Press Release: Southern Africa Finance Ministry Officials Exchange Experiences in Implementing Medium-Term Budget Frameworks

IMF News, September 23, 2013

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Canonical URL: Press Release: Southern Africa Finance Ministry Officials Exchange Experiences in Implementing Medium-Term Budget Frameworks

Event: Workshop on “Medium Term Budget Frameworks (MTBFs) for Sub-Saharan Africa”
Organizers: IMF Fiscal Affairs Department and Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center South (AFRITAC South)
Location and date: Mauritius, September 16-20, 2013
Attendance: Thirty-four officials from finance and planning ministries representing AFRITAC South member countries
AFRITAC South member countries represented: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Additional participants: Representatives from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the European Union (EU), and the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI)
IMF media contact listed:
- IMF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT, Media Relations
- E-mail: media@imf.org
- Phone: 202-623-7100

Core objective: Explore how MTBFs can enhance fiscal management and public spending outcomes across Sub-Saharan Africa
Topics discussed:
- macro-fiscal forecasting and fiscal policy rules
- constructing multi-year expenditure ceilings
- improving budget processes and documents
- promoting investment and inclusive growth
- making effective sectoral allocations and linking to program budgeting

Regional imperative:
- Mr. Christ Paddia, representative of the Mauritius Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, noted that the global financial and economic crisis highlighted that reforming governments’ management of public finances is no longer an option but a necessity in the region.
Regional integration and convergence:
- Mr Ibrahim Abodullahi Zedy, Director of the COMESA Monetary Institute, stressed the importance of sound MTFFs for macroeconomic convergence in the COMESA region and welcomed AFRITAC South’s technical assistance in this area.
Technical assistance and peer exchange:
- Mr. Vitaliy Kramarenko, AFRITAC South Coordinator, said the seminar presented a unique opportunity to engage officials from the AFRITAC South member countries in the peer-to-peer exchange of ideas on how to make the MTBF more successful in achieving better outcomes in terms of economic growth, infrastructure development, and poverty reduction.
- Ms. Florence Kuteesa, Technical Assistance Advisor in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, added that the seminar provided useful inputs into the on-going AFRITAC South technical assistance on the MTBF to its member counties.

MTBFs can:
- enhance fiscal discipline and sustainability
- improve the strategic allocation of resources between sectors
- ensure the efficient use of resources by the public sector
Peer-to-peer learning:
- Participants shared challenges in developing MTBFs and learned from each other’s experiences
Inputs to technical assistance:
- Seminar outputs were incorporated into on-going AFRITAC South technical assistance on MTBF implementation

Press Release No. 13/356, IMF Communications Department, September 23, 2013.