CBG Governor Says Effective Public Financial Management Institutions Underpin Fiscal and Macroeconomic Stability
The Governor of Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG), Bakary Jammeh said the effective public financial management institutions underpinned fiscal and macroeconomic stability.
He justified that such institutions guide the allocation of scarce public resources to national priorities and support the efficient delivery of services for poverty reduction and economic development.
Jammeh was speaking at the opening of a five-day training on Public Finance Management organized by West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) in Banjul.
He said under such situations, …”economic development, as well as transparency and accountability in the use of public funds” are ensured.
“Public financial management capacity should therefore be developed within government’s core and spending entities, as well as within civil society, if nations are to get the returns from use of public resources,” Governor Jammeh stated.
He stated that the challenges of modern budgeting and planning are enormous at the ministries, departments and agencies, disclosing that this is mainly due to the scarcity of information available for effective budgeting, poor and weak public sector policy making institutions, poor budget implementation as well as inadequate monitoring of mechanisms.
He challenged the participants to make recommendations based on the challenges at hand to best address them.
Dr. Baba Yusuf Musa, Director General West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) said it is no longer sufficient to have accounts that show that money has been spent on projects upon which governments intended.
“Stakeholders may also want to know how well it has been spent, whether it has been efficiently and whether it has achieved the purposes for which it was allocated.
“Hence this course has been designed to also focus almost entirely on the expenditure side of public financial management and looks at budgeting, accountability and the changes in financial management,” WAIFEM director explained.
He said gender equality and public financial management has been incorporated into the varied courses available at the institution, stating that such components of macroeconomic planning and development are important.
The regional course on public finance management will train participants from The Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria on new skills on debt, budgeting, planning and performance.
