Budgeting in Sweden

Abstract

Sweden’s budget reforms of the 1990s, which were intended to introduce greater clarity, transparency and rigour to fiscal policy-making, have proven influential throughout Europe and across the OECD. This report finds that the budget framework has demonstrated resilience and that it continues to command confidence among the broad range of budgetary stakeholders. However, a number of tensions are apparent as the framework responds to the challenges and priorities of post-crisis budgeting, and each of its key dimensions has been undergoing review and adaptation. Future reforms should focus on addressing a certain fragmentation apparent in some areas (such as performance information, evaluation, public investment strategy and fiscal risk). Sweden’s advanced and pioneering practices, in areas such as cross-government collaboration and gender budgeting, may also benefit from more open, participative and citizen-facing initiatives in policy design and performance accountability.