Public-interest research · Pilot 2022–2023
Where does the money go?
Public money. Public priorities. People’s lives. A pilot that follows public spending across five African countries and asks better questions about what the numbers reveal.
Pilot status
This is an interactive pilot exploration, not a publication-cleared research release. It is a pilot comparison, not a ranking of governments. Figures need source review before they are presented as conclusions.
The question
A budget is a plan. Spending is another part of the story.
Governments publish what they plan to spend. Fewer publish what they actually spent clearly and on time. Almost none publish it in a form that lets a citizen compare one country with another.
The pilot puts health, education (with tertiary education called out), power and energy, and water and sanitation side by side for two years in each country. It also shows interest and debt service alongside energy subsidies and bailouts, which sit outside the ordinary sector lines. Every figure keeps its period, its coverage note and an evidence grade attached.
It tests five questions rather than announcing answers: did spending match the plan; what share goes to interest; did spending grow in real terms; are commitments reflected in budgets; and is tertiary education being squeezed?
Scope
Five countries, three fiscal calendars
The “2022” and “2023” in the pilot mean different twelve-month periods in different countries. The report always shows the real period.
| Country | Fiscal year | Periods compared |
|---|---|---|
| Nigeria | Calendar year (January–December) | 2022 and 2023 |
| Ghana | Calendar year (January–December) | 2022 and 2023 |
| Kenya | July–June | FY2021/22 and FY2022/23 |
| South Africa | April–March | FY2022/23 and FY2023/24 |
| Egypt | July–June | FY2021/22 and FY2022/23 |
Inside the report
What you can explore
Put the numbers side by side
Choose a sector, period, currency (local, market US dollars or PPP dollars) and scale (total or per person).
Tests, not verdicts
Each question is framed as something to investigate: supported, not supported or untestable, with a reason.
Deep dives
Health, education, tertiary education, power and energy, water and sanitation, and subsidies and bailouts.
All 74 records
Search and filter the pilot dataset by grade, country and year, and download the filtered table as CSV.
Read the numbers responsibly
How dollar views work, what the grades mean, why fiscal periods differ and the publication gate.
Every row carries its basis
Each figure states exactly what it covers, from federal budgets to partial-year actuals.
Evidence grades
Grades describe evidence, not government performance.
Grade A
Actual spending, with the same coverage in both years.
Grade B
Actual but partial (for example a part-year or ministry-only figure), or a budget with good coverage.
Grade C
Budget-only or federal-only. Not a complete picture of all public spending.
Read before comparing
Limitations
Nigeria’s sector figures are federal budgets only (grade C). They leave out state and local spending, so they are not national spending results and look small next to the other countries. Nigeria’s 2023 petrol subsidy covers January to May only and is borne by all tiers of government.
Currencies. Compare ratios and within-country changes first. PPP dollars are used for cross-country levels; market US dollars exaggerate falls where currencies devalued in 2022–23. Neither replaces local currency, and figures are never added across countries.
Subsidies and bailouts are separate. They are not added into power or sector totals.
Missing data is not zero. Gaps mean a country does not publish the figure.
Sources. National budget and implementation reports for each country and World Bank World Development Indicators. Page-level citations are held in the country workbooks; the publication gate in the report explains what still needs review.
Interactive report
Follow the numbers yourself.
The report runs in your browser. It has no tracking and needs no account.