Comparing Budget Systems: Budgeting in ASEAN Countries

The budget systems of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines) do not conform to either the models of the normative literature or the repetitive budgeting models of poor countries. To describe them as simply departures from either of these models would ignore their salient features and the extent to which each system represents a particular kind of budget system on its own. The constraints and opportunities of their situation are seen in their budget processes, which are characterized by somewhat contradictory features. Although all of the countries have adopted program budgeting in some form (and zero base budgeting in the Philippines), little progress has been made in incorporating its analytical thrust, while priorities remain stable. Their governments have attempted to increase central control over their budgets, while areas of autonomy, or self-sustaining subsystems, persist to a greater or lesser degree.