Despite considerable progress in many areas, there remains substantial scope for making government operations more cost-effective. Brazil spends a high share of GDP on selected government-financed programmes in relation to many OECD countries and its emerging-market peers, but outcome indicators are often comparatively poor. As a result, in the absence of efficiency gains, further increases in spending would need to be financed through additional tax hikes and, most importantly, would likely fail to deliver commensurate improvements in outcomes. Initiatives to enhance the efficiency of government operations are therefore necessary and call for concerted action in many policy areas. The largest payoff would most probably come from greater emphasis on longer-term budget planning to facilitate the identification of, and secure adequate funding for, cost-effective programmes. At the same time, enhanced budget flexibility would make it easier for policymakers to shift budgetary resources towards the programmes that are most cost-effective. Options are being considered for developing the recently discovered offshore oil fields and to ensure that the revenue accruing to the budget is saved or allocated to programmes with the highest returns for future generations.