This learning activity will be delivered as part of the Strategic Planning and Budgeting (SPB) project, funded by the European Union. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthening of beneficiary countries' capacity to design and implement medium-term macro-fiscal policy.

About this learning event

The high-level seminar will examine the role of strong fiscal institutions in improving the quality of fiscal management and helping to ensure fiscal sustainability. Using presentations, case studies on advanced and emerging market experiences, and group sessions, the seminar will aim to improve participants’ awareness of the importance of strong fiscal institutions for sound macro-fiscal making and management.

The seminar will discuss the building blocks and options for putting in place a comprehensive institutional framework for fiscal management. It will draw on international experiences and recent developments, including current requirements under the EU fiscal governance framework. In particular, the seminar will review good practices for a sound budget process, notably with respect to fiscal forecasting, budget execution and treasury management, and reporting. These practices, combined with comprehensive management and reporting on fiscal risks, are key to re-orienting fiscal policy-making away from its traditional annual focus towards a medium-term perspective, essential precursor to establishing the credibility of medium-term budget frameworks (MTBF). The seminar will discuss in detail the elements and processes needed to facilitate fiscal policy-making within an MTBF and to ensure their effective linkage to fiscal transparency and fiscal rules. The seminar will review the features of the various types of fiscal rules and will discuss specific design features (e.g. choice of the target variable, escape clauses, automatic correction mechanism, coordination with sub-national governments). It will also discuss the challenges of adopting structural budget balance rules, as agreed, for example, under the EU’s Fiscal Compact. Finally, the seminar will explore the role of fiscal councils in strengthening fiscal performance through effective oversight of government fiscal policies and promoting public awareness and accountability.

What you wil learn

The following topics will be discussed during the workshop:

Fiscal institutions: An overview of international experience and key requirements
Fiscal reporting: Elements of timely, credible and comprehensive fiscal reporting
Macroeconomic and fiscal forecasting: Importance and challenges
Fiscal risks: What risks to monitor and report
Fiscal rules: Types of fiscal rules and their design options, and meeting the EU requirements
Medium-term budget frameworks: Essentials of MTBFs and the practicalities and challenges of implementing them
Fiscal councils: Their role, remit and design options, and the challenges in a resource-constraint environment
Budget execution and treasury management: Its role in implementing fiscal policy and maintaining fiscal discipline

How you will benefit

The objective of the course is to help officials better understand the role of strong fiscal institutions in ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability and to provide them with experience-based reform options to use in their own countries.

Who should attend

The seminar has been designed for senior level officials from fiscal agencies who actively deal with fiscal policy design, implementation and oversight. Participants from ministries of finance, ministries of economy, central executive offices, prime ministers’ offices, independent fiscal agencies, as well as permanent secretaries, or parliamentary budget and finance committees would be welcome to apply. Senior finance officials from line ministries may also be considered, subject to space availability.

Your contributions

The seminar will be highly participatory. Participants are encouraged to be active in discussions and exercises throughout the four days.

Faculty

BRIAN OLDEN, Deputy Division Chief, Public Financial Management Division, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF

Mr. Olden was the IMF’s Regional Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe inform January 2009 to April 2012, before returning back to Washington where he is currently the Deputy Division Chief of the Public Financial Management Division of the Fiscal Affairs Department in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Before that he worked as the Senior Economist in this Division where he specialized in delivering technical assistance in public financial management to a wide range of countries. As an IMF staff member, Mr. Olden has led or participated in many technical assistance missions to, among others, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Malawi, the Philippines, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Olden was Director of Consultancy Services for FTI, a specialist treasury company in Ireland, and held a variety of senior posts at the Irish National Treasury Management Agency and Department of Finance

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. 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.

MARTA RUIZ-ARRANZ, Deputy Chief, Fiscal Policy Division, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF

Ms. Ruiz-Arranz is Deputy Chief of the Fiscal Policy Division of the Fiscal Affairs Department in the International Monetary Fund, which leads the IMF’s work on macrofiscal issues. These include cross-country analysis and monitoring of fiscal developments and risks; research on emerging fiscal issues; and technical assistance on fiscal frameworks, fiscal risk assessment, and fiscal policy formulation. Over the last two years, Ms. Ruiz-Arranz has led the work of the Fiscal Monitor, one of the three IMF’s cross-country flagship publications. Previously, she held a number of positions in the European, Asia-Pacific, and Research Departments of the IMF. She has lead or participated in missions to a large number of countries including Albania, Indonesia, Malta, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Ms. Ruiz-Arranz received her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 2003.

ELTON STAFA, Municipal Finance Expert, USAID Planning and Local Governance Project, Albania

Mr. Elton Stafa is an Albanian citizen. He holds a MSc. Degree in Economic Sciences from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and is a PhD candidate in Statistics at the University of Tirana “Nostra Signora Del Buon Consiglio”. After completing his post-graduate studies abroad, he joined the Ministry of Finance of Albania where he has held different positions, among them serving as an expert on European Integration and on Coordination of Financial Assistance; expert on Macroeconomic Analysis; director of the Budget Policy, Analysis and Programming Department; member of the Supervisory Council of the Credit Management Agency; and senior expert on Budget Monitoring and Execution at the Directorate General for Budget. During this period he has collaborated with the University of Tirana, as well as with other universities in the country as an external lecturer. He recently joined the USAID Planning and Local Governance Project in Albania, as a municipal finance expert dealing with fiscal decentralization and public finance management at local level.

SAMI YLÄOUTINEN, Director General, Economic Policy Coordination, Ministry of Finance of Finland

Sami Yläoutinen works currently in the Ministry of Finance of Finland as Director General in charge of economic policy coordination. He spent three years (2011-2014) with the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF in Washington DC as Technical Assistant Advisor. During this time he advised several countries in Europe and Africa on public financial management reforms. Before joining the IMF, he was Director of Stability Unit in the Finnish Ministry of Finance, responsible of analysis and forecasting of public finances. Previously he was employed by the Bank of Finland. Mr. Yläoutinen holds a Doctor of Science in Economics from the Finnish Post Graduate Programms in Economics. He has published studies on various aspects of budget institutions. His doctoral dissertation studied fiscal frameworks in Central and Easter European countries.

GEORGES TOURNEMIRE, DG ECFIN, European Commission

Mr. Tournemire works at DG Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN) of the European Commission since 2006. He is currently economist in the Fiscal Governance unit of the Public Finance Directorate. As staff member, Mr. Tournemire has participated in several missions to Member States under economic adjustment programme like Cyprus or Portugal. He is also responsible for the organisation of meetings of the EU Network of Independent Fiscal Institutions (EUNIFI), whose aim is to share information on topics of common interest and promote best practices in fiscal surveillance. Prior to joining the European Commission, Mr. Tournemire held various positions at the European Parliament, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Central Bank of France.

STANE VENCELJ, Ministry of Finance of Slovenia
info to be added.

Strengthening Fiscal Institutions