Publication

This paper compares the performance of 57 countries in public financial management. It is based on the Public Financial Management (PFM) performance measurement framework, an indicator-based assessment tool developed by the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) initiative. It finds that there is a large variation in overall average scores across countries, and that these average scores tend to deteriorate the further one moves down the various phases of the budget cycle. It demonstrates that the main factors influencing the scores are the level of income, country size as measured by the log of the total population, and the degree of aid dependency.