What is the meaning of public budget?

Definition and Meaning of Public Sector Budgeting

Public sectors have missions which define the reason for their existence. Based on these
missions, the public sectors develop goals and specific objectives, which when achieved would lead to the achievement of the mission of the sector.

Achievement of the objectives for any period requires the commitment of resources that are properly managed. Meanwhile, resources are not in abundant supply. A budget is a control tool that can enable managers of organisations to allocate scarce resources and ensure its judicious application.

While a budget is the outcome of the budgetary process, budgeting generally is a translation of the plans of an organization into financial
projections that facilitate planning, resource allocation, and controlling of activities.

In order to secure the desirable outcome from budgets, they should have the qualities being specific, measurable, motivating, and support of all members that would be involved in their development, implementation and evaluation.

Budgeting is difficult in the public sector because of the difficulty in defining quantifiable budget objectives and outputs. Public sector budgeting is the process by which the public sector goes through in the preparation of financial plans that facilitate the implementation of strategies for achieving the objectives of an entity in a specified
period.

Public sector budgeting could therefore be taken as the process of developing financial plans for central government, MDAs and MMDAs. The budget generally would cover the various sources and application of state funds.