How Governments Report On and Justify Budget Deviations
- Jason Lakin and Guillermo Herrera
- Mar 2019
- International Budget Partnership (IBP)
- International
Declining confidence in government stems in part from the ways in which governments act, but also from the ways that they communicate with the public about their actions. When governments fail to meet their promises and then do not inform the public or encourage dialogue about their actions, this opacity, whether intended or not, breeds cynicism about the public sector. It also undermines accountability: without such information, citizens and oversight actors struggle to make sense of government actions and to distinguish between cases of responsive governments adjusting to changing contexts, and irresponsible deviations from agreed priorities. This paper brings out the research undertaken in partnership with 24 civil society organizations (CSO) in 23 countries over the period from October 2018 – January 2019 to focus on whether and how governments publicly justify deviations that occur during budget implementation.
