DUSHANBE, June 9, Asia-Plus — The European Union starts a project supporting Tajik Government in improving its public finance management and introducing the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), Mahbuba Abdullaeva Media Officer, Delegation of the European Commission to Tajikistan, said.
According to her, the project will continue from 2008 to 2011 with an EU contribution of approximately € 2 660 000.
Medium Term Expenditure Framework is a process of planning public expenditures (budget) on a medium term basis strengthening the links between general policies/strategies and financial allocations.
The EU project will target the two main directions: 1) Provision of a technical support to the implementation of MTEF in social sectors in co-operation with the responsible ministries. Overall framework for the process has been already installed by the Government, including the Resolution on METF and the Action Plan. Therefore the main focus will be now exclusively on quality of MTEF process, procedures and standards; and 2) Transfer of know-how and capacity development of Tajik Government in drafting and developing the annual budget process. Implementation of this task should allow the government experts to apply standards developed under the first pillar without external assistance and achieve sustainability of the process.
The direct beneficiaries of the project are the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance as well as the Budgetary Commissions at different levels.
The project will be implemented by Ecorys Research and Consulting, an experienced consulting firm with headquarters in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It is financed by the EU TACIS Program, which among others supports initiatives related to the improvement of Public Finance Management in developing countries.
