Training Catalog Session Details

Mid - to senior level officers from the Ministry of Finance, including from the Treasury, Budget, and ICT departments.

No formal qualification is required, but it is expected that participants should have experience in working on (or at least exposure to) one or more of the following areas: fiscal reports, government financial statements/accounts, government budgets andfiscal forecasts, FMIS, and fiscal transparency portals.

Fiscal transparency - the comprehensiveness, clarity, reliability, timeliness, and relevance of public reporting on the past, present, and future state of public finances - is critical for effective fiscal management and accountability. It helps ensure that governments have an accurate picture of their finances when making economic decisions, including of the costs and benefits of policy changes and potential risks to public finances. It also provides legislatures, markets, and citizens with the information they need to hold governments accountable. Greater fiscal transparency can also help strengthen the credibility of a country's fiscal plans and can help underpin market confidence and market perceptions of fiscal solvency.

The seminar participants will be introduced to the IMF's Fiscal Transparency Code (FTC)-the international standard on transparency of public finances-and will understand how to identify necessary improvements in country fiscal transparency practices, using examples from the application of the FTC during Fiscal Transparency Evaluations (FTEs). The seminar will also discuss how the use of various digital tools, including fiscal transparency portals and open data platforms, could help enhance fiscal transparency. To promote peer learning, participants will be encouraged to share their experiences and views on key enablers of fiscal transparency and how it contributes to coherent fiscal policies, strategic allocation of public resources, efficient service delivery, and greater accountability.