Public Financial Management

successful completion of the in-person Nepal Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Orientation and Training Workshop, jointly organized by the Government of Nepal (GoN) and the World Bank from March 20-22, 2022.    The objectives of the workshop were to train GoN officials representing various blocks of public financial management who will lead the self-assessment exercise of several PEFA indicators. The Workshop received a very good turnout—averaging about 80 participants from ministries and agencies each day. The discussions were open and interactive. Overall, the Workshop finished on a high note, with the participants ready to start working immediately on the data collection, as planned. The training agenda is attached for your reference.  This training built upon the October 2021 training sessions, which the PEFA Secretariat  in Washington DC had provided virtually. With several GoN staff changes since last October, the World Bank has also provided a refresher training, led by Bogdan Constantinescu, Senior Financial Management Specialist and the Task Team Leader for the PEFA Assessment. The Finance Secretary, Mr. Madhu Marasini, who was the Chief Guest in the opening session as the Chair of the PFM Steering Committee, emphasized the importance of this assessment and stressed the need to complete the exercise this year as per the schedule. He requested GoN officials present for their active participation  in the PEFA assessment as this would help the government to pave a path for the much-needed reforms in PFM in the new federal structure, and that government would support  the reforms that would come from the PEFA assessment. Further, he also acknowledged the support of the World Bank and the development partners of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) for supporting the PEFA assessment. All key speakers of the opening session, including the Revenue Secretary, Financial Comptroller General, and the PEFA Secretariat Coordinator, also echoed the Finance Secretary, highlighting how the PEFA assessment would help Nepal to improve overall PFM environment. The World Bank team summarized lessons learnt from the past two PEFA assessments, the current PEFA assessment,  and how we plan to support the ongoing PFM reforms , which is an integral part of our engagement under our Country Partnership Framework. The World Bank team also stressed the development partners’ commitment towards PFM reforms and acknowledged their support to the MDTF.