IDB lending to budget oversight institutions

international financial institutions are showing a renewed interest in measures to enhance national budget management and strengthen the integrity of public finance in emerging economies. The role of national parliaments and supreme audit institutions in the governance of the budget and the accountability of public finances is being rediscovered. To strengthen the contribution these institutions make to the budget process, the Inter-American Development Bank (idb) is providing them with multilateral loans whose potential remains unexplored and whose effectiveness could be improved. Besides increasing technical capacity and enhancing operational efficiency, second-stage reforms should enhance the governance of public finance and fiscal control by ensuring greater financial autonomy and political independence for supreme audit institutions and promoting more efficacious links between supreme audit institutions and parliamentary public accounts committees.