## On Improving Public Expenditure Policies for the Poor: Major Informational Requirements

_IMF Working Papers, May 1, 1993_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Nigel A Chalk, Ehtisham Ahmad
- Published: May 1, 1993
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451846270.001

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### Executive summary and purpose
- An improvement in the quality of public expenditures is needed in many countries, given binding macroeconomic and fiscal constraints, and poverty reduction and distributional objectives.
- The paper reassesses methodology used by countries and international agencies, and the data needed for improved decision making.
- The paper reviews methods that might be used by international agencies, such as the Fund and the Bank, jointly with:
  - a survey of data currently available,
  - required improvements in the data currently available,
  - required improvements in the information base.
- The scope for improvements in governments' expenditure policy making is also considered.

### Major findings (methodology and data)
- Current methodologies for assessing public expenditure policies often require reassessment to better align with poverty reduction and distributional objectives.
- Available data limitations constrain effective public expenditure policy formulation.
- Improvement areas highlighted include:
  - expenditure data quality and granularity,
  - integration of government accounting systems with public expenditure analysis,
  - better linkage between national accounts, government finance statistics, and microdata on income and consumption patterns.

### Policy implications and recommendations
- Strengthen the information base to support more effective public expenditure decisions targeted at the poor.
- Improve government accounting systems and payroll data to better capture expenditure profiles and public spending on pay and national defense.
- Enhance country desk and country-level analytical capacity to interpret aggregate expenditure ratios and expenditure profiles for policy design.
- Foster joint methodological approaches between international agencies (the Fund and the Bank) to harmonize assessments and data requirements.

### Scope and thematic coverage
- Subject areas covered: Defense spending, Economic and financial statistics, Education, Expenditure, Government finance statistics, Income, National accounts.
- Keywords and concepts emphasized: aggregate expenditure ratio, consumption pattern, expenditure data, expenditure profile, expenditure scale, government accounting system, Government finance statistics, national defense, pay, payroll data, public expenditure, public goods, standard of living, Sub-Saharan Africa.

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/on-improving-public-expenditure-policies-for-the-poor-major-informational-requirements-1050_