Transforming Public Finance Through Govtech

Digital divide across countries and within countries continues to persist and even increased when the quality of internet connection is considered. The note shows that many governments have not been able to harness the full potential of digitalization. Governments could play important role to facilitate digital adoption by intervening both on supply (investing in infrastructure) and demand side (increase internet affordability). The note also documents significant dividends from digital adoption for revenue collection and spending efficiency, and for outcomes in education, health and social safety nets. The note also emphasizes that digitalization is not a substitute for good governance and that comprehensive reform plans embedded in National Digital Strategies (NDS) combined with legal and institutional reforms are needed to ensure that governments can reap full benefits from digitalization and manage the risks appropriately.

Digitization promises to reshape fiscal policy by transforming how governments collect, process, share, and act on information. More and higher-quality information can improve not only policy design for tax and spending, but also systems for their management, including tax administration and compliance, delivery of public services, administration of social programs, public financial management, and more. Countries must chart their own paths to effectively balance the potential benefits against the risks and challenges, including institutional and capacity constraints, privacy concerns, and new avenues for fraud and evasion. Support for this book and the conference on which it is based was provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation “Click Download on the top right corner for your free copy..."

Two main themes of the book are that (1) politics can distort optimal fiscal policy through elections and through political fragmentation, and (2) rules and institutions can attenuate the negative effects of this dynamic. The book has three parts: part 1 (9 chapters) outlines the problems; part 2 (6 chapters) outlines how institutions and fiscal rules can offer solutions; and part 3 (4 chapters) discusses how multilevel governance frameworks can help.

How could the GovTech improve budget processes and execution efficiency? Could the GovTech strengthen redistributive function of public expenditure? Based on an event-study method, this paper finds that the introduction of digital budget payments and e-procurement could significantly enhance budget transparency and help expand the coverage of social assistance to reach the most vulnerable population. Exploiting staggered adoption of digital budget payments, a synthetic control regression identifies meaningful increase in pre-tax income shares among the bottom 50th percentile and female workers, especially for emerging market and developing countries, with effects materializing gradually over 10-year period. The paper delves into the potential mechanism driving these equity benefits, highlighting the reduction in business informality as a primary channel. However, the paper emphasizes that the mere adoption of GovTech strategies or digital technologies is insufficient to unlock its full potential. The outcomes are intricately linked to supporting policies, regulations, organizational and system integration, and robust digital connectivity. The paper underscores that inter-agency coordination facilitated by a dedicated GovTech institution emerges as a critical factor for reaping both efficiency and equity gains from GovTech initiatives.

The Digital Solutions Guidelines for Public Financial Management (Guidelines) are intended to serve as a comprehensive reference material for the assessment, design, and improvement of digital initiatives in the public financial management (PFM) area. To support the digital transformation of PFM functions, the Guidelines are structured around three Pillars – Functional, IT Architectural, and Governance and Management. Each pillar comprises six principles, which are further broken down into one to four attributes to promote more efficient and transparent PFM operations while fostering innovation and managing digital risks. These Guidelines also allow a graduated approach to digital transformation of PFM through three levels of maturity for each Attribute – foundational, intermediate, and advanced – to help take into account country-specific contexts and capacities in digital transformation strategies.

The authorities are implementing their updated Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (BERT 2022) and their ambitious climate policy agenda. Barbados has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent shocks well, amid continued macroeconomic stability. The economy has recovered strongly, driven by a rebound in tourism. The authorities are placing renewed focus on structural reforms with the aim of achieving inclusive and sustainable growth and increasing resilience to climate change while maintaining debt sustainability and social cohesion. Ample international reserves support the exchange rate peg.

This Executive Board Work Program (BWP) for FY 2024 (May 2023 to April 2024) focuses on supporting the membership in responding to these challenges through prompt and tailored policy advice, financial assistance—buttressed by efforts to support debt restructuring processes—and capacity development. It ensures that the Board can continue to closely monitor economic and financial developments and discuss macro policy responses. The BWP also provides opportunities to deliberate on key Fund policies and operations. Given continued high uncertainty, the BWP will need to remain flexible and adaptable to prioritize the membership’s changing needs, while recognizing the Fund’s constrained budget environment.

Firm-level Digitalization and Resilience to Shocks: Role of Fiscal Policy