Budget Definitions

Question 1

Budget

Answer 1

A comprehensive statement of Government financial plans which
include expenditures, revenues, deficit or surplus and debt. The
budget is the Government’s main economic policy document,
demonstrating how the Government plans to use public resources
to meet policy goals and to some extent indicating where its policy
priorities.

Question 2

Cash transfers

Answer 2

Benefits provided to eligible individuals by governments that are not
required to be spent on a specific good or service. Examples of cash
transfers include pensions, unemployment benefits and development
aid.

Question 3

Central Budget Authority

Answer 3

The Central Budget Authority (CBA) is a public entity, or several coordinated entities, located at the central/national/federal level of
government, which is responsible for the custody and management
of the national/federal budget. In many countries, the CBA is often
part of the ministry of Finance. Specific responsibilities vary by
country, but generally, the CBA is responsible for formulating budget proposals, conducting budget negotiations, allocating or reallocating funds, ensuring compliance with the budget laws and conducting performance evaluations and/or efficiency reviews. This Authority regulates budget execution but does not necessarily undertake the treasury function of disbursing public funds. lastly, a very important role of the Central Budget Authority is monitoring and maintaining aggregate/national fiscal discipline and enforcing the effective control of budgetary expenditure.

Question 4

Independent Fiscal Institution

Answer 4

A publicly funded, independent body under the statutory authority
of the executive or the legislature which provides non-partisan
oversight and analysis of, and in some cases advice on, fiscal policy
and performance. IFIs have a forward-looking ex ante diagnostic task
(in contrast to public audit institutions which perform an equally
indispensable ex post task).

Question 5

Public sector

Answer 5

The public sector includes general government and public corporations. Quasi-corporations owned by government units are grouped with corporations in the nonfinancial or financial corporate sectors, thus part of public corporations (2008 System of National Accounts).

Question 6

Public services

Answer 6

Services that are performed for the benefit of the public or its institutions. Public services are provided by government to its citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income. Even where public services are neither publicly provided nor publicly financed, for social and political reasons they are usually subject to regulation going beyond that applying to most economic sectors.

Question 7

Unitary state

Answer 7

A country that does not have a constitutionally delineated division
of political authority between one central and several regional or
state autonomous governments. However, a unitary state may have
administrative divisions that include local and provincial or regional
levels of government.

Question 8

Federal state

Answer 8

A country that has a constitutionally delineated division of political
authority between one central and several regional or state
autonomous governments.