The results of the evaluation performed on the last day of the IMF CEF seminar on Building Fiscal Institutions to Meet Post Crisis Challenges have now been compiled. The evaluation provides valuable insights of participants’ reactions to the training event and the degree to which they perceived they acquired new knowledge and skills relevant to their work. The delegates’ feedback was overwhelmingly positive and well above the standardized quality training benchmark – of 4.2 or higher based on a scale of 1 (poor or strongly disagree) to 5 (good or strongly agree).
Selected results based on five aspects of seminar design and implementation, as measured on the last day of the event; including general assessment of the training activity; usefulness of the seminar; seminar set-up and delivery; seminar content; and seminar organization; are shown below:
- Relevance of this seminar to participants’ current work or function: 4.53
- Quality of the facilitation/experts: 4.78
- Usefulness of the newly acquired information: 4.44
- Usefulness of the seminar materials to participants’ current work or function: 4.50
- Enough time was allowed for questions and free class discussion: 4.56
- Overall quality of seminar organization: 4.83
The four day seminar on Building Fiscal Institutions to Meet Post Crisis Challenges has successfully concluded. Two topics were discussed on the last day of the seminar with presentations from Brian Olden from the IMF on fiscal accounting and reporting; and budget implementation and execution.
Based on feedback provided by participants at the end of each day, the country delegates highly appreciated the presentations delivered by the experts as well as the interactive approach taken throughout the course.
Presentations delivered on day 4 can be obtained at presentations (day 4) subsection.
Photos from day 4 can also be viewed at multimedia (day 4) subsection.
“Goodbye video”
On day 3 of the seminar, Duncan Last and Brian Olden from the International Monetary Fund presented the results of a questionnaire on fiscal institutions and systems in South East European countries that delegates were asked to fill-out prior to the commencement of the seminar. The preliminary results, which are posted on the presentation subpage, include an overview of the status of fiscal institutions of countries in the region as compared to recent surveys of advanced and emerging G20 countries. Detailed results examining the understanding of the fiscal challenge; development of consolidation plans; and implementation of fiscal strategies are also posted on the presentation subpage.
Presentations delivered on day 3 can be obtained at presentations (day 3) subsection.
Photos from day 3 can also be viewed at multimedia (day 3) subsection.
Medium-term budget frameworks were the main topic of day two of the IMF’s seminar on Building Fiscal Institutions to Meet Post Crisis Challenges. The necessary prerequisites and main elements of medium-term budget frameworks were outlined in the introductory presentation by Duncan Last, Senior Economist at the IMF, together with successful country examples. His presentation was followed by a group exercise on medium-term budget frameworks with delegates tasked with preparing an action plan to introduce MTBFs, identifying essential data requirements during the preparation process; and the necessary measures required to ensure effective implementation.
The last session of the day was an interactive discussion on the role of the parliaments in the budget process in South East European (SEE) countries facilitated by Mr. Last and Brian Olden, Regional IMF Public Financial Management Advisor for SEE.
Presentations delivered on day 2 can be obtained at presentations (day 2) subsection.
Photos from day 2 can also be viewed at multimedia (day 2) subsection.
Day 1 of the IMF’s seminar on Building Fiscal Institutions to Meet Post Crisis Challenges has been successfully concluded. Twenty delegates from ten countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia – discussed fiscal institutions, macroeconomic and macro-fiscal forecasting, and shared their experiences and ideas at two workshops on macro-fiscal forecasting and fiscal consolidation.
Presentations delivered by Sami Yläoutinen, Director of the Economics Department from Ministry of Finance of Finland can be obtained at presentations (day 1) subsection.
Photos from day 1 can also be viewed at multimedia (day 1) subsection.
The seminar on Building Fiscal Institutions to Meet Post Crisis Challenges starts next Monday, June 20, 2011.
Over the next few days we’ll be posting presentations to be delivered by the experts as well as photos and videos from the event.
We have a number of resources already prepared including:
See you soon in Ljubljana!
The global crisis has impacted on most countries to a greater or lesser degree, including the economies of South Eastern Europe. To mitigate the effects of the global crisis many countries have designed strategies to facilitate an orderly exit in extremely volatile global economic conditions. In some cases this initially involved the implementation of fiscal stimulus measures, where sufficient fiscal space was available. Others, facing immediate threats to fiscal sustainability and solvency, needed a more drastic fiscal consolidation process.
The countries of South Eastern Europe (SEE) have experienced both of these scenarios. Whatever fiscal stance adopted by SEE countries at the start of the crisis, it is now clear that medium-term fiscal policy in all countries needs to focus on ensuring fiscal sustainability, bearing in mind the fragile nature of the economic recovery and the need to implement key structural reforms to mitigate against the effects of longer-term fiscal challenges, such as demographic changes and increased healthcare costs. The recent IMF Fiscal Monitor (March 2011) also indicated that even those economies experiencing a rebound in revenues need to rebuild fiscal space rather than to increase spending in the near term and that they should make progress on structural reforms to enhance growth and equity, and strengthen fiscal institutions and transparency.
The experts who will deliver the IMF seminar on “Building Fiscal Institutions to Meet Post Crisis Challenges” are now confirmed. They include Duncan Last, Senior Economist from the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, Brian Olden, Regional IMF Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe, and Sami Yläoutinen, Director at the Economics Department of the Ministry of Finance of Finland.
To read more about the experts please click here or go under “Faculty” section on this web page.
Participation at the seminar will be covered through the Fiscal Management Program for South East Europe financed by the Japanese Government through the IMF’s “Japan Subaccount for Selected Fund Activities”. The costs of travel, accommodation and per diem for two participants per country will be covered under the Program.
