The world faces a crisis that has taken millions of lives. The unseen common enemy COVID-19 has not only impacted health systems, but has crippled economies causing unemployment, reduced hours, food security issues, travel restrictions and the list continues.
It has taken a toll on countries in the South Pacific, many of which are developing nations including Fiji.
Governments are having to plan and strategically manage the already scarce resources to deal with the health and economic impacts.
COVID-19 has extremely challenged the capacities of governments’ to manage resources effectively, efficiently and evenhandedly in unprecedented ways.
Fiscal responses differ in each country but countries that are wealthier may have a range of effective responses compared to poorer developing countries.
The commonality lies in the fact that they represent a very significant departure from normal fiscal policy processes. Fiji for example responded with the COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Package in 2020.
On May 24, 2021, the International Budget Partnership (IBP) published the report “Managing COVID funds The accountability gap” which looks at the importance of accountability responses.
The report notes that by the end of 2020, governments had already mobilised $14 trillion in fiscal policy responses of different types including additional spending measures, tax relief programs and loan guarantees all aimed at funding necessary health services, addressing income losses and keeping economies afloat.
Citizens are increasingly questioning their governments on the handling of public resources as the COVID-19 pandemic grows with unequal impacts where low informal workers, marginalised or vulnerable groups have to bear the brunt making their situations worse and increasingly disadvantaged.
In responding openly and accountably, governments show care for their people and reduce risks of corruption while ensuring there are equitable and effective outcomes.
The IBP has been one of the many institutions urging governments to put in place transparency and accountability processes that would see to it that resources do not go to waste and are effectively utilised.
The IBP took a close look at how 120 governments managed their initial COVID-19 fiscal policy responses.
The goal was to assess how governments fared and how they can respond better from lessons learnt.
The research focused on pillars of accountability such as public access to relevant information and adequate oversight arrangements and opportunities for citizen engagement.
This was done keeping in mind that people’s basic needs were adequately addressed and governments are held accountable for policies they made.
The IBP worked with researchers in 120 countries to document the introduction of about 400 emergency fiscal policy packages primarily policy initiatives addressing the impact of the COVID-19 emergency specifically in the March to September 2020 period.
The largest or most important of emergency packages were selected for each country.
The questionnaire for the research was developed with relevant international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT), the Open Contracting Partnership and the INTOSAI Development Initiative among others and tested by both civil society groups and governments at country level.
The research found that governments are falling short of managing their fiscal policy response to the crisis in a transparent and accountable manner.
More than two thirds of the governments provided limited or minimal levels of accountability in the introduction and implementation of their early fiscal policy responses. Other key findings from the assessment included:
- Governments have failed to adopt key measures to enhance accountability;
- The role of legislature has been limited during the pandemic;
- Decision-making around COVID response packages and their implementation includes very little or no input from the public, especially from those most affected by the crisis; and
- Times of crisis can be moments of innovation.
Fiji on transparency, oversight and participation
Fiji’s COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Package which was introduced in March 2020 as a Legislative Act was assessed in the research. In terms of transparency, there was adequate information regarding the introduction of the package.
There was substantive information related to Macroeconomic and aggregate budget information, policy measures and sources of financing.
There was limited information on recipients and performance while some information was provided for extra budgetary funds. The implementation of the package and procurement produced minimal information respectively.
The assessment found that reporting on the execution of the stimulus package had limited information and extra budgetary funds had some information.
The oversight component looked at the role of legislatures and national audit offices. Fiji had limited oversight scores for both.
The third component which is public participation had Fiji at minimal public participation.
How governments can do better in the present and going forward
Many governments may regard accountability and transparency arrangements as unnecessary burdens considering the complex nature of the COVID-19 crisis. Governments have had to make tough choices and tradeoffs.
However, there are opportunities to plan and implement policy responses in a more open and collaborative way where citizens are informed and where equitable outcomes are produced. Governments need to act now to strengthen accountability in ongoing responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
It is imperative for governments to take immediate action on a set of measures to address the accountability shortcomings in their COVID-19 fiscal policy responses.
Governments can do this by publishing monthly progress reports on policy implementation including data and analysis on budget execution and performance.
Governments can also disclose all details related to procurement contracts linked to emergency spending; empowering and resourcing the Supreme Audit Institutions to conduct expedited audits on emergency spending programs.
Governments can also restore the role of legislatures as keepers of the public purse including approving expenditures, consulting with the public and interest groups, monitoring policy implementation and following up on audit findings.
Governments can put in place adequate mechanisms for citizen participation in the formulation, approval and execution of additional emergencies.
Another recommendation is to strengthen capacities and basic systems for accountability in the annual budget cycle, to be better prepared for future crises.
The research shows that countries with stronger budget systems are generally better able to maintain sound accountability practices during the pandemic.
International donors can better promote the aforementioned recommendations by supporting governments to be fully open and accountable in their fiscal policy response to present and future crises.
The International community has been playing a very important role in supporting governments through the pandemic and other assistance.
Their role could be strengthened by their incentivising and providing support to governments to adopt urgent and critical measures.
They could convene a multi-stakeholder process to develop and adopt international norms and standards on managing fiscal policy in times of crisis.
They could ensure adequate levels of accountability and supporting governments in implementing mentioned standards.
- LOUCHRISHA HUSSAIN is the CEO of the Citizens’ Constitutional Forum. The views expressed are the author’s and do not reflect the views of this newspaper.
- The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF) collaborated with the International Budget Partnership in this research. For the full report of ‘Managing COVID funds – The accountability gap’ please access the IBP website https://internationalbudget.org/covid/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Report_English2.pdf and the 2021 COVID Module Country Datasheet Fiji https://internationalbudget.
org/covid/
