Assessing the Effectiveness of National Budget Execution in Zambia, 1991 – 2009

By Shula Mulenga Sikaona
April 2011
This paper assesses the effectiveness of national budget execution in Zambia during the period 1991 to 2009. It uses a methodology developed by Era Dabla-Norris et. al, 2010 of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to construct indices at various stages of the national budget process and across various categories. The paper concludes that budget execution was weak during the period 1991 to 2000 but significantly improved during the period 2001 to 2009. The improvement was attributed to a number of reforms that the Zambian Government was undertaking. The paper also found that while there was a strong relationship between the budget preparation and the budget approval processes, there was a weak relationship between budget planning and implementation and budget approval and implementation. The paper recommends hastened reforms to strengthen the implementation component of the nation budget execution which is critical to the attainment of national developmental goals.