How you will benefit
The Seminar’s primary objective is to better understand objectives and features of structural reforms and their costing, to identify the challenges and bottlenecks in fiscal policy coordination among ministries, and to share experiences with colleagues in other South East European countries on how these challenges are being addressed.
After attending this seminar, participants will be able to:
- Understand the importance of good macro-fiscal frameworks, and the role of structural reforms, especially in the context of EU accession
- Describe the implementation challenges and the factors that are necessary to make fiscal planning work in practice
- Identify operations and methodology needed to assess the fiscal impact of structural reforms
- Contribute to assuring realistic and consistent information on structural reforms and their costs in national macro-fiscal frameworks, and in Economic Reform Programmes
Target audience
The Seminar has been designed primarily for senior level public officials working at ministries of finance and line ministries (and other budget users) who actively deal with budget formulation, strategic planning and budget decision-making, and in particular those who are involved in drafting strategic macro-fiscal documents such as, for example, the Economic Reform Programme.
Contributions from participants
The Seminar will be highly participatory. Participants are encouraged to be active in discussions throughout the seminar and to share their country experiences and challenges in carrying out structural reforms, in particular with respect to assessing their fiscal impact.
Description
“Enabling Fiscal Programming of Structural Reforms” is the final seminar of the 2.5-year Strategic Planning and Budgeting Project funded by the EU and executed by CEF. The Seminar will take place on September 15-17; in the morning of September 18, it will be complemented with a high-level policy dialogue as the concluding event of the Project as a whole.
With respect to structural reforms, several learning and networking activities have been delivered under this Project so far. Participants of the previous seminars on this subject have discussed the consequences of varying definitions of structural reforms, problems of integrating their costs in the budget process and into strategic documents, and different mechanisms to coordinate their fiscal programming. Beneficiaries emphasized the importance that better coordination on fiscal planning plays in promoting reforms.
The Seminar will build on policy coordination issues identified within the CEF’s Fiscal Impact Assessment of Structural Reforms project. In this project, beneficiaries from South East Europe (SEE) discussed country case studies on how fiscal costs of structural reforms are integrated into countries’ annual budgets and medium-term fiscal documents. And it will focus on sharing of experiences with the preparation of Economic Reform Programmes (ERP) that EU (potential) candidate countries carry out as part of their economic governance dialogue with the European Union, focusing in particular on how to systematically incorporate information on structural reforms and their fiscal implications in the two parts of the annual ERP reporting.
Closely associated with the subject of structural reforms and their fiscal implications is also the sector budget support mechanism introduced as an important financial delivery instrument under the new EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) II. This mechanism also requires close cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and the line ministry responsible for the area that would be subject of the sector budget support.
A number of deficiencies have been observed in the integration of structural reforms’ fiscal costs into annual budgets and medium-term fiscal programming documents. Challenges in policy coordination include inconsistent procedures, unclear responsibilities or lines of authority, inadequate coordination mechanisms, communication problems, and inconsistencies between central and local government levels. Overcoming such deficiencies should help promote the success of structural reforms and overall budget planning through better transparency, accountability, and prioritization of efforts.
Comprehensive fiscal programming of structural reforms involves a wide range of relevant stakeholders, providing input at various stages. The seminar will contribute to a better understanding of the roles of line ministries, the Ministry of Finance and the Government in the fiscal programming process, and factors that enable or hinder it.
For a first impression of the Seminar, click here.
Faculty
[in order of appearance]
MOJMIR MRAK, Professor of International Finance, University of Ljubljana, and CEF Associate Fellow
Mojmir Mrak is a Jean Monnet Chair professor of international finance at the University of Ljubljana and a regular visiting professor at post-graduate programs of the universities of Siena and Vienna. His main research fields include capital flows, trade and project finance, and EU institutional and public finance issues. Professor Mrak is author of numerous books and articles.
Mr. Mrak has more than 20 years of experience in designing and implementing the Slovenian government's policy in areas of international finance and EU accession. In the first five years following independence in 1991, he was the chief external debt negotiator of Slovenia. In addition, he was responsible for the early credit arrangements of Slovenia with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank. Between 1998 and 2002, he was chief advisor of the Slovenian government on financial aspects of the country’s EU accession. Within this framework, he was responsible for negotiations about the financial package of Slovenia’s accession. Between 2003 and early 2006, he coordinated the Slovene government’s activities with respect to the 2007-2013 financial perspective of the EU, and has been involved in negotiations about the 2014-2020 financial perspective of the EU.
Mr. Mrak has served as a consultant to numerous international organizations and several governments in South East Europe. He is a CEF Associate Fellow.
DUNCAN LAST, Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe, IMF
Duncan Last is the IMF Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe, having previously been based in IMF headquarters for the last 8 years. Prior to that he had been working in the field for 20 years covering various topics in public financial management, including: PFM advisor in the IMF’s AFRITAC East Regional Technical Assistance Center; budget and treasury advisor in Slovenia also covering various countries in the region, during which time he helped establish the Center of Excellence in Finance; budget and IFMIS advisor in Mali and Papua New Guinea, debt management advisor in Papua New Guinea, and debt management software designer at the Commonwealth Secretariat in UK.
He also had three other careers before public finance: teacher of physics, manufacturing engineer, and software designer. Slovenia was also where Duncan developed the most important passion of his life (after his family) - sailing. Duncan grew up in Ethiopia, where he attended the French Lycée. His interests are travel, history, environment, politics, chess and bridge.
NINA VUJOŠEVIĆ, Adviser to the Prime Minister of Montenegro and docent at University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro
Nina Vujošević is Adviser to the Prime Minister of Montenegro and docent at the University of Donja Gorica in Podgorica. Her main research fields include macroeconomics, international economics and development. Nina Vujošević is author of numerous articles in domestic and international publications.
Ms. Vujošević has more than 10 years of experience in designing and implementing the Montenegrin government's policy in areas of macroeconomics and EU accession. She was Deputy Minister of economy in the Government of Montenegro from November 2010 to March 2015. As Deputy Minister of economy, she became chief of the working group for the negotiation preparation with the EU for the chapter 1 - free movement of goods in 2013. From the beginning of 2011 until March 2015, she was responsible for the coordination of programming and implementation of all EU funded projects for the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro as beneficiary. In November 2014, she became one of the coordinators for the development of Economic Reforms Programme of Montenegro as the crucial document for the economic dialogue between Montenegro and the EU.
From March 2015, Nina Vujošević works as Adviser to the Prime Minister of Montenegro.
NORA KOKAJ, Macroeconomist, Ministry of Finance, Kosovo
Nora Kokaj is a relatively new addition to the Macroeconomics Unit of the Ministry of Finance in Kosovo, the unit responsible for the forecast of main macroeconomic indicators for Kosovo as well as policy analysis. Having joined in October 2014, she was involved in the first ever drafting of the Economic Reform Programme for Kosovo, a document which marked a new stepping stone in Kosovo – EU relations in terms of economic governance. Previously she was a part of the Fiscal Policy Unit, working mainly on research on tax policy and analysis.
She is an alumna of the Young Cells Scheme Scholarship, a merit-based scholarship funded by the European Commission serving the Government of Kosovo, through which she completed her master’s degree in International Economic Policy at the prestigious Sciences PO in Paris.
QEMAJL MARMULLAKAJ, Director of Strategic Planning Office, Office of the Prime Minister, Kosovo
JANEZ ŠUŠTERŠIC, Partner and consultant at Re-forma, d.o.o., and Senior Economist on the EU-project "Support to Ministry of Finance" in Kosovo
Janez Šušteršič is an economist with more than 10 years hands-on experience in formulating and implementing economic and fiscal policy. He was finance minister of Slovenia in 2012, leading the policy of fiscal consolidation, adopting the legal framework for banking crises resolution, and improving the framework for governance and privatization of state-owned enterprises. From 2000 to 2007, he led the Slovenian government's economic institute that performs the roles of macroeconomic forecasting and economic analysis (Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, or IMAD). He was also a Vice-President of the EU's Economic Policy Committee, which reports directly to the Council of EU Finance Ministers (Ecofin).
Mr. Šušteršič today is a partner and consultant in the private company Re-forma, research and development, ltd. His main current engagement is as Senior Economist on an EU-funded project in Kosovo where his main responsibilities are improving the macroeconomic forecasting at Ministry of Finance and facilitating the preparation of Economic and Reform Programmes.
He is also an Associate Professor of Economic Policy at the private International School for Social and Business Studies in Celje, Slovenia. His academic work is focused on political economy and institutional economics and is published in established journals such as Public Choice, Kyklos, and International Review of Law and Economics. Both from his academic work and from his political and advisory experience Mr. Šušteršič has a comprehensive understanding of the complex political issues and processes that play in the background of any policy decision.
DRITAN FINO, Advisor to Cabinet of Minister, Ministry of Finance, Albania
Mr. Dritan Fino has been working as advisor at the Cabinet of the Minister of Finance of Albania, since November 2013. His main responsibilities are related to issues of financial management and control, and accounting. During this period he has been actively engaged in preparing, coordinating and monitoring the Public Finance Management Strategy, which has been considered as one of the main criteria for EU Budget Support to the Albanian government. He has also been engaged in drafting various new laws related to public finance such as the law on financial management and control, the law on internal auditing, statutory audit and other regulations in the area of accounting.
Mr. Fino has been lecturing since 2010 in different universities in Albania, such as University of Tirana, and Marin Barleti University. His teaching and research areas relate to financial and management accounting, national and international standards of accounting, and finance.
Other professional experiences include engagements such as heading the Qualification and Certification Commission of Internal Auditors, as well as being member of the Registration Authority at the Institute of Authorized Chartered Auditors of Albania, and of the Civil Servant Recruitment Committee.
He has earned the bachelor degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Tirana. Since 2004, he followed graduate studies in Japan on a scholarship from the prestigious Monbukagakusho Program, and he earned the Master of Art’s degree, and a Ph.D. in Finance and Accounting from the Kyushu Sangyo University in Fukuoka, Japan.
CHRISTOPHER TOWE, Deputy Director of Fiscal Affairs Department at IMF
Christopher Towe is presently Deputy Director in IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), where he has specific responsibility for overseeing FAD’s work in Europe and also for coordinating the Department’s technical assistance across the Fund’s membership. Prior to this assignment, he was Deputy Director in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, where he oversaw the IMF’s FSAP program and financial sector technical assistance, and led FSAP assessments of the United States, Turkey, and Japan. During his long career at the IMF, he was also mission chief to a wide range of countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan, India, and Hong Kong. His research has covered areas including fiscal sustainability, monetary policy implementation, tax policy, and exchange rate bubbles, and before joining the IMF, he worked for three years at the Bank of Canada, covering money markets. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and earned his B.A. from Queen’s University.
