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Archive -Seychelles

Implementing Programme Performance-Based Budgeting (PPBB) |10 October 2013

Stakeholders learn from other countries’ case studies



Principal secretaries, chief executives, Assembly head of public accounts and members of different boards among other stakeholders have learned more about how other countries have carried out Programme Performance-Based Budgeting (PPBB).

This was during a half-day capacity-building and awareness session held recently at the Maison Football, Roche Caïman.

The PPBB comprises budgeting for and reporting on public expenditure by programmes, while taking into account the performance of the programmes.

It enhances allocation of resources to government priority policy areas and plans, improves focus on achievement of results for the benefit of the people and also improves predictability of funds flow to ministries, departments and agencies.

At the beginning of the year, the government of Seychelles decided to implement the PPBB after previously engaging with the World Bank for help with the process.

Programme budgeting requires the classification of government expenditures into groups of similar services with similar objectives in terms of the long-term mandates of government.
 Traditionally, budgets are structured by administrative divisions and units of government and then by administrative line items. In a programme budget, an additional dimension is developed and used.  In other words every expenditure and allocation is identified by the programme and sub-programme which it supports. Government also develops and reports performance indicators which enable measurement of achievement of results.

The PPBB reform is being carried out in two phases: a pilot phase and a full roll-out phase.
 
The reform is being piloted in the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Natural Resources for the budget of 2015 and will be later rolled out to all other ministries.

A team of six World Bank experts has for the past two weeks been working with the two ministries on the pilot process.

The Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment (MFTI), with support of the World Bank, is developing appropriate PPBB tools, policies, systems and documentation, and also supporting the two ministries with the piloting process.

The MFTI has over the past few weeks been offering a number of capacity-building and awareness sessions with stakeholders across the country. The aim is to share examples of how other countries have implemented the reform as an opportunity to learn from the practices of others.

Finance principal secretary Patrick Payet launched the session and said the initiative for the PPBB started last year as part of a very important reform programme that the government will be undertaking in the next four years.

“The programme is touching all the entities which fall under the portfolio of the two ministries and the presentation and discussion session is at this stage very important to discuss what has been happening over the past two weeks under the guidance of the World Bank consultants,” he said.

With regard to the reform, Mr Payet said it comes at a very important and opportune time when a lot of emphasis is being put on getting value for money allocated to ministries and departments through the national budget.

He said the National Assembly, the public sector are all calling for better budget management and performance as well as value for money and as government officials we need to ensure that budget allocated  to the various ministries and departments are used to give the people of Seychelles the best for it.

It is expected that the World Bank team will help other ministries as well and the programme is expected to be ready for full implementation by the time the 2016-2017 budget is released.

Apart from learning from other countries’ case studies, officials from the two ministries concerned by the pilot study also shared their experience.

Marc Naiken, the chief executive of the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA), noted that the process has really brought about changes in the way they were doing things.

“It has allowed us to work better together as a group and to look at all cross-cutting issues within the ministry and ensure resources are used appropriately and the expected results are being obtained,” he said.

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