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.”