Independent Fiscal Institution

According to the Principles for Independent Fiscal Institutions, adopted by the OECD Council in 2014, “independent fiscal institutions are publicly funded, independent bodies under the statutory authority of the executive or the legislature which provide non-partisan oversight and analysis of, and in some cases advice on, fiscal policy and performance”, and with “a forward-looking ex ante diagnostic task”. In practice, they come in two main forms:
 * parliamentary budget offices (e.g., the Congressional Budget Office in the United States, and the Center for Public Finance Studies in Mexico); or
 * fiscal councils (e.g., the Office for Budget Responsibility in the United Kingdom, and the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council).

1) Example of Croatia
Croatia’s Finance and Central Budget Committee is NOT. It is a regular parliamentary committee.

However, Croatia’s Fiscal Policy Committee IS an IFI. While it is chaired by an MP, it has varied membership and was established as an independent body as part of the implementation of fiscal responsibility legislation.

2) Examples of Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and El Salvador
Nicaragua's "Dirección General de Análisis y Seguimiento Presupuestario y Económico" is NOT. It is established by the Ley Organica del Poder Legislativo, subsection of “Organos Auxiliares Sustantivos de la Asamblea Nacional”. Not established by its own law, but dependent on and advises the Congress. It is in charge of “elaborar el análisis, seguimiento y evaluación al presupuesto general de la república y a la economía nacional para la toma de decisiones de los diputados y diputadas y representar a la Asamblea Nacional ante el Comite Tecnico de Inversiones y Comite Tecnico de Deuda”.

There are similar cases in Dominican Republic and El Salvador. They have NO IFIs.

3) Example of Germany
In this OECD database updated in 2018, in Germany, only the Advisory Board to the Stability Council is categorized as an IFI. However, every year the Germany Ministry of Finance writes out a tender for the drafting of a macro-economic prognoses of growth, tax income, etc. This tender is awarded to one of the major economic institutes in the Leibniz Association (such as the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the German Institute for Economic Research, the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, and the Halle Institute for Economic Research). These institutes are not IFIs; they are not publicly funded nor under the statutory authority of the executive or the legislature. However, every year one of them wins the tender and, if that is the case, functions as an IFI during that time.

This practice should be noted in the comments to the IFI questions.

4) Example of the Ukraine
In Ukraine in OBS 2019, the Financial and Economic Analysis Office in the VRU (Parliament) was established in 2016 as a donor funded project that provides consultative and financial advice to VRU staff on economic and financial laws, develop financial-economic, analysis of legislative projects, and conduct macro-fiscal analysis.

In 2018, the Ukrainian parliament and donors signed a Memorandum of Understanding that shows the intention to incorporate FEAO into the working bodies of parliament.

However, as long as the FEAO is a donor-funded project, despite going to the OECD Parliamentary Budget Office meetings, it cannot be considered as an IFI. If, and only if, the Parliament recognizes it as an independent body providing advice on fiscal matters, etc. we should change our assessment.

5) Case of Armenia in OBS 2021
See discussion under Question 103.

External references

 * Principles for Independent Fiscal Institutions and Case Studies