Strengthening Fiscal Capacity: Achieving Greater Impacts through Effective, Evidence-Based Budgeting

Public resources are finite and must be judiciously allocated across a spectrum of competing national priorities, often necessitating difficult trade-offs. Spending in one area may unintentionally hinder progress in another, leading to setbacks that are both costly and avoidable. Simultaneously, persistent inefficiencies—whether due to suboptimal allocation, weak execution or ineffective oversight—diminish the impacts of public spending and compromise development outcomes. Addressing these interlinked challenges demands an integrated, innovative, data-driven approach that enhances resource allocation, leverages synergetic Sustainable Development Goal multipliers, and optimizes overall efficiency across the budget cycle and public expenditure.

Despite the urgency of these issues, the Arab region continues to face a deficit of robust, evidence-based assessments that can inform policy and guide reform. This report deploys the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) Integrated Budget Intelligence Toolkit (iBIT), to examine public spending dynamics in Egypt over the past two decades. Using machine learning, iBIT offers a transformative approach to public financial management. By embedding sustainability multipliers into every phase of the budget process—from planning to execution and oversight—iBIT equips policymakers with the tools to align spending with development outcomes and achieve greater impact with limited resources.

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