This training activity will be delivered as part of the Strategic Planning and Budgeting (SPB) project, funded by the European Union. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthening of beneficiary countries’ capacity to design and implement medium-term macro-fiscal policy.
What you will learn
Effective processes of capital budget formulation and capital budget execution are essential elements for ensuring country’s social and economic development and its financial stability. Without a systematic plan for acquisition, construction, and development of capital assets, countries will not be able to provide essential services to their citizens and business community.
A key challenge in government budgeting is to select best projects to be carried out. This involves on one hand a tradeoff against current spending and on the other hand a tradeoff between alternative projects in each are of capital spending (roads, buildings, hospitals, ICT, pipelines etc.). Without good selection, well integrated in the budget process, there is a risk for too little or too much spending.
How you will benefit
The objective of this workshop is to familiarize participants with the fundamentals of capital planning, capital budget formulation and capital budget execution.
These three areas will be further analyzed and discussed:
- Capital planning --- developing policies, setting priorities, choosing projects, cost benefit analysis, determining multi-year cost estimates and assessing alternative methods of financing, with special attention to forms of public private partnerships;
- Integration in the regular budget process --- baseline estimates, relation with medium-term budgeting; how to deal with cost overruns;
- Capital budget execution --- procurement methods, project monitoring, changes in cost estimates, and project completion evaluations.
Who should attend
The workshop has been designed primarily for officials within the areas of capital planning, capital budget formulation and capital budget execution. Typically, participants are employees of ministries of finance or economic affairs, or other institutions involved in infrastructure, public housing or other areas of government investment policies.
To be able to fully participate, it is recommended that a participant has a certain degree of experience in capital budgeting.
The workshop will be highly participatory. Participants are encouraged to be active in discussions and exercises throughout the three days.
Faculty
Mr. Dirk-Jan Kraan, Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe of the IMF
Dirk Kraan is a Dutch citizen. He holds MA degrees in Law (1970) and Economics (1976) from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and a PhD degree in Economics from the same University (1989). He worked in several positions in the Directorate General of the Budget of the Dutch Ministry of Finance from 1980 to 2002, lately as head of the Division of Policy Review of the Inspectorate of Finance (Expenditure Division). He joined the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2002 as a senior economist in the Budgeting and Public Expenditures Division of the Directorate of Public Governance and Territorial Development. At the OECD he was among other things responsible for the Eastern European program of the Budgeting and Expenditure Division and for the OECD Value for Money Study on the organization of central government. He recently joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to work as a Regional Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe based at the CEF in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Mr. Eivind Tandberg, Municipality Director, City of Oslo, Norway
Mr. Eivind Tandberg is a Municipality Director at the City of Oslo in Norway. Prior to joining the City of Oslo, Mr. Tandberg worked as the International Monetary Fund’s Regional Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe. He provided advice to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. Mr. Tandberg was a Deputy Division Chief in the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF for several years. He has provided technical assistance and strategic advice to more than 50 countries in different parts of the world, including many transition and emerging economies in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Tandberg was a Unit Chief in the World Bank and a Deputy Director General in the Norwegian Ministry of Finance.
Mr. Frits Bos, Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, the Netherlands
Mr. Bos is a Dutch citizen. He holds an MA degree in economics (1985) and a PhD degree in economics (2003). He is an expert in public finance and macro-economic statistics. For fifteen years, he worked at Statistics Netherlands and the European Statistical Office. Since 2001, he works at CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). For a decade, his major job was analyzing and forecasting Dutch public finance and evaluating the government budget and policy plans. As a private consultant, he wrote a major part of the new European guidelines on national accounting (ESA2010). Since 2011, he is project leader of a cost-benefit analysis of Dutch water management strategies for the 21th century. He currently also investigates the competitiveness of Dutch border regions.
Mr. Koert Ruiken, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the Netherlands
Mr Koert Ruiken is a Dutch citizen. He holds an MA degree in Monetary Economics from the University of Amsterdam. Since 1999 he has held several positions within the Ministry of Infrastructure. He is an expert on multi-annual planning, financing and procurement of large infrastructure projects and has vast practical experience in project preparation and execution. He was a member of the ministry’s former PPP Unit and advisor on PPP issues to project teams. Currently he is working for Rijkswaterstaat, the executive agency of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. He holds a title of the Financial Manager of the A13/A16 Ring Road project in Rotterdam, a € 950 million Design, Build, Finance and Maintain project.
Mr. Elton Stafa, Ministry of Finance, Albania
Mr. Elton Stafa is an Albanian citizen. He holds a MSc. Degree in European Economy from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and is a PhD candidate in Statistics at the University of Tirana “Nostra Signora Del Buon Consiglio”. After completing his post-degree studies abroad, he joined the Ministry of Finance of Albania where he has held different positions, among them serving as an expert on European Integration and Coordination of the Financial Assistance, expert on macroeconomic analysis, director of the Budget Policy, Analysis and Programming Department, and member of the Supervisory Council of the Credit Management Agency. During this period he has collaborated with the University of Tirana, as well as with other universities in the country as an external lecturer. Currently he is a senior expert on budget monitoring and execution, at the Directorate General for Budget, at the Ministry of Finance of Albania.
Application procedure
Application Closing Date: Aug 22,2014
*For the SPB project the costs of 2 selected participants per beneficiary country are covered by the EU funding.
