scholarly journals Fiscal Deficit of the Public Sector in India: Issues on Data Reliability, Accounting Flaws and Missing Variables

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (S1) ◽  
pp. 13-19
Author(s):  
K. A. Aneesh

Fiscal deficit, one of the widely acclaimed and internationally accepted measures of fiscal imbalance, is faced with a lot of conceptual and accounting issues in India. The definition of deficit has been changing and therefore there is no consistency in the official series of deficits published by the government of India. Since 1991, budgets were being framed in the context of the New Economic Policies (NEP) consisting of the Stabilization Policies and the Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP). While, the fiscal austerity in the form of expenditure reduction and revenue enhancement as a corollary to NEP has hardly worked out in India. However, the Central government has undertaken several measures to show a reduced fiscal deficit in India. One of the ways practiced was to implement some changes in the accounting practices over the years. This was by including some additional elements in the definition of deficit and excluding some other items. The second practice was to transfer the deficit of the Centre to other layers of the government. In a broad fiscal policy regime framework following Prof. Arun Kumar’s modified National Income Identity (1988), a total government or public sector comprising of the Centre, State/UTs and local-self-governments as well as the Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) at the Centre and State levels. The problem of deficit shifting can be automatically avoided by taking the whole public sector into the analysis, which makes the empirical results on interrelationship between fiscal deficit and various macroeconomic variables more realistic and convincing. Still, there is a paucity of white economy data, because of the existence of substantial black economy in India. Its non-inclusion in analysis results in a partial understanding of the economy and often incorrect policy pronouncements. The need to incorporate the black economy is not simply an empirical matter, but a theoretical necessity. This paper in general tries to bring the aforementioned issues on data reliability, accounting flaws and missing variables into the discussion and attempt to correct the fudges in the official deficit series published by the government and also tries construct a compiled series of deficit for the public sector in India. The empirical section of the paper explains the significance of black economy as a variable to be included in the analysis to get better understanding of the economy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
K. A. Aneesh

Every year since 1991, the Central Government of India has been successfully disinvesting its PSEs from various sectors. The recent announcement to strategically disinvest some of the better performing PSEs like Life Insurance Corporation of India Ltd., Air India and so on is indeed shocking. This seriously questions the intension of the government towards the declared objectives of the disinvestment strategy in 1991. There are severe apprehensions on selling-off the PSEs at a lower price and the utilization of disinvestment proceeds for filling the revenue deficits of the Central Government. This paper discusses the idea of disinvestment in India and the debates associated with it. The paper also critically analyses the disinvestment proceeds in India as a tool to tackle mounting fiscal deficits after the initiation of the New Economic Policies in 1991.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-55
Author(s):  
K. A. Aneesh

Every year since 1991, the Central Government of India has been successfully disinvesting its PSEs from various sectors. The recent announcement to strategically disinvest some of the better performing PSEs like Life Insurance Corporation of India Ltd., Air India and so on is indeed shocking. This seriously questions the intension of the government towards the declared objectives of the disinvestment strategy in 1991. There are severe apprehensions on selling-off the PSEs at a lower price and the utilization of disinvestment proceeds for filling the revenue deficits of the Central Government. This paper discusses the idea of disinvestment in India and the debates associated with it. The paper also critically analyses the disinvestment proceeds in India as a tool to tackle mounting fiscal deficits after the initiation of the New Economic Policies in 1991.


1963 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.H.M. Nuruddin Chowdhury

This paper provides a general review of taxes in Pakistan with special reference to central government tax efforts. The weight of central taxes in national income and in the central budget is analysed using the tax data for the period 1948-62. Some suggestions are made about mobilizing more savings by raising tax revenues. The Case for Raising the Weight of Tax Revenue In the developing countries, we usually find a fiscal system where the relative weight of the public revenues in the total economy is meagre and limited to certain sectors. This state of affairs tends to make fiscal policy weak as well as blunt. As increasing the effectiveness of monetary policy in underdeveloped countries presupposes organization and wide dissemination of monetary institutions, so a prerequisite for an efficacious fiscal policy is enhancement of the influence of taxes in the economy1. Enhancement of the relative importance of taxation in the economy is essential for a number of reasons. First, the governments of the developing countries have to finance increasingly larger development programmes. The safe way to acquire the necessary resources is through taxes, as supply rigidities make flirtation with inflationary finance a dangerous game8. Second, power to tax brings with it the power to regulate. The government can perform its function of guiding the economy along the planned course without excessive reliance on direct controls only if it is adequately armed with effective tax powers which can touch any part of the economy accord¬ing to the need of circumstances. Third, built-in stabilizers and counter¬cyclical tax adjustments can successfully offset fluctuations in income and employment "where the ratio of taxes to national income is high, a large proportion of revenue is from net income taxes and there is a large foreign


2017 ◽  
pp. 5-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Carini ◽  
Laura Rocca ◽  
Claudio Teodori ◽  
Monica Veneziani

The European Commission initiated a discussion on the expediency of using the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), based on the IAS/IFRS, as a common base for harmonizing the public sector accounting systems of the member states. However, literature suggests that accounting is not neutral with respect to the economic, social and political dimensions. In the perspective of evolution of the accounting regulation outlined, balanced between accountability, with the need to represent phenomena for reporting pur-poses, and decisionmaking issues, which concentrates on the quantitative importance of the values, the paper aims to analyse the effects of the application of different criteria for the definition of the reporting entity of the local government consolidated financial statements (CFS). The Italian PCA 4/4, the test of control and the financial accountability approaches are examined. The evidence that emerged from the case studies examined identifies several criticalities in the Italian PCA 4/4 and support the thesis that the financial accountability approach is more effective in providing a complete representation of the public resources entrusted to and managed by the group, whereas the control approach better approximates quantification of the group results in terms of central government surveillance. The analysis highlights the importance of the post implementation review period and the opportunity to contextualize the adoption of the consolidated financial statement in the broader spectrum of the accounting harmonization process, participating in the process of definition of the European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS).


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 24-35
Author(s):  
Saefudin A Safi'i

The downfall of the New Order Regime in 1998 brought about significant change to Indonesia’s public sector.  Law number 22 of 1999, further refined by Law 32 of 2004, provide legal bases for district governments to administer the public sector. The central government also introduces the notion of good governance through the promulgation of various regulations. For Madrasah however, decentralization policy failed to provide clear legal bases as to how it relates to district government. Law 32 of 2004 verse 10 article 3 retains the centralized management by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. This however does not exclude Madrasah from public demand of implementing the principle of good governance. This study analyses the dynamics of principal-ship both in the Sekolah and the Madrasah in the era of decentralization. By comparing two research sites, this study sought to create better understanding about the context by which the organization climate of two different schools are shaped, and how principals and teachers perceives the notion of school leadership in the light of most recent policy development. To do this, interviews were undertaken and questionnaire-based data collection was also conducted. The study found that in the ground level implementation of decentralization policy, Sekolah developed more rigorous leadership compared to that in the Madrasah. This research recommends the adoption of stronger regulation regarding principal-ship of Madrasahs in order to create an environment that is more in tune with the spirit of public service reforms.


2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Maniam Kaliannan

The quest to improve the government service delivery is becoming an important agenda for most governments. The introduction oflCT in the public sector especially E-Government initiatives opens up a new chapter in the government administration throughout the world. Governments have deployed ICT to serve their citizens in an efficient and effective manner. This paper presents an empirical investigation of Malaysian government's e-Procurement initiative (locally known as e-Perolehan). The aim of the paper is to examine factors that influence the current and future use of the system within the supplier community. These factors are grouped in three perspectives, (i) organizational perspective; (ii) technological perspective; and (Hi) environmental perspective. The general consensus amongst both the buyer and seller communities is that e-procurement will become an important management tool to enhance the performance of supply chain especially in the public sector. However, before this occurs, the findings suggest that several issues must be addressed by the relevant authorities in light of the three perspectives as mentioned above, to improve the procurement process at the federal government level.


Author(s):  
Olga Mykhailоvna Ivanitskaya

The article is devoted to issues of ensuring transparency and ac- countability of authorities in the conditions of participatory democracy (democ- racy of participation). It is argued that the public should be guaranteed not only the right for access to information but also the prerequisites for expanding its par- ticipation in state governance. These prerequisites include: the adoption of clearly measurable macroeconomic and social goals and the provision of control of the processes of their compliance with the government by citizens of the country; ex- tension of the circle of subjects of legislative initiative due to realization of such rights by citizens and their groups; legislative definition of the forms of citizens’ participation in making publicly significant decisions, design of relevant orders and procedures, in particular participation in local referendum; outlining methods and procedures for taking into account social thought when making socially im- portant decisions. The need to disclose information about resources that are used by authorities to realize the goals is proved as well as key performance indicators that can be monitored by every citizen; the efforts made by governments of coun- tries to achieve these goals. It was noted that transparency in the conditions of representative democracy in its worst forms in a society where ignorance of the thought of society and its individual members is ignored does not in fact fulfill its main task — to establish an effective dialogue between the authorities and so- ciety. There is a distortion of the essence of transparency: instead of being heard, society is being asked to be informed — and passively accept the facts presented as due. In fact, transparency and accountability in this case are not instruments for the achievement of democracy in public administration, but by the form of a tacit agreement between the subjects of power and people, where the latter passes the participation of an “informed observer”.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-66
Author(s):  
Coni Wanprala ◽  
Isnaini Muallidin ◽  
Dewi Sekar Kencono

At present the development of technology and information has reached a very rapid level. Technology and information are used as a service media in the government environment which is also known as e-Government, one of which is the service of public information disclosure. The central government through Law No. 14 of 2008 concerning Openness of Public Information, encourages all Public Agencies including the Sleman Regency Government to make transparency in the administration of the state by utilizing information technology. This research is a qualitative descriptive study which aims to describe the reality that occurs. The object of research in this study is the official website of the Information and Documentation Management Officer (PPID) of Sleman Regency with the domain https://ppid.slemankab.go.id then the Sleman Regency Communication and Informatics Office as the organizer of the public information disclosure program. The data collection technique itself is carried out by means of interviews, documentation studies, and field observations (observations). After collecting and presenting data, then the data will be reduced first then analyzed and concluded. From the results of the study, in general the researchers concluded that the Sleman Regency PPID website had reached the level of qualification to become a quality website, however there were still some improvements and evaluations that had to be done by the relevant agencies in order to be better, namely (i) the website was still being assessed as a one-way service (ii) There are still many OPDs that are not ready to implement PPID (iii) data and information are still not updated (iv) lack of responsiveness of services in requests for information.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohanis S. Ulimpa ◽  
Jullie J. Sondakh ◽  
Treesje Runtu

In line with regional autonomy that is oriented towards empowerment (emporwerment) and community guidance in the implementation of clean authority and free of corruption, collusion and nepotism, the public sector is often regarded as a nest of wasteful efficiency and institutional fund leakage that always loses money. But the public sector still has wide opportunities to improve the performance of the benefits of resources economically, effectively and efficiently. Knowing the performance measurement of the Sorong Regency government. Knowing the role of indicators in the Sorong Regency government. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative. The result is the performance measurement of the local government is carried out because of the provisions of the central government to make performance accountability reports for each government agency.Keywords :Performance Measurement, Performance Indicator, LAKIP, Sorong District Government   


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 352
Author(s):  
Alex Oguso ◽  
Francis M. Mwega ◽  
Nelson H. Wawire ◽  
Purna Samanta

<p><em>Kenya needs substantial and sustained fiscal consolidation to create fiscal space for financing the government’s election pledges, the Vision 2030 development projects, and sustainable development goals. However, the government has found it hard to sustain its fiscal consolidation attempts. This study investigates the fiscal consolidation constraints that act through the budget imbalance dynamics in Kenya using the </em><em>Olivera-Tanzi effect approach.</em><em> The study covers the period 2000-2015</em><em> using time series data and employs three </em><em>Auto-regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) error correction models</em><em> in the analysis. The study showed that a </em><em>rise in the general price levels in the economy, adjustment of minimum wages, rise</em><em> in perceived levels of corruption in the public sector and the political budget cycles (occurrence of a general election) worsen the budget imbalances (deficits) thus </em><em>constrain fiscal consolidation efforts in Kenya. The study also demonstrated that </em><em>budget imbalance dynamics in Kenya could partly be explained by the Olivera-Tanzi proposition. </em><em>The study rec</em><em>ommends measures to reduce the fiscal imbalance gap in Kenya, which include controlling both supply and demand side inflationary pressure and dealing with rent seeking behavior in the public sector.</em></p>


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