Parliaments and the budget process: eight trends

Involvement in setting public budgets and overseeing their implementation has traditionally been a key power of parliaments, alongside law-making and control of the executive. Yet, although budgeting is a core parliamentary function, essential features of public budgeting and parliaments' role in the budgetary cycle – ranging from initial discussions about the overall shape and balance of the public budget to the scrutiny of public accounts – have been subject to rapid and often far-reaching change in many countries. The present paper highlights eight trends in public budgeting and discusses their implications for parliaments. These trends include efforts aimed at improved (i) sustainability; (ii) information; (iii) integration; (iv) equity; (v) transparency; (vi) oversight and accountability; (vii) inclusiveness; and (viii) international coordination. Taken together, these eight trends have the potential of transforming the manner in which parliaments engage in public budgeting.

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Parliaments ,

the Budget Process ,

Eight Trends ,