My cooperation with the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) started in 2012, when we started to work together on the CEF’s Fiscal Impact Assessment of Structural Reforms project, and training and certification of public accountants in Macedonia, and continues through this year, when I have attended workshops on Medium-Term Budgeting and Budget Submissions of Line Ministries that are part of the Strategic Planning and Budgeting (SPB) project. 

The latter workshop stimulated intensive knowledge sharing among participants from different policy sectors and ministries of finance. International experts encouraged discussions on how budget users should successfully submit their budget requests to the ministries of finance, essential for preparing strategic macro-fiscal documents. This gave enough depth and substance for participants to interact and exchange ideas regarding the process. I also liked how the CEF enabled participants to interact also in more casual way through organizing an enjoyable networking dinner. I still keep in touch with some of participants I met during these events, even had the chance to consult with some of them for exchange of ideas and practice.

The Medium-Term Budgeting workshop helped me better understand budgetary objectives and features of multi-year budgeting, identify challenges and bottlenecks in introducing and implementing medium-term budgeting, and share experiences with colleagues in other countries. It helped me improve my skills in taking part in budget negotiations between a line ministry and the Ministry of Finance by simulating such a negotiation with colleagues from other countries in South East Europe. We were also learned about good practice from Sweden and Norway, and got acquainted with the work of the Slovenian Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development. In my view, this institute could serve as an example of good practice also for Macedonia and other countries in the region.

I believe the CEF should continue to train finance experts of line ministries, as their strengthened capacities are precondition for better medium-term budgeting framework vis-à-vis submission of improved medium-term budget estimates to the Ministry of Finance. Despite having seen improvements in the work of the finance departments at line ministries, such as improvements in the sense of finance departments acting as ministries of finance within the line ministry by collecting relevant data from the project departments, making forecast and costing before issuing the draft budget proposal to the ministry of finance and coordinating the process of efficient public financial management, I believe there is still much to do to strengthen line ministries’ role in public financial management. It is an ongoing journey – the CEF’s growing efforts to support us on this journey is much appreciated.

The CEF invited me to showcase as expert part of my own work at the workshop on Budget Submissions of Line Ministries. This was a unique opportunity for me to strengthen my skills in sharing knowledge, and it was a very rewarding experience to get positive feedback from my colleagues. We are all experts in our specific fields, and work areas, but do not have many opportunities to share our knowledge and expertise internationally. I’d like to thank the CEF for having given me this opportunity, and am looking forward to others to come. I’d like to further strengthen my own capacity to share knowledge, and am thus considering attending the Training-of-Trainers event, which the CEF will deliver in Ljubljana as part of the SPB project.

I do also believe that the CEF should continue its efforts helping countries establish training for internal auditors in the public sector. Similarly, certification of experts in the accounting sector in line with international standards (and perhaps even at the diploma level) will be needed, too.

The SPB workshops organized and delivered by the CEF provide participants opportunities to network which surely will help with the daily work after returning to office.

Mišo Vasilevski
Head of Budget Control Unit
Ministry of Transport and Communications
Macedonia

SPB Project Website