Peer Learning about Costing of Structural Reforms and Their Financing Brings Results
Ms. Aleksandra Velkova from Ministry of Finance, North Macedonia, joined discussions oriented towards practical implementation of the Methodological Guidance for Costing of Structural Reforms (Costing Guidance). Reflecting back on her experience she shares interesting insights into what value the participation at such knowledge sharing opportunities has brought her personally. The events were delivered as part of the EU funded multi-country project “Strengthening Line Ministries’ Capacities to Assess Fiscal Implications of Structural Reforms” (FISR).
“Being a member of the Economic Reform Program (ERP) Secretariat – responsible for coordinating the preparation of the Economic Reform Program – the most useful FISR activities that I have attended are the workshops on Costing of Structural Reforms in ERP, held in May and October 2019.
The first event was organized at the very early stages of preparation of the ERP, and since I had just joined the team, with only general knowledge of the process, the timing was great.
Officials from all institutions involved in the ERP process were participating, which was a great opportunity to meet the people I will cooperate with further in the process.
The workshop consisted of qualitative discussion and sharing the best practices among participants. I recognized the importance of the ERP and I was able to broaden my knowledge of its role in the process of economic governance, the methodology for development of the ERP and also the structural reforms chapter and methodology for their costing. In addition, I learned about the inconsistencies in the integration of structural reforms from the ERPs into the domestic fiscal framework, prospects for overcoming these inconsistencies, and some practical examples for costing and financing of structural reforms in Macedonia.
The second workshop was more focused on the practical implementation of the Costing Guidance and ensuring adequate estimation of the implementation costs and their presentation in the ERP, and also getting assistance and advice from the engaged experts on the prospects for overcoming the main costing challenges.
Throughout the period of preparation of the program, I was able to see the benefits of the FISR activities. In the process of selection and prioritization of structural reform measures, I could easily recognize which measure is mature enough to be included in the ERP. Furthermore, I was able to discuss with the institutions any issues that appeared in the process of preparation of the document, give them advice and help them overcome the obstacles.
Regarding the costing of the structural reform measures, I am now able to make a decision on which cost should or should not be included in the ERP, distinguish direct and indirect/secondary cost implications, clarify differences in concepts of additional costs and base year, and categorize different types of expenditures. I also learned how to connect different costs with their sources of financing and how to present them in the ERP tables according to the Costing Guidance.
The networking part of the events was important in terms of making contacts with the right people, which resulted in good communication on a permanent basis with the institutions involved.”