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Public Budgeting and Fiscal Management

Course Summary
Public Budgeting and Fiscal Management exposes public sector finance officers and budget officials from developing and transitional countries to the latest developments in budgeting and fiscal management.

Public budgeting and fiscal management are becoming increasingly important fiscal tools in the public sector. The introduction of modern fiscal management techniques at all levels of government is needed to ensure that the three objectives of expenditure management (aggregate fiscal discipline, expenditure prioritization, and operational efficiency) are achieved.

A number of global trends are emerging in fiscal management, including placement of the budget process in the context of a medium term budget strategy, the devolution of budget responsibilities to line agencies, and the introduction of performance-based budget techniques. In addition, budget analysis tools are becoming increasingly important in assuring the efficient allocation of public resources; among others, these tools include public expenditure reviews and performance-based assessments, fiscal architecture analysis, and fiscal incidence analysis. Policy experts at the Andrew Young School Program have been at the forefront of developing such budget analysis tools, and have worked extensively in guiding budgeting reforms in transitional and developing economies around the world.

In this course, topic-driven lectures, seminars and roundtable discussions will be supplemented by site-visits and workshops in which participants receive hands-on training in applying the latest financial management tools and techniques. Participants apply principles learned in the course to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their own budget systems and begin to develop proposals for strengthening budgets and budget processes in their home governments.

Participants need no previous formal education in economics or public administration, but the program is designed to be most useful for budget practitioners and policymakers from central, regional and local governments, as well as donor agency program managers from developing and transitional countries. Participants do not need any previous experience with computers. This course is taught in English.

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Fiscal Policy Summer Training Courses 2004

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