The OBR is one of a growing number of independent fiscal institutions (IFIs) that have been established around the world to provide non-partisan analysis of public finances and fiscal policies. We engage actively with this international community, sharing experience with our counterparts and with governments and parliaments that are creating new institutions or enhancing fiscal transparency.
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The International Monetary Fund estimates that there were 51 institutions (or ‘fiscal councils’) in 49 countries in 2021. The institutions that now fulfil this role in some countries have existed for many years – including the Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis since 1945 and the US Congressional Budget Office since 1974. But the number of IFIs increased sharply in the wake of the global financial crisis and then again more recently when the member countries of the Eurozone were required to have such bodies.
A number of these IFIs – including the OBR – participate in the OECD’s network of parliamentary budget offices and independent fiscal institutions. The OBR is also a member of a voluntary network created by European Union IFIs.
In 2014 the OECD adopted a set of principles for independent fiscal institutions – drawn up by the network – covering local ownership, independence, mandate, resources, relationship with the legislature, access to information, transparency, communications and external evaluation.
The principles necessarily reflect the fact that the size, role and structure of individual IFIs varies widely from country to country. For example: whether the institution is linked more closely to the legislature or to the executive; whether it undertakes its own forecasts or merely comments on those of the government; whether it formally assesses fiscal rules; whether it provides policy advice; and whether its costs individual policy measures, and, if so, government measures only or the proposals of other legislators or political parties.