Ten years after the previous edition of CABRI's flagship Budget Practices and Procedures (BPP) Survey, African countries are once again participating in a continent-wide assessment of how public finances are managed in practice. Governments across Africa are navigating new fiscal challenges and opportunities, managing increasingly complex public financial management (PFM) systems shaped by global shocks, climate change, demographic pressures, digitalisation, alongside growing demands for transparency and accountability, and effective service delivery, all in a highly volatile geopolitical environment.
The Survey has been substantially expanded and modernised to capture evolving budgeting trends, shifts in PFM practices, and emerging reform areas across the continent. More importantly, it shifts the focus from what rules exist to examine how budgeting systems function in practice. This edition presents an opportunity to assess progress, integrate new thematic areas, and ensure that Africa's budgeting practices are evaluated in a manner that is both globally comparable and firmly rooted in African realities.
It is expected to highlight not only longstanding issues such as audit capacity, fiscal transparency, and budget credibility, but also emerging issues, including the effective adoption of digital systems, climate- and gender-responsive practices, and the practical implementation of performance-based budgeting. The goal is to identify areas where targeted research and policy interventions can strengthen the efficiency, accountability, and effectiveness of budget practices across the continent, in line with CABRI's core mandate as a pan-African peer learning mechanism.
The Survey provides a structured and comprehensive assessment of systems and practices across Africa, being organised into seven core sections, with questions designed to deliver a detailed, comparable, and practice-oriented understanding of the countries' PFM systems. Each section focuses on a distinct stage of the budget cycle, including the legal, institutional, and in practice arrangements that underpin it.
Strategy, Legal, and Institutional Framework. This section explores the foundations of a country's budgeting system, the laws, regulations, and institutional arrangements that govern how public finances are planned, approved, and managed. It examines PFM laws and reform strategies; budget calendar design and adherence; institutional roles across the central government; and contingency arrangements when deadlines are missed. Understanding these fundamentals is essential for assessing the credibility and predictability of the budget process.
Budget Formulation. This section looks at how budgets are constructed, negotiated, and aligned with national priorities. It assesses: the use of programme, economic, functional, and administrative classifications; performance-based budgeting practices; the integration of aid and external finance; medium-term fiscal and expenditure frameworks; and the role of fiscal rules, macro-forecasting, and expenditure ceilings. These insights help identify where countries are making progress toward evidence-based budgeting and where technical or institutional gaps remain.
Legislative Approval and Oversight. Here, the Survey examines how parliaments scrutinise and approve the annual budget. It includes committee structures and powers, amendment authority and voting processes, timeliness and respect for statutory deadlines, and mechanisms for resolving disagreements between the executive and the legislature. This section helps illuminate the strength and maturity of oversight institutions and their role in ensuring accountable budgeting.
Budget Credibility. This section evaluates how well approved budgets translate into actual spending. It examines the root causes of discrepancies between approved budgets and actual expenditures. The focus is on understanding the mechanisms that are developing to promote adherence to budget plans and on establishing transparency protocols that effectively communicate deviations.
Fiscal and Financial Reporting. Transparent reporting is central to sound public financial governance. This section assesses how frequently and effectively governments produce in-year fiscal reports; the scope and quality of annual financial statements; the timeliness of reporting and reconciliation practices; and the accessibility and openness of budgetary data. It also examines how new digital tools are being integrated with existing legacy systems, identifying barriers such as limited digital literacy and institutional resistance. Evaluating the impact of initiatives such as the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) is crucial for understanding how digital innovations can strengthen budget execution and transparency, and for supporting legislative oversight, audit, and evidence-based policymaking.
Audit and Scrutiny. An effective PFM system depends on strong internal and external audit institutions. This section examines the coverage and mandates of internal audit units; the independence, resources, and practices of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs); follow-up mechanisms and the role of Public Accounts Committees; and the publication and transparency of audit findings. Results here will shed light on how well governments manage fiduciary risks and ensure accountability for the use of public resources.
PFM Reforms and Emerging Priorities. Reflecting new policy priorities across the continent, the final section covers cross-cutting thematic areas: Gender-Responsive Budgeting, Climate-Responsive and Green PFM, and Digitalisation and Digital Public Infrastructure. These modules examine how countries are integrating gender equity, climate action, digitisation, and data-driven approaches into their budget systems, which are increasingly essential components of modern PFM.
It is a Survey designed for African realities: CABRI designed the Survey in close collaboration with ministries of finance, regional partners, and peer-learning networks. It is firmly rooted in African public finance realities and institutional diversity. The questionnaire draws on international frameworks such as the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA), the IMF Fiscal Transparency Code, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) budgeting surveys, and UN climate and gender frameworks, among many others, while ensuring that African lived experiences shape the global conversation on PFM reform. Importantly, the Survey captures both formal rules and actual practices. It accommodates decentralised and hybrid systems, encourages explanatory notes to provide context to responses, and enables comparison with the 2008 and 2015 editions. The resulting dataset will support peer learning, technical assistance, and policy dialogue across the continent.
What Comes Next? National focal points will complete the Survey, which CABRI will validate, conduct comparative analyses, and publish findings through the PFM Knowledge Hub, research briefs, and thematic studies. These insights will inform regional workshops, policy exchanges, and country-level reform support. The success of the 2025 BPP Survey depends on broad participation and active engagement. By participating, African countries contribute to a shared evidence base that strengthens public financial management and promotes improved governance and development outcomes.