In its role as public service provider, the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) is responsible to ensure that the services provided to citizens improves the quality of life, communities and the function of society. Billions of dollars each year are spent in managing these service activities. Government therefore, must ensure that funds are available to enable the continuation of service delivery to the greatest number of its citizens. Public financial management (PFM) is the management of funds used by government to execute public services which include water and sewage, health, waste removal, law enforcement, road improvement, emergency rescue services and education, to name a few.
The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service has the constitutional responsibility to manage the funds collected from taxpayers, funds received from international donor or funding organisations, and as such ensure that those funds are efficiently and effectively utilised so as to maximize the customer-client service experience of all citizens.
The establishment of a strong public financial management system is therefore critical to the Ministry in the execution of its role as manager of the public purse. A good PFM system signals to international donor agencies, that there is a higher level of transparency and accountability and as such, confidence in the management and use of international funds on the prescribed and approved projects are assured.
Public financial management systems worldwide are subject to rigorous scrutiny and assessment under the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) programme. It provides an objective analysis of the present performance of a country’s PFM and a framework for assessing and reporting on the strengths and weaknesses of public financial management (PFM) using quantitative indicators to measure performance.
The PEFA report is important to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service as it utilizes the performance analysis to better determine the areas of weakness within the financial systems and also identify gaps that require the crafting of policy and, or legislative support. The information and analysis from the PEFA report also enables the Ministry to make better financial decisions particularly in the allocation of resources to the various social programmes through the various Ministries. Based on the analysis, the Ministry would be better able to make an informed decision and as such allocate more funds to law enforcement and social programmes as a high priority; particularly with attendant industries that could be negatively impacted by underfunding those areas.
Dunstan Bryan, Deputy Financial Secretary, Technical Co-ordination said that, “ since the PEFA review of 2012, the Ministry embarked upon several reform initiatives, many of which have legislative support.” He added that, “significant progress was made in FY 2016/17 to strengthen the Ministry’s core PFM functions, namely in the area of accounting and cash/treasury management; budget management; revenue administration and procurement.”
Kudos were cited in specific areas, budget execution; external audit and the level of scrutiny which showed significant strengths; the introduction of a robust fiscal framework was noted as a positive start; revenue forecasting the PEFA assessors noted had also significantly improved.