The Pacific Floating Budget Office - Innovation in Action for SDG 16
The Pacific Floating Budget Office - Innovation in Action for SDG 16
February 5, 2019
In many larget Parliaments, there will be a "Budget Office", often within the Parliament Secretariat. The work of Budget Offices varies from country to country, but their usual focus is to improve transparency around fiscal and budget policy issues through the provision of independent high-quality research and information to MPs on the national budget and public policy.
Parliaments in the Pacific are relatively small, and no Pacific Parliament has a budget office with some Parliaments also without a research unit or individual support staff for MPs. This has meant that MPs often debate and vote on the national budget without being provided any independent research or information on the content. The UNDP Pacific Floating Budget Office aims to address this problem in an innovative way.