Reforming Municipal Budgeting and Financial Management in a South American City: A Case Study of Asuncion, Paraguay

Abstract

With increasing frequency, the two highly interrelated subjects of municipal budgeting and effective financial management are becoming ever more central to discussions of local governance reform in Latin America. Among the most important factors contributing to this are the growing concern throughout the hemisphere about the decentralization of governmental services and the expanding influence of elected mayors. For at least a decade, governments from Mexico to Argentina, have been discussing and, in some cases, actually carrying out, efforts to decentralize to the local level public service provision in such important program areas as economic development, education, health services and housing.