The High-Level Policy Dialogue on Economic Governance in South East Europe (SEE) will conclude the Strategic Planning and Budgeting (SPB) project, delivered since spring 2013 and funded by the European Union.

Beneficiaries of the 21 learning and networking activities delivered under the SPB project are the EU candidates and potential candidates covered by the 2007–2013 Instrument for Pre-Accession Regulation. Target institutions are the institutions in charge of strategic planning and budgeting processes (mainly ministries of finance), budget users (in particular budget-intensive line ministries) and, to some degree, central planning authorities, central banks, and macroeconomic research institutes. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthening of beneficiary countries’ capacity to design and implement medium-term macro-fiscal policy.

The dialogue will host high-level representatives of SPB target institutions. High-level representatives of the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund are also invited to share their views. Together, they will reflect on the reforms necessary to strengthen medium-term macroeconomic and fiscal frameworks, and the integration of the fiscal impact of structural reforms in those frameworks, as well as policy coordination and planning processes. They will discuss the related challenges faced by SEE countries, in particular those posed by their EU pre-accession agenda; and they will have the opportunity to outline priority areas for further learning and networking activities. The dialogue will be held in English.

KEY QUESTIONS WE WILL ADDRESS

Medium-term macroeconomic and fiscal frameworks

How are you coordinating the preparation of macroeconomic forecasts and developing consensus around them? Has independent external scrutiny of forecasts, where this has been established, helped?
How have you strengthened your medium-term budget frameworks to ensure fiscal sustainability and to create space for public investments?
What challenges have you experienced in introducing program performance orientations in your budgets?
What are your experiences with fiscal rules and/or fiscal responsibility legislation? Have these helped and should they be expanded?
What have you done to reduce forecasting errors? How do your forecasts compare with those of your central banks, as well as international partners, in particular the EC?

Integration of structural reforms into medium-term fiscal programming

What are your experiences (good practices, problems) in policy coordination within government and regionally? How can these processes be improved?
Has the quality of fiscal dialogue between ministries of finance and line ministries improved? And what can be done to further strengthen it on both sides, and to reduce isolation of line ministries?
How are Economic Reform Programmes (and their predecessors) integrated into national policy making and the annual budget preparation cycle?
What efforts are you making to obtain sector-budget support under IPA 2015-2020, and what challenges are you facing in preparing for it?
How can the political level be encouraged to provide more systematic support for integration of structural reforms into medium-term fiscal programming?

Faculty

MODERATORS

DUNCAN LAST, Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe, IMF

Duncan Last is the new 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.

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 served as a consultant to numerous international organizations and several governments in South East Europe. He has more than 20 years of experience in designing and implementing the Slovenian government's policy in areas of international finance and EU accession; for example, as chief external debt negotiator in 1991-1996, and being responsible for early credit arrangements with the EBRD and the World Bank. In 1998-2002, he was chief advisor of the Slovenian government on financial aspects of EU accession. In 2003-2006, 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 perspective.

High-level Policy Dialogue on Economic Governance in South East Europe