Publication: Thailand's Hurdle Approach to Budget Reform
Date
2002-08
ISSN
Published
2002-08
Author(s)
Dixon, Geoffrey
Dorotinsky, Bill
Abstract
The note shows how Thailand's
efforts to ease budget controls, can complement efforts to
strengthen the capabilities of government agencies. The
country's budget reform strategy, while seeking to
retain the benefits of tight central control, aims at
avoiding its costs, by transferring control over budget
details, from the Bureau of the Budget to spending agencies,
making them more responsible for managing their budget
allocations, and accountable for achieving better results.
This approach strengthens agency management, avoids
corruption, and provides incentives for agencies to improve
their management, rewarded by increased financial autonomy.
However, such approach increases the risk of stalled budget
reform, if agencies prolong the approach standards, or if
agencies are reluctant to agree to an understanding.
Although Thailand's budget reform is not yet finalized,
lessons indicate the need for stronger political will, since
bureaucracy in the country, enjoys far more power relative
to the executive, than in many other countries; the
complexity of the Thai budget reform approach could have
been simplified, by increasing awareness of the need for
good financial management, and by a computer-based
accounting system that would meet basic financial control,
and reporting standards; and, that inputs from international
consultants should have been integrated with budget reform efforts.
Citation
“Dixon, Geoffrey; Dorotinsky, Bill. 2002. Thailand's Hurdle Approach to Budget Reform. PREM Notes; No. 73. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/0b33d5e3-6769-5b3f-a907-8c6e8730003e License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”