Public Sector Performance-Based Budgeting in Italy

Abstract

Italy has often been cited as a laggard in terms of its adoption and implementation of New Public Management reforms. Nevertheless, managerial changes have been introduced in recent decades to improve the performance of public organisations in Italy and to reduce the gap with best practices in Europe. The reforms undertaken by the central government include the redefinition of budgeting procedures and budget structure, the reinforcement of performance management systems, and attempts to integrate the budgeting and performance cycles. In this context, the idea of performance-based budgeting appears relevant to the Italian context. This chapter aims to investigate and interpret the adoption, implementation, and use of performance-based budgeting reform by the Italian central government. Although several years have passed since performance-based budgeting was first introduced, the process has not met with consistent success. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the status of the reform process, analysing its main limitations and challenges.