THE NINTH FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC FORUM
As part of the Municipal Finance Strengthening Initiative Project (MFSI-II) Roll-out implemented by IBSER with support from USAID, the Ninth Financial and Economic Forum on the topic The Year 2013 and Medium-Term Budget Policy was held on 2 March 2012.
Taking into account that the Cabinet of Ministers is to approve the Draft Main Directions for the Year 2013 Budget Policy not later than 1 April and submit it to the Verkhovna Rada within three days, the main focus at the Forum was on discussing the issues of budget strategy in the context of socio-economic development and budget policy tasks, as well as local government reform.
The Forum participants included First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee V.V. Lukyanov, Advisor to the President of Ukraine A.A. Maksyuta, Member of Parliament Yu.I. Hanushchak, Director of the M.V. Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Academician E.M. Libanova, Director of the USAID-Ukraine Office of Economic Growth Martin Michael, Deputy Director of the Department of Local Budgets and Investments at the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine H.B. Markovych, Coordinator of Reform Implementation of the Coordinating Center for Implementation of Economic Reforms under the President of Ukraine S.M. Marchenko, Charman of the Board of the Ukrainian Public-Private Partnership Development Support Center I.V. Zapatrina, First Deputy Director of the National Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of Ukraine Ya.A. Zhalilo, Deputy Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for Coordination of Cooperation Programs in Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Europe Office Olha Freistaetter.
Other participants of the Financial and Economic Forum included the representatives of government ministries and departments, local governments, representatives of academia, the international expert community, the civil sector, and mass media.
The Forum covered a number of pressing issues regarding the directions of the country’s budget policy. These included social factors of modernizing Ukrainian society, strategic budget policy priorities, implementation of a system of strategic planning, improving the methodological and normative framework for the Performance Program Budgeting method for the local budget process, urgent issues on improving the interrelations between the State budget and local budgets in the year 2013, improving the effectiveness of State supervision, recommendations of the Council of Europe and its support for the implementation of local government reform, new approaches to the financing of regional development projects, financial mechanisms for stimulating the consolidation process of territorial communities, State support for energy efficiency programs, and mechanisms of State support for energy efficiency.
Based on the active discussions at the Forum, its participants have developed a number of recommendations, which will be summarized and disseminated among all the stakeholders and posted on the Institute's website.
Glyanec