What will you learn?

Fiscal reports and data, used to create fiscal policies and documents, should provide a comprehensive, relevant, timely and reliable overview of the government financial position and performance. It is important to emphasize the role of the quality fiscal reporting and data collection in carrying out structural reforms, including the ones agreed within Economic Reform Programmes (ERP). Therefore, this workshop will outline the influence of data used for fiscal reporting, costing and prioritization of policies on the achievement of countries’ overall fiscal objectives and will underline necessary capacity to formulate fiscal policy and monitor fiscal developments.

This workshop will be designed to help public officials to better understand the importance of proper fiscal data and impact of fiscal statistics and accounting on decision making, in order to explain what improvements can be made to ensure relevant and reliable fiscal reports. Fiscal reporting challenges and possible solutions will also be addressed throughout examining good practices in the region and beyond.

In particular, it will focus on strengthening analytical capacities of institutions needed to improve fiscal policy-making and costing of structural reforms through better understanding of allocated data. We will discuss Government Finance Statistics (GFS) and Fiscal Code of Transparency, influence of accounting on costing and estimation of macroeconomic data depending on the methodology that is used.

How will you benefit?

The workshop will discuss the specifics of fiscal statistics, prospects for improvement of spending efficiency and costing; fiscal reporting as an overview of government’s financial position. Therefore, upon its completion, participants will be able to:

• Describe factors that could cause incorrect fiscal data, and what could be done to address them
• Identify specific shortcomings in collecting and analyzing data 
• Recognize the role of GFS and Fiscal Code of Transparency in contributing better fiscal policy making
• Assess how to answer to ERP data requirements
• Appraise the benefits of policy-specific accounting practices for costing and prioritization of measures

Since the workshop will be designed as partaking, the participants will be actively engaged in discussions and group exercises, and encouraged to share their country’s experiences and challenges encountered in delivering fiscal documents and policies. It will provide a ground for sharing experiences and best practices between participants and thematic experts from the SEE region, and beyond.

Who should attend?

Invited are public officials in SEE who are working at:

• ministries of finance units involved in fiscal analyses and policy-making process

• line ministries departments participating in the preparation of fiscal reports and policies

• other public institutions with a mandate in fiscal policies and structural reforms

Lecturers

The learning initiative will be delivered under the guidance of:

• Suzanne Flynn — IMF PFM Advisor
• Deon Florian Tanzer — IMF GFS Advisor
• Irena Roštan — Ministry of Finance, Slovenia
• Gorana Roje — Ministry of State Assets, Croatia
• Anto Bajo — Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Practical information

Travel and accommodation costs will be funded for up to three officials per IPA II beneficiary country (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey). Officials from other CEF constituency countries and beyond would have to obtain funding from their sending institution (or another donor) to cover these costs. No fee will be charged, and meals and refreshments during the event will be provided to all selected participants.

The workshop be delivered in English and no translation will be provided.

Applications need to be submitted no later than January 11 via the online application form. Candidates will need to be approved by the CEF; confirmations will be sent to selected candidates by January 17.

 

Partners

This learning initiative was supported by: