Developing an Integrated Framework for Assessing Public Budget Expenditure Efficiency: Evidence from Uzbekistan

Purpose. This article aims to substantiate the theoretical and methodological foundations for evaluating the efficiency of public budget expenditure and to develop a comprehensive, multi-criteria system of indicators capable of capturing the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of budgetary spending. Design/methodology/approach. The study applies a systemic approach combined with comparative analysis, economic-statistical analysis, scientific abstraction, induction, deduction, and generalization. The empirical and normative basis draws on data and reports of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the National Statistics Committee, the Open Budget Portal, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Program, alongside a structured review of the international and post-Soviet scientific literature on performance-based budgeting (2006-2025). Findings. The efficiency of budget fund utilization cannot be adequately captured through the level of fund absorption or fiscal-discipline indicators alone. Building on the international literature and Uzbekistan’s 2027-2029 Fiscal Strategy, the study proposes an integrated conceptual model in which economy, efficiency, and effectiveness interact as three mutually reinforcing criteria, operationalized through seven indicator groups: financial, economic, social, effectiveness, transparency and accountability, digitalization, and sustainability indicators. Practical implications. The proposed indicator system and the accompanying policy recommendations provide a methodological basis for the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the National Statistics Committee, sectoral ministries, and regional governments to design a national Integrated Budget Efficiency Index, to introduce program-level Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and to align budget performance monitoring with the “Uzbekistan – 2030” strategy. Originality/value. Unlike prior studies that either describe international performance-budgeting experience in general terms or confine the analysis to a single sector (e.g., renewable energy), this article integrates financial, economic, social, governance, digital, and sustainability dimensions into one methodologically consistent framework specifically adapted to the institutional conditions of Uzbekistan’s evolving public financial management (PFM) system, and formalizes the framework through an original composite index specification.