First Issue of the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department's e-Newsletter

Posted by Michel Lazare

In April 2009, the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) published the first issue of its e-newsletter. As explained in the presentation letter (full text below) of FAD's Director, Carlo Cottarelli (see picture above), the aim of FAD's e-newsletter is to "reach out to a broad and diverse group of people who may be interested in FAD's activities.

This first issue focuses on FAD's activities on key fiscal topics:

• Fiscal policy and the global financial crisis;
• Fiscal policy in low-income countries;
• Fiscal risks; and
• Fiscal structural reforms.

In addition, the e-newsletter includes links to three categories of publications on fiscal issues:

1. IMF publications;
2. IMF working papers; and
3. External publications

And guess what? Surprise, surprise ! The e-newsletter includes a link to PFM blog!

The e-newletter is accessible on the www. imf.org website.

Long live the FAD's e-newsletter!

Andre Terrrot's English-French Public Financial Management Glossary

Posted by Dominique Bouley

 

In a February 6, 2009 PFM blog post titled "Confounded by Language," my colleague Holger van Eden showed some of the pitfalls of lousy interpretation. as he pointed out, this can lead to sometimes embarassing or funny situations. Well, translation of PFM terms is not much better in that respect.

Finding the exact translation of a PFM technical concept can be very tricky. It is difficult enough for the concepts which are used in the two countries whose languages are the source and the target for translation. It becomes extremely tricky when the PFM concept is specific to a PFM system and does not really have a direct equivalent in the target language.

Over the years, my former colleague and dear friend André Terrot, who was a senior reviewer in the then bureau of language services of the IMF faced many of these situations. As a result, he became one of the world's best experts in translating English PFM terminology into French.

Soon before retiring a few years ago, André very wisely thought of putting his acquired knowledge on paper and asked for my help in preparing an English-French PFM Glossary. This glossary was unfortunately never published. The PFM blog offers a unique opportunity for sharing this knowledge with everyone. So, for the benefit of our PFM Blog readers, here is a downloadable copy of the Terrot PFM Glossary.

Terrot PFM Glossary (part 1): Download English-French PFM Glossary (part 1)

Terro PFM Glossary (part 2): Download English-French PFM Glossary (part 2)

Of course, translation is an art not a science. PFM readers may have ideas for further improving translation of a word or concept. I would like to invite them to leave their suggestions as comments to this post.

A Few Updates on the PFM Blogosphere

Posted by Michel Lazare

The (still) small world of the Public Financial Management blogs is moving. Here are a few news:

1. The MTEF Blog (see our August 22 post "Welcome to the new MTEF blog") now goes by the name "MTEF is the Bayesian Heresy." This results from the merge in principle on January 1 (but already effective in practice) of the MTEF blog with the Bayesian Heresy Blog (see in particular the December 8 posting of the Bayesian Heresy "announcing a bail out and a merge."

De facto, the Bayesian Heresy blog had not published many posts over the last few months. The MTEF blog has already inherited the rather eclectic choice of topics of the Bayesian Heresy blog, while keeping a marked for fiscal issues in general (see in particular its recent posts on MTEF and on performance budgeting). We wish full success to this new version of the MTEF blog.

Welcome to Peter Heller's New Blog: "Thinking About Fiscal Policy"

Posted by Christian Schiller

I would like to alert the readers of the PFM Blog to a new blog, the "Thinking about fiscal policy" Blog which was created by Peter Heller a few weeks ago. Peter was my first Deputy Division Chief when I joined the Fund in the early 80s. I worked for him in various positions and we also published together.

One moment which I remember in particular was when we were sitting together in the Thomas church in the city of Leipzig, listening to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach being played in the church where Bach had worked as a cantor and music director for 27 years until his death in 1750. Peter was in Leipzig for a presentation of his book “Who Will Pay---Coping with Aging Societies, Climate Change, and Other Long-Term Fiscal Challenges” (2003). At the presentation in the afternoon, the place was packed--not only because in the East it was still not as common as in other parts of Germany to be able to listen to an American world class economist, but also because his talks are always very insightful and thought provoking.

Over more than a quarter of a century, he has substantially contributed to the thinking of the IMF in the public finance area, including research, surveillance, program design and implementation as well as technical assistance.

Peter retired from the Fund in 2006. He is presently Senior Adjunct Professor of International Economics at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University in Washington. He also teaches at the Graduate School of Governance of the University of Maastricht.

I am glad that he now has created his own blog so we can all benefit from his thoughtful and always very creative thinking. I am looking forward to his postings.

Welcome to the Newcomer on the...Blog: CBO Director's Blog

• Posted by Michel Lazare

We are delighted to announce that the Director of the US Congressional Budget Office, Peter Orszag, has created a blog : CBO Director’s Blog

Here is what Peter Orszag has to say about his blog's content:

What are you likely to read on this blog? First, you will learn more about CBO — the types of work we do, how we do it, and more about the outstanding analysts we have. For example, when we come out with a new report or important cost estimate, I may write a bit about the analytical substance and also introduce you to the key staff who took the lead in the analysis. Second, CBO’s research and cost estimates are often discussed extensively in the media and elsewhere — and not surprisingly, from time to time misunderstandings or misinterpretations arise about some analysis we have done. In those kinds of situations, I will use the blog to further explain our work and address possible or potential misunderstanding. Finally, when it seems appropriate, I will use the blog to link our work to relevant outside research from academic or other institutions that may shed additional light on the challenging issues the Congress is working to address.

PFM Blog Got an Award!

Posted by Michel Lazare

The PFM Blog team is pleased to let you know that our blog received an award!

The Bayesian Heresy blog recently published its "BH Economics Blog Awards 2008" and ranked our PFM Blog second in its "Best Multilateral Agency Blog."

Best Multilateral Agency Blog
1- IMF Research Blog
2- PFM Blog
3- End Poverty in South Asia (from World Bank)

IMF -- New Webpage on IMF Technical Assistance in Public Financial Management and Other Topics

Posted by Michel Lazare

The IMF's external website (www.imf.org) now includes a page devoted to presenting the technical assistance (TA) provided by the Fund. This page covers FAD's TA in the public financial management and other fiscal areas. It also covers TA provided by other IMF departments on financial and banking sector issues, statistics, and legal topics.

The address of this TA page is: http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/key/tech.htm.

African Development Governance Strategy - AfDB Request for Comments

Have your say! African Development Bank’s draft Governance Strategic Direction for 2008-2010

Posted by Carlos Santiso, AfDB

Dear colleagues,

As you may be aware, the African Development Bank is developing Strategic Directions to guide its support to the efforts of regional member countries in 2008-2010 to strengthen governance and promote integrity in the management of public resources, with a focus on promoting good economic and financial governance at the country, sector and regional levels while paying special attention to fragile states and the management of natural resources, with a strategic deployment of its panoply of instruments. The Bank considers these pillars as key levers for pro-poor change, citizen empowerment and government accountability.

In the spirit of openness, transparency and participation, the Bank is conducting a public consultation until 15 January 2008 on the draft governance orientations paper, which was shared with the African Development Fund’s Deputies in Bamako, Mali, in September 2007. The document, in French and English, is available through the Bank’s website. Internal and external stakeholders are cordially invited to comment and submit suggestions via e-mail (send to AFDB_Governance_Str_Paper@afdb.org). The submissions can be in English or French. Your input and involvement are important, as we work to finalising these orientations and its action plan in the first half of 2008.

Have your say !

Dr. Carlos Santiso

c.santiso@afdb.org

Manager, Governance Division (OSGE 1)

African Development Bank

World Freedom Atlas: A Nice-Looking Tool to Visualize Good Governance Indexes

Posted by Michel Lazare

The time-series dataset (1990-2006) put together by the Quality of Government Institute of the Göteborg University (Sweden) is now available as an interactive mapping application in the World Freedom Atlas.

This data set is a very rich one. It contains dozens of data series and over 300 variables originating from a large variety of sources: World Bank, UNDP, NGOs, academia, etc. These data series cover not only good governance issues but also freedom, human rights, and democracy. Some of them relate to issues faced when reforming PFM systems (e.g., bureaucratic compensation) or could show, over time, the impact of PFM reforms (e.g., government effectiveness).

Drafting Budget System Laws -- IMF Technical Guidance Note

Posted by Ian Lienert

Law is a dry subject. Budgeting is as well. Would happiness be attained if the two subjects were to be married? Denmark sees no need for such a marriage: it has never adopted a formal law to govern the budget system. At the other extreme, the United States believes in this marriage: it has adopted many laws relating to the budget system—both a federal and State level. Most countries lie between the extremes of these two countries.

A new IMF FAD Technical Guidance Note on Budget Systems Laws, prepared by Ian Lienert and Israel Fainboim of the Fiscal Affairs Department, explores the variations, and provides principles to guide countries seeking to draft new budget laws or to amend existing laws.

Global Public Goods (and PFM?) ---- August International Institute of Public Finance Conference

The International Institute of Public Finance's 63rd annual congress, held Aug 27-30, 2007 in Warwick, UK, was themed “Global Public Goods and Commons: Theoretical and Policy Challenges for a Changing World.” A number of sessions at the conference focused on expenditure policy and management-related issues, including corruption and global public goods.