PRO-POOR PUBLIC SPENDING

Although the Fair Tax Monitor’s main focus is on analysing the tax system, it is of great importance to make sure that the tax revenues collected are spent in such way that they benefit the poor and the disadvantaged. In this category, the  focus is on two areas of public spending: education and healthcare which are of key relevance to poor people. This does not give the whole picture, but it does provide a quick insight into government priorities in terms of pro-poor public spending and it allows reference to international benchmarks on minimum spending standards.
  • 2018
  • 2015
  • 2016
2018 UGANDA SENEGAL BANGLADESH PAKISTAN NIGERIA OPT VIETNAM
PRO-POOR PUBLIC SPENDING
4

The government of Uganda has shifted public spending priorities in favour of infrastructural development, which poses a risk to already low investments into healthcare and education. Uganda thus does not meet the international standards for public spending on healthcare and education.

0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
unfair
fair
    • Agriculture
    • Education
    • Healthcare
2015 UGANDA SENEGAL BANGLADESH PAKISTAN NIGERIA OPT VIETNAM
PRO-POOR PUBLIC SPENDING
4
7
3
6

The government of Uganda has shifted public spending priorities in favour of infrastructural development, which poses a risk to already low investments into healthcare and education. Uganda thus does not meet the international standards for public spending on healthcare and education.

Senegal meets the international standard for education spending set by the Incheon Declaration at 15% of the total tax revenues. It however needs to increase the expenditure on healthcare as the current spending is lower compared to the previous years.

There is an urgent need for Bangladesh to invest more into healthcare and education. The results show that it does not meet the international standards for neither healthcare nor education. There are no visible efforts to improve the situation as the investments into public services have not been raising in the past years. If citizens are to pay their taxes, the government must allocate more resources to improve the public services.

Pakistan is not investing enough into its education and healthcare system, according to the international standards. Although the resources allocated to the basic services have been increasing in the past years, further efforts need to be made to meet the desired levels.

0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
unfair
fair
    • Agriculture
    • Education
    • Healthcare
2016 UGANDA SENEGAL BANGLADESH PAKISTAN NIGERIA OPT VIETNAM
PRO-POOR PUBLIC SPENDING
4
7
3
6
2
8
6

The government of Uganda has shifted public spending priorities in favour of infrastructural development, which poses a risk to already low investments into healthcare and education. Uganda thus does not meet the international standards for public spending on healthcare and education.

Senegal meets the international standard for education spending set by the Incheon Declaration at 15% of the total tax revenues. It however needs to increase the expenditure on healthcare as the current spending is lower compared to the previous years.

There is an urgent need for Bangladesh to invest more into healthcare and education. The results show that it does not meet the international standards for neither healthcare nor education. There are no visible efforts to improve the situation as the investments into public services have not been raising in the past years. If citizens are to pay their taxes, the government must allocate more resources to improve the public services.

Pakistan is not investing enough into its education and healthcare system, according to the international standards. Although the resources allocated to the basic services have been increasing in the past years, further efforts need to be made to meet the desired levels.

Expenditure on health, education and agriculture do not meet international standards. Expenditure on other areas such as presidency and military do enjoy royal allocations.    

The security sector alone absorbs 29% of total public spending – equaling that of health and education combined. This has created widespread concern in Palestinian society over what is considered as ‘overspending on security’ at the expense of social services.    

Expenditures on basic public services in Vietnam such as education and health were fairly well evaluated. Education expenditure accounted for 18-20% of total state budget expenditure. On the other hand, expenditure on healthcare and agriculture does not meet international standards. 

0-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
unfair
fair
    • Agriculture
    • Education
    • Healthcare