Improving Public Asset Management in South East Europe

Posted by Gorana Roje, Jasmina Popović and Suzanne Flynn^[1]

A recent on-line course hosted by the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) in Ljubljana concluded that a lot remains to be done to effectively manage the region’s public sector assets. The course looked at good practice internationally and current practices in South East Europe, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine.

New IMF Infrastructure Governance Portal

Posted by Khaled Eltokhy, Chishiro Matsumoto, Nathalie Carcenac^[1]

The IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department has launched a new portal dedicated to infrastructure governance. (https://infrastructuregovern.IMF.org).

Harnessing Accountability Through External Public Audits

Posted by Vivek Ramkumar and Claire Schouten^[1]

So many lives have been upended by the overwhelming health and economic impacts of COVID-19. The good news is that governments have made major spending commitments to shore up their battered economies and to provide direct relief to their populations. The IMF estimates that countries have already announced nearly $12 trillion in emergency spending measures.

Building Macro-Fiscal Policies and Capabilities in Saudi Arabia to Support National Transformation

Posted by Saad Alshahrani, Emre Balibek, and Yasser Sobhi^[1]

Saudi Arabia has embarked on a major program of national economic transformation. The Kingdom’s Vision 2030, its National Transformation Program 2020, and its Fiscal Balance Program, set out an agenda for reform whose objectives include economic diversification, improving competitiveness and the business environment, increasing foreign direct investment and private sector participation in the economy, and growing the non-oil economy. To support these objectives, the agenda aims at ensuring that the public finances are managed efficiently, effectively, and sustainably, while adhering to high standards of transparency and accountability with a strong emphasis on performance and results.

UNDP-IMF Roundtable on Green Budgeting in Asia

Posted by Asad Maken and Claude Wendling^[1]

On November 3, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) jointly organized a roundtable on green budgeting practices in the Asia Pacific Region. The roundtable aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of green budgeting practices in Asia and sought to move the dialogue beyond the current focus on green budget tagging. The Asia Pacific Region is a forerunner in green budgeting. This can be attributed to these countries’ direct experience with the impact of climate change leading to a strong emphasis on building home grown capacity and intensive support by international organizations such as UNDP and the World Bank. Building on countries’ experiences the roundtable aimed to address the following set of questions: What are the critical capacity constraints for putting in place green budgeting? How can countries integrate green budgeting practices into the budget process while maintaining the effectiveness of this ? Which green budgeting practices are more likely to make a difference in terms of influencing actual decision making and policy?

The First IMF Training on Fighting Corruption

Posted by Concha Verdugo Yepes^[1]

These days, there is a lot of activity in preparation for the International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9^th. This year’s United Nations message focuses on “RECOVER with INTEGRITY” highlighting that only by putting effective corruption mitigation measures in place will a better recovery be possible. The message also emphasizes that inclusive COVID-19 recovery can only be achieved with integrity.

Public Sector Balance Sheets and the COVID-19 Crisis

Posted by Alex Metcalfe and Sybi Hida^[1]

 The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 forced policymakers to expand their macroeconomic analysis toolkit with new tools. These tools helped policymakers apply a macroprudential approach to mitigate risk to the financial system. A recent report from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) - “Sustainable Public Finances Through COVID-19” - argues that existing PFM tools also need to be expanded.