About this event

Spread across eight policy areas and to be implemented over a three-year period, structural reform (SR) measures included in the ERPs are set to tackle the most important structural obstacles to competitiveness and inclusive growth of a country. For their successful implementation, realistic and consistent costing is as important as good definition and sequencing of the measures. With sound costing, the funding for SR’s implementation will be easier secured in the medium-term budget process.   

Taking this into account, this event will provide guidance for officials working on preparation of structural reform measures on how to practically use the Methodological Guidance for Costing of Structural Reforms (Costing Guidance) to ensure adequate estimation of their implementation costs and their presentation in the ERP. It will complement the European Commission‘s Guidance for the ERP 2020-2022, while answering the specific learning needs identified in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The overall objective of this event is to strengthen the skills needed for costing of structural reforms, which is expected to result in more realistic cost estimates and reduced delays in their implementation.

More precisely, at this two-day event, the officials from line ministries and the Ministry of Finance will appraise the compliance of already drafted costs of structural reforms with the Costing Guidance, to make needed improvements and/or clarifications which will ensure their readiness for inclusion into the 2020 - 2022 ERP. While taking a problem-solving and participatory approach, the focus of this event will be on the assessment of costs and funding sources of the draft structural reforms from all eight policy areas, while the drafted descriptions of structural reforms will be reviewed only from the perspective of providing sufficient information for doing proper costing.

This event builds on the knowledge shared and lessons learned during the introductory event delivered earlier this year in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It will be organized at a location away from officials’ daily business operations to stimulate coordination and team work between actors relevant to the ERP preparation process.

This event is implemented as part of the CEF’s regional project “Strengthening Line Ministries’ Capacities to Assess Fiscal Implications of Structural Reforms”.

What will you learn?

This event will be highly participatory and oriented towards practical implementation of the Costing Guidance to structural reforms to be included in the next ERP. By attending this event, the participants will have a possibility to appraise the drafted costs of their institutions’ structural reforms, while getting assistance and advice on prospects for overcoming the main costing challenges.  

In particular, upon the completion of this training, participants will be able to:

• Appraise benefits and determine methods for integrating structural reforms outlined in the ERP into the country’s budget preparation process and medium-term fiscal framework
• Examine elements of the European Commission‘s Guidance for the ERP 2020-2022 relevant to costing of structural reforms and their financing
• Understand the principles of Methodological Guidance for Costing of Structural Reforms and how to practically implement it in preparation of inputs for the ERP
  • Clarify differences in concepts of „additional costs“ and „base year“
  • Distinguish  ,,direct“ and „indirect/secondary“ cost implications
  • Categorize different types of expenditures (e.g. subsidies for investments, earmarked transfers to local governments)
  • Realistically plan funding sources and their availability (e.g. sector budget support sources conditioned on performance)
  • Minimize the use of „to be determined“ funding sources
• Assess how to streamline the process of cooperation and information exchange between line ministries, the Ministry of Finance Budget Department, and the ERP Coordinator.

Who should attend?

Invited to participate are the officials involved in the design, costing and budgeting of structural reforms outlined in the ERP, which include: 

• ERP Coordinators from all levels of government
• Participants in ERP preparation
• Officials working at the finance and policy departments of Line Ministries
• Officials working at budget department of Ministries of Finance of entities
• Policy planning experts from the government’s policy coordination body

Since this event builds upon the introductory course organized on July 4^th in Sarajevo, participants who attended the earlier event will be considered first in the selection.

For more information please contact

Ms Bojana Crnadak, Program Specialist: bojana.crnadak@cef-see.org; +386 1 369 6333     

Ms Natasha Ilijeva Acevska, Program Officer: natasha.ilijeva@cef-see.org;+38613696186