Suchergebnisse

Medium term expenditure frameworks (MTEFs) are typically viewed as instruments to expand budget horizons beyond one year and to limit spending growth over the medium term (usually 3 to 5 years). In response to the fiscal crisis and EU requirements, many countries in Europe have adopted MTEFs over the past decade. We use elite interviews to examine whether the formal enactment of such frameworks has led to changes in actual budget practices in Finland, Austria, Portugal, and Ireland. Our analysis shows that the newly adopted MTEFs have not acted as binding constraints on fiscal policy.

AbstractMedium‐term expenditure frameworks (MTEFs) are typically viewed as instruments to expand budget horizons beyond one year and to limit spending growth over the medium term (usually three to five years). In response to the fiscal crisis and EU requirements, many countries in Europe have adopted MTEFs over the past decade. We use elite interviews to examine whether the formal enactment of such frameworks has led to changes in actual budget practices in Finland, Austria, Portugal, and Ireland. Our analysis shows that the newly adopted MTEFs have not acted as binding constraints on fiscal policy.

By neglecting institutional and capacity considerations, medium‐term expenditure framework (MTEF) introduction has produced in most developing countries elaborate facades of fiscal reform at high transaction costs without improving budgetary outcomes. There have been positive impacts: awareness of the need to look beyond the immediate urgencies; some encouragement of intragovernmental coordination; and initial orientation toward results. Negative impacts have been much heavier: little local ownership; distraction from basic budgeting problems; and severe strain on limited capacity. Unbundling "the" MTEF permits identifying the variant suitable to the specific country and the steps to gradually develop it: unlike a "programmatic MTEF," a simple "forecasting MTEF" is both feasible and useful.

The Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) provides the link between policy priorities and the budget. Given that in developing countries in general, and in Nigeria in particular, there is a disconnection between planning, policy and the budget, the MTEF has increasingly been regarded as central to public expenditure reforms. The objectives of this paper are to review the MTEF and budget performance in Nigeria for the period 2005-2008, and identify the challenges undermining the effective operation of the budgetary processes. The paper gathered that the MTEF is the bridge between the national development plan, its underlying policies and the annual budget. Analysis of available data on budget performance during the review period shows that public finance in Nigeria have not been operated within the specifications of the MTEF and the budget, and the priorities expressed in the budget are not always in sync with national objective plans. Some of the identified challenges to effective public expenditure management in Nigeria include lack of citizen's participation in the process, the bureaucratic and inefficient nature of the civil service, large scale corruption, lack of proper coordination between the national development plan and budget, lack of adequate reforms in other key budget areas, such as execution, monitoring and reporting, lack of political commitment, and lack of adequate coordination between the national and sub-national governments.

The public financial management literature stresses the importance of bottom‐up costing of budget programs within a medium term expenditure framework (MTEF), however, comparatively little attention is paid to its practical implementation. This paper helps close this gap by surveying MTEF costing practices in four countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, and the Netherlands. The research utilizes questionnaire responses and interview data from national finance ministries, as well as review of government policy documents. The paper finds that current program costing practices fall short of the declared objectives of MTEFs, and the focus of costing and cost information remains incremental budget decision processes.