The 2018 OECD Performance Budgeting Survey highlights the increasing adoption of performance frameworks and the importance of spending reviews in enhancing budget efficiency and alignment with government priorities. Key challenges identified include coordination problems in performance budgeting and the limited budgetary impact of evaluation findings. The survey reflects an ongoing trend towards integrating performance information across various stakeholders, despite obstacles related to the quality and availability of performance data.

1. 2018 OECD Performance Budgeting Survey
Key Findings and trends
Andrew Blazey and Anne Keller
14th Annual Meeting of the OECD Asian SBO
Bangkok, Thailand
13 – 14 December 2018

2. “A single flagship
publication for SBO”
What is the “state of
the art” in modern
budgeting?
What are the key
challenges that
countries face?
Context I: OECD Budgeting Flagship Publication
2

3. Budgeting
within
fiscal
objectives
Context II: OECD Framework of Modern Budgeting
Quality,
integrity &
independent
audit
Performance,
Evaluation &
VFM
Comprehensi
ve budget
accounting
Effective
budget
execution
Alignment
with medium-
term strategic
plans and
priorities
Performance,
evaluation &
VFM
Transparency,
openness &
accessibility
Participative,
Inclusive
& Realistic
Debate
Fiscal Risks &
Sustainability
Capital
budgeting
framework
3

4. • Fifth OECD PB Survey
• Coverage:
45 questions on
Performance Budgeting
Spending Review
Evaluation
• Respondents mainly from CBAs
• Response rate: 33 countries (out of 35)
• Some data cleaning is ongoing
 all 2018 data in this presentation is coming from the
2018 OECD Performance Budgeting Survey
4
2018 OECD Performance Budgeting Survey

5. Part I – Performance Budgeting
5
2018 OECD Performance Budgeting Survey

6. 6
Performance Budgeting
Use of performance frameworks continues to increase
over time and are the norm across the OECD

7. 7
Performance Budgeting
Target setting tends to be done by line ministries,
and its coverage varies
Coverage of performance
targets (2018)
Responsibility for
target setting (2018)

8. 8
Performance Budgeting
Increased use of performance information - across a broad
range of stakeholders – is observed over the last 5 years
Number of countries

9. 9
Performance Budgeting
Spending Review information is becoming more important and
is more likely to be used during budget negotiations

10. 10
Performance Budgeting
The greatest benefits are increased transparency about objectives,
and the quality and usefulness of performance information

11. 11
Performance Budgeting
Coordination problems are the biggest challenge
Main challenges for the implementation of performance budgeting (2018)

12. 12
Performance Budgeting
Gender is one of the thematic objectives most likely to be
systematically integrated into performance frameworks
Indicators of cross cutting or thematic objectives in the budget (2018)

13. 13
Performance Budgeting
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are not yet systematically
reflected in performance frameworks
Reflection of SDG targets and indicators in national frameworks (2018)

14. 1. Use of performance frameworks continues to increase over
time and are the norm across the OECD
2. Target setting tends to be the responsibility of line ministries
and coverage across programmes varies
3. Over recent years, increased use of performance information
- by a broad range of stakeholders - has been observed
4. Spending Review information is becoming more important
and is increasingly likely to be used during budget
negotiations
5. Performance Budgeting has increased the transparency of
programme objectives and the quality and usefulness of
performance information
6. Coordination problems are the biggest challenge for
Performance Budgeting
14
Performance Budgeting (PB) – Key Observations

15. Part II – Spending Review
15
2018 OECD Performance Budgeting Survey

16. 16
Spending Reviews
Continued increase in number of countries conducting
spending reviews
Adoption of spending reviews (2011-2018)

17. 17
Spending Reviews
Focus is moving away from short-term budget cuts to a more medium-
term view on efficiency and an improved programme impact
Main objectives of Spending Reviews over the past 10 years (2018)

18. 18
Spending Reviews
Key result has been the reallocation of spending to match
government priorities
Main results of Spending Reviews over the past 10 years (2018)

19. 19
Spending Reviews
Main challenges are the availability and quality of
performance information
Main challenges for the implementation of spending
reviews’ results/recommendations (2018)

20. 1. Continued increase in number of countries conducting
Spending Reviews
2. Focus is moving away from short-term budget cuts to
– a more medium-term view on efficiency
– improved programme impact
– alignment of spending with government priorities
3. Main challenges are the quality and availability of
performance information
20
Spending Review (SR) – Key Observations

21. Part III – Evaluation
21
2018 OECD Performance Budgeting Survey

22. 22
Evaluation
Mainly conducted by line ministries and agencies
Governance of ex-ante and ex-post evaluation (2018)
in number of countries

23. 23
Evaluation
Continues to have a limited budgetary impact
How often are evaluation findings used during budget negotiations
between the CBA and line ministries? (2018)

24. 24
Evaluation
Findings have more influence on budget allocations at the
decentralised level (programmes) than at CBA

25. 25
Evaluation
A big constraint is the lack of a formal mechanism to consider
evaluation findings in the budget process
Main constraints limiting the use of evaluation evidence
in budgeting (2018)

26. 1. Evaluations are mainly conducted by line ministries
and agencies
2. Budgetary impact
– Evaluation continues to have a limited budgetary impact
– More influence on decentralised level (programmes) than
at CBA
3. A big constraint is the lack of a formal mechanism to
consider evaluation findings in the budget process
26
Evaluation – Key Observations

27. THANK YOU
For more information, contact:
andrew.blazey@oecd.org
anne.keller@oecd.org