Fiscal Transparency During the COVID-19 Emergency : Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Serbia

The speed, reach, and magnitude of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic sent a shockwave around the globe that tested the capacity of Public Finance Management (PFM) systems to support governments' responses to crises. Fiscal transparency was not a foremost priority for decisionmakers during the crisis as they sought to put in place emergency measures with imperfect information and under rapidly changing conditions. This report, which complements existing public budgeting assessments that apply internationally recognized PFM frameworks on a regular basis, presents a comparative analysis focused upon experiences with and lessons about fiscal transparency in three countries in the Western Balkans - Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), North Macedonia and Serbia. It includes examples of good practices that were deployed in various countries within the region and beyond during their response to Covid-19. In doing so, it aims to distil lessons and provide recommendations about what could be done better in preparation for and during future emergency events