General Budget Support in Tanzania

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze late disbursements for service delivery by focusing on donors’ General Budget Support disbursement to Tanzania and on the intergovernmental money flows in Tanzania. Design/methodology/approach The authors examined empirical analysis using statistics of intergovernmental transfers in Tanzania. Findings This paper shows that such center-local transfers are significantly correlated with the timing of local government expenditures in general and health expenditures in particular. It also shows that development expenditures are more affected than recurrent expenditures by delays in the transfer. Practical implications In order to improve service delivery on the ground, the transfers from donors to the central government and from the central government to local governments need to be timely. Originality/value The authors examined empirical analysis using statistics of intergovernmental transfers in Tanzania so as to see whether timing of transfers matters or not, which has not been considered thus far.