Budgeting institutions, rules and frameworks

In most OECD countries, the legislature has a constitutional authority over expenditure and revenue raising, while the various agencies of the executive branch, including the Central Budget Authority (CBA), more commonly have a legislative grounding. Over recent years, legally-based fiscal rules have become more prevalent in OECD countries, along with complementary practices such as medium-term expenditure frameworks (MTEFs) and top-down budgeting. In most cases, however, there appear to be gaps between the normative aspirations of these budgeting tools, and their binding character in practice: enforcement mechanisms for fiscal rules, MTEFs and top-down approaches are either weak or unclear. Some countries, however, appear to have been relatively successful at introducing consistent national frameworks which help the government to manage their public finances effectively and sustainably over the medium term.