Lewis Hawke, Head of the PEFA Secretariat recently participated in the launch of the OECD’s Budget Transparency Toolkit at a meeting of Senior Budget Officials from Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe that was held in Paris from July 6 to 7, 2017.

The new Toolkit, which was designed by the OECD’s Directorate of Public Governance in participation with the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) Network, recognizes the importance of budget transparency in achieving key fiscal and budgetary outcomes of aggregate fiscal discipline, strategic allocation of resources, and efficient service delivery. 

The aim of the toolkit is to help relevant stakeholders by raising their awareness of the various standards and guidelines that are available in budget transparency, how these materials complement one another, and how they can best be selected and applied to achieve the overall objective of a more open, transparent, inclusive, and accountable budget process.

The Toolkit is structured in two main parts. The first part provides an overview of how budget transparency is described by various institutions and presented in official instruments (including PEFA) and other guidance materials and standards, issued by international organizations. The second part offers a navigation to the various standards and guidance materials for users to understand how they can apply budget transparency in key institutional or sectoral areas, as defined by OECD. 

‘The Budget Transparency Toolkit: Practical steps for supporting openness, integrity and accountability in Public Financial Management’ was prepared with the participation and collaboration of the broader global community of budget and fiscal transparency institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group, the International Budget Partnership (IBP), the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and the PEFA Program.