy --- Budgeting & financial management --- Public finance & taxation --- Macroeconomics --- Budget planning and preparation --- Expenditure --- Total expenditures --- Fiscal policy --- Central government spending --- Budget --- Expenditures, Public --- Switzerland

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Econometric results from an analysis of the determinants of military expenditure in 125 countries during 1972-88 are presented. The dependent variable is the ratio of military expenditure to GDP; included among the explanatory variables are economic and financial indicators, political variables summarizing the form of government, and demographic and geographic features of nations. The results strongly confirm the importance of these variables in explaining cross-country differences in levels of military expenditure.

Budgeting --- Public Finance --- Demography --- National Security and War --- National Budget --- Budget Systems --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Demographic Economics: General --- Public finance & taxation --- Budgeting & financial management --- Population & demography --- Defense spending --- Central government spending --- Expenditure --- Budget planning and preparation --- Population and demographics --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Expenditures, Public --- Budget --- Population --- United States

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The primary mandate of a national Treasury is to promote an optimal financial management of government resources, by ensuring that spending agencies are provided, in a timely manner, the resources needed for a smooth provision of public services, while minimizing the cost of government financing. However, international experience shows that agencies that go by the same name (the Treasury) assume a variety of responsibilities within the gamut of functions encompassed by government financial management. This paper argues that, in countries facing substantial economic and financial adjustment problems and/or rapid institutional change, it is desirable to give the Treasury a broader (rather than narrower) range of responsibilities in government financial management. This is typically the case in economies in transition, in which under central planning Treasury functions were dispersed among different agencies, including the Central Bank. The paper presents an overview of the main issues governments are likely to face in setting up a national Treasury, in particular in economies in transition. It begins with an analysis of the main Treasury functions. It then discusses the Treasury’s basic organization and structure, information system, and relationships with other public entities.

Accounting --- Budgeting --- Public Finance --- National Budget --- Budget Systems --- Public Administration --- Public Sector Accounting and Audits --- National Budget, Deficit, and Debt: General --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Budgeting & financial management --- Public finance accounting --- Public finance & taxation --- Fiscal accounting and reporting --- Budget execution and treasury management --- Central government spending --- Budget planning and preparation --- Expenditure --- Budget --- Finance, Public --- Expenditures, Public

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Central government wage expenditures accounted for 7 percent of GDP in 99 countries during 1980-90 (unweighted average). Regression analysis indicates that federations, countries with high populations and high per capita incomes, heavily indebted countries, and small low-income economies tend to have lower central government wage expenditures as a percent of GDP. Access to private nonguaranteed foreign financing is associated with higher wage expenditures, while public and publicly guaranteed foreign financing is not; the public and publicly guaranteed foreign financing is often provided for government capital projects. Medium-term structural adjustment programs, on average, have a negative association with wage expenditures, while short-term stabilization programs do not. The negative correlation between central government wage expenditures and per capita income appears related to the level of centralization of government expenditures. General government wage expenditures are higher in industrial countries than in developing countries.

Budgeting --- Labor --- Public Finance --- National Budget --- Budget Systems --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General --- Budgeting & financial management --- Public finance & taxation --- Labour --- income economics --- Central government spending --- Total expenditures --- Expenditure --- Wages --- Public sector wages --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Budget --- Expenditures, Public --- Belgium --- Income economics

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For the republics of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) as for many other transition economies, an important step in introducing a more market-oriented system was the restructuring of their budget systems. This paper reviews and evaluates the process of budget system reform during the transition period extending from the time they emerged from the collapse of the SFRY in 1989 until the end of 2002. For at least a decade of this period, the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF has been providing technical assistance (TA) to these countries to facilitate such reforms. Based on the material generated by this effort, the authors offer a review of the progress made and an assessment of the reform elements still to be completed. Given that the former Yugoslav republics all commenced the reform process with the same institutions, this paper offers a unique opportunity to analyze the critical elements in successful budget system reform. An attempt is made to explain the varying degrees of success experienced by different countries, and a reform agenda is suggested to guide future TA.

Accounting --- Budgeting --- Public Finance --- National Budget --- Budget Systems --- National Budget, Deficit, and Debt: General --- Public Administration --- Public Sector Accounting and Audits --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Budgeting & financial management --- Public finance accounting --- Public finance & taxation --- Budget planning and preparation --- Budget execution and treasury management --- Fiscal accounting and reporting --- Central government spending --- Expenditure --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Budget --- Finance, Public --- Expenditures, Public --- Slovenia, Republic of