Transcript What`s public finance (PF) for, anyway? Presented at the

What’s public finance (PF) for,
anyway?
Presented at the Commission on Human Rights/UNDP peer review of Human Rights Based
Approach (HRBA) to Public Finance (PF), 17 January 2013 at the CHR Quezon City
Isagani R Serrano
President, PRRM
HRBA to PF: Bull’s eye!
• State of HR, state of PF: deficits & business-as
usual
• What’s PF for, anyway?
• Game/frame changing: ‘from GDP to HR’
• HR in post-2015 development agenda:
reconfirming rights, recognizing limits,
redefining goals
HRBA to planning & budgeting
• HR-sensitivity of assessment instruments
• HR-sensitivity of planning instruments
• HR-sensitivity of budgeting
HRBA to revenue generation
• Common but differentiated responsibilities for
financing development
• Progressive taxation
• HR perversion: people should keep their
money since they know better than
government how to spend it (eg. Bush & the
likes)
HRBA to deficit & borrowing
• HRBA to ‘living within your means’ (balanced
budget at the expense of HR)
• HRBA to deficit: spending more for HR
• HRBA to borrowing: debt as such not the
problem
No excuses
• Maximum available resources: whatever a
country can give
• Under any circumstances: normal or crisis
situation regardless
HRBA to accountability
• Report card, process & outcome assessment
• Baseline for next PF cycle
• Accountability across-the-board & beyond
mandated institutions
• Citizen audit
How to make it happen?
• HR education
• Back to basic: change what we value most;
change the measures, change the indicators:
make HR count (baseline, M&E, all
assessment, planning & budget instruments)
• PNoy (the duty bearer) takes the lead!
Thank you!