This public financial management introductory guide discusses the strategic phase of the budget process with a focus on how it typically operates in low-capability environments. The introductory guide outlines the importance of the strategic phase in linking high-level political choices with overall spending policy and explains what distinguishes it from other parts of the budget cycle. It also describes why a strategic phase of the budget is often difficult to organise in a low-capability and low-income context, and puts forward a list of options and possible tools that could be used by governments in these environments that seek to improve this part of the budget cycle.

This introductory guide is also available in French and Arabic.

Cathal Long and Bryn Welham