Strong public financial management (PFM) means making the most of a country’s economic structures in order to strengthen its national and international development.
To the man on the street, it means that his taxes are transparently and efficiently distributed and that he can benefit from improved public services and a growing economy.
To the national and international business sectors, it means low risk of corruption, robust trading environments and increased business confidence. It also means that business, civil society and the public are able to monitor and understand a country’s budget.
The countries of Central Asia are on upwards economic trajectories, so making sure their PFM is strengthened to international levels is vital for this progress to continue and for their stature on the global stage to increase. The budget transparency scores (Open Budget Index) of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan in 2015 are higher than their scores in 2012, but the details show varying degrees of progress.
Tajikistan’s score is still only 25 out of 100 – substantially lower than the global average of 45. The Kyrgyz Republic, however, has seen its score rise to 54 since 2012, surpassing the global average, through steps that have included making documents such as the pre-budget statement, the citizens’ budget, mid-year review and audit report publically available.
With our long history of building institutions and supporting transparency around the world, we at Crown Agents are a key partner to help these countries with their progress. From debt management in Nigeria, to economic support in Zimbabwe and public resource management in Pakistan, our experience spans a range of global needs.
We’re currently working with the Government of Nepal on the three-year, DFID-funded Widening Public Financial Management & Accountability Programme, through which we’re taking the pioneering step of looking at reform on the sector, national and local government levels.
In Central Asia we’re already helping countries to take these important steps. Tajikistan, for example, is a vibrant nation that is hungry to develop its regional and global stature. It aims to double its GDP and reduce poverty by 20% by 2020, while growing its middle class. This year we’ve started working with Government of Tajikistan to implement a Single Window trade facilitation tool and are embracing their readiness to make real progress.
This potential was abundantly clear to us in July this year, when we hosted a PFM workshop in Dushanbe, inviting people from all relevant spheres of interest and influence – from civil society, NGOs, government, donor organisations, the private sector and more.
The importance of fiscal transparency links directly to the public right to know and our workshop aimed to present this understanding to the participants. We highlighted how fiscal transparency promotes accountability, market discipline, lower corruption, good institutions, sustainable government policies, macro and micro efficiency, trust and fairness.
We also listened carefully to what the delegates wanted to know, which focused heavily on what their regional neighbours are doing and the lay of the regional landscape. The sense of regional competition among the Central Asian countries is strong and productive, driving each country to keep up with the development and standards being forged by their neighbours, with a healthy appetite.
The result of the workshop was that participants had a better understanding of PFM transparency and accountability linkages and recent global trends in strengthening fiscal transparency and accountability.
As one delegate said, the PFM oversight function is key and it is essential to know how to craft reform that addresses accountability issues.
Some of the representatives from small and medium-sized business organisations said that the workshop helped them to be better informed about the public procurement achievements in the Central Asia region and the progress that has been made in Tajikistan, and feel in a stronger position to lobby their government for goals that are realistic and achievable.
The PFM reform in Central Asia will need to follow deep rooted structural reform agendas, but the hunger is there and we are ready to help, with a strong regional office based in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.
Crown Agents remains committed to supporting governments in Central Asia in the future economic growth of the region through our expertise in all aspects of public financial management and public service delivery. And always on the basis that formal mechanisms must allow the public – in Tajikistan and is all its regional neighbours – to have their say in building their countries’ economic futures.
Samvel Markosyan is a PFM specialist with extensive experience in budget reforms, budget preparation, strategic planning/MTEF, performance budgeting, execution, monitoring and reporting throughout Central Asia
Content on this page is paid for and provided by Crown Agents a sponsor of the Guardian Global Development Professionals Network
