[wdmmg-discuss] bringing together spending of all UN countries

[Friedrich Lindenberg]

Hi Lisa,

I really like this idea, and I hope we can get anywhere close to a
full comparison of UN members state budgets.

On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 4:19 PM, Lisa Evans <lisa.evans at okfn.org> wrote:
>  - I believe, but I don't know for sure, that 192 United Nations member
>   states each year classifies their spending under the COFOG system

This would be fantastic if it were true but at least in Germany I
doubt it: I've queried the finance ministry for a cofog mapping of
their financial releases and they don't seem to have any (plus they
would not release it). The only link between German spending and COFOG
I've found so far was one established by our national statistics unit
a few years ago in an exploratory study. They, too, won't release the
mapping sheets used.

I wonder, though: we do have a functional classification of spending
which is functionally equivalent to COFOG. How do you rate the
"credibility risk" in manually mapping this?

(If Google Translate is your friend:
http://www.verwaltungsvorschriften-im-internet.de/bsvwvbund_16052001_IIFPl.htm
https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?authkey=CO3_leoP&hl=en&key=tljXl8WXu4oyTRCJ7YIaQDg&hl=en&authkey=CO3_leoP#gid=0)

Cheers,

 Friedrich