Results-oriented budgeting in Egypt

particularly in the areas of: 

Engaging the ministers concerned in their crucial role of encouraging and supporting the work of the 
pilot teams 

Developing an understanding within the pilot teams of the basic concepts of performance-based 
budgeting (PBB) 

Focusing on principles of “customer service” in assessing pilot performance

Aligning the pilots’ plans to national policy priorities and strategies

Commencing development of an MIS, including relevant performance measures 

Starting to use pilot
s’
information for management and policy decision making 
4.2.1.5 Challenges Ahead
The findings of the WB mission were that while good progress has been made over the year since 
implementation started, additional work was still needed at the pilot level to build on the progress achieved till 
December 2003. While on the project level, the WB recommended the following actions: 

Consolidating the pilot teams’ work

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Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business ISSN: 2046-7141
Vol. 2, Issue. 9, (pp.13- 25)
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2013
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
Enhancing the design of the management information database and developing key performance 
indicators (KPIs) 

Developing a decision-support system (DSS) 

Integrating further the budgetary databases and procedures with the MIS 

Building “sustainable” capacity in the agenci
es concerned 

Strengthening the interaction between the detailed performance measures developed through the pilots 
(“micro” level), the strategic objectives of the ministries concerned (“meso” level)
and Egypt’s national 
policies (“macro” level).
4.2.1.6 Recommendations of the Review Mission 
 

Proceed with the immediate establishment of a ministerial committee to guide the results-oriented 
budgeting program and to serve as champion for the pilots 

Hold a government roundtable by end of Phase 1 project term
15
to exchange views between 
government and other stakeholders in order to ensure the continuance of the PBB learning process and 
to identify new pilots for project expansion 

Continue with capacity building efforts of new local consultants to support the growing demands for 
introduction of new pilots to the program 

Build the necessary information base for possible replication to other pilots 

Consider the establishment of a committee of government officials, below ministerial rank, to review 
technical issues related to the development of information systems, budgetary procedures and 
performance measures; and to improve the technical analysis and reporting of information from the 
pilot studies. This should facilitate the more rapid dissemination of the work, and the unification of 
methodology and approaches among the various pilots (Allen and Kusek, 2003). 
4.2.2 Phase 2: A Year Down The Road 
A year into the project lifecycle which was near completion, there was an increasing demand from within the 
ministries to roll-out additional pilots. Such an expansion would require a time extension of the current project, 
in addition to the continued technical support of the present pilots, which were at different stages of 
development. Accordingly, the GOE and the WB agreed on a project extension for one more year
16
to replicate 
knowledge and cautiously expand the number of pilots. 
4.2.3 Matrix Reloaded 
Given the project extension, two activities were envisioned. First, upon guaranteeing its success as a model for 
other pilots, the Phase 1 Project Action Plan Matrix will be reloaded in the coming period for the new pilots. As 
for the older subliminal pilots, as was previously mentioned, it was acknowledged by the last WB review 
mission in December 2003 that some pilots have started their results-orientation activities prior to launching of 
the project and were ready to work without technical assistance; other group of pilots achieved as planned; and a 
third group was behind due to some institutional and cultural resistance to change which was within tolerance 
levels.
In the following Phase 2 (FY2004/05), the technical assistance team planned to free some of its time to take on 
more pilots either within the same pilot ministry, or a new pilot ministry. As for the second group of pilots 
mentioned above, the local consulting team planned to continue working with the pilots that were off-schedule, 
in addition to the new ones. Third, the newly starting pilots will be assigned new working teams that were 
identified as qualified providers. The strategy was to continue with the successful approach of inviting specialist 
review missions and technical support from the WB. 
Starting December 2003, MOF has received an overwhelming number of requests from Egyptian ministries to 
join the project. The received applications were from ministries that were included at the inception, and have 
add-on pilots, while other ministries intended to join for the first time. Up to July 2004, applications from 22 
ministries were received together with 49 subliminal pilots besides the existing ones. This reflects the success of 
the project and the dedication of all stakeholders involved in making it a genuine success story that was 
supposed to leave its mark on the citizens of Egypt for years to come.
However, despite the great potential of the long list of new pilots and affiliated entities, MOF accepted the WB 
expert advice not to spread too thin at this initial stage of the project’s life. The project has indeed, demonstrated 
its success through adoption in the 13 mentioned subliminal pilots instead of the planned 5 pilots at project 

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Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business ISSN: 2046-7141
Vol. 2, Issue. 9, (pp.13- 25)