SPB Newsfeed: Strengthening Budget Submissions of Line Ministries

In line with our efforts to help strengthening beneficiary countries’ capacity to design and implement medium-term macro-fiscal policy, we will deliver on October 15–17 a newly designed workshop to mid-to-senior level officials working at line ministries (and other budget users) to discuss their inputs to the annual budget process and preparation of strategic macro-fiscal documents. Officials of ministries of finance (and other coordinating institutions) processing such inputs are also kindly invited. The primary objective of the workshop is to strengthen the capacity of budget users (in particular budget-intensive line ministries) to respond to budget instructions.

Budget submissions have often been criticized as being too optimistic or inconsistent with macro-fiscal forecasts. Such shortcomings have been linked to coordination and responsibility issues, insufficient guidance, and limited capacities, e.g. with respect to costing the fiscal impact of structural reforms. The workshop aims at promoting a joint appreciation of good macro-fiscal frameworks, especially in the EU accession context; exploring key institutions involved in the budget preparation process; discussing critical elements in the guidance to prepare budget submissions; exploring operations and methodology needed to assess the fiscal impact of existing policies and new spending initiatives; and promoting an exchange of good practice in assuring realistic and consistent budget submissions. Case studies will illustrate budget submissions at examples of a budget-intensive sector.

This training activity will be delivered as part of the Strategic Planning and Budgeting (SPB) project, funded by the European Union. Further information on the workshop can be found at the event website.