Public financial management in Vietnam meets quality requirements, officially granted PEFA CHECK certification

Conference to announce Vietnam's Public Expenditure Assessment and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Report.

June 24, in Hanoi , The Ministry of Finance of Vietnam and the World Bank held a conference to launch the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment (PEFA) Report of Vietnam.

The PEFA report is a framework for measuring the effectiveness of public financial management, supporting countries in sustainable development.

This is the second time that the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam has chaired and coordinated with ministries, central agencies and a number of localities to carry out this report, with technical and financial support from the PEFA Secretariat, the Swiss Government, the Canadian Government and the World Bank, within the framework of the Public Finance Management Consulting and Analysis Support Program in Vietnam.

The first PEFA report was conducted in 2011 and published in July 2013. From the issues discovered and reform recommendations stated in the 2011 PEFA report, Vietnam's public financial management reform activities over the past 10 years have achieved many important results, especially in institutional reform, with the synchronous issuance of a system of public financial management documents; the public financial management process is increasingly public and transparent; the database and information on finance - the State budget are also more timely and complete.

This PEFA report will be implemented from February 2021 and completed and reported to the Prime Minister in January 2024, based on the PEFA 2016 assessment standards. The assessment results have been assessed by international experts from the European Union Delegation - EU, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs - SECO, the World Bank (WB) and the PEFA Secretariat has granted the "PEFA CHECK " certificate (meeting PEFA quality requirements). On that basis, the Ministry of Finance has reported and received permission from the Prime Minister to publish this Report.

Of the 31 PEFA assessment indicators, Vietnam scored 4 A points, 8 B and B+ points, 8 C+ points, 11 D and D+ points. Compared to other countries in the region participating in the assessment according to the PEFA Framework 2016, Vietnam has a high score of A and B+ points (11/31 indicators), ranked after Mongolia (16/31 indicators), Indonesia and the Philippines (14/31 indicators), ranked ahead of Myanmar, Cambodia, East Timor and Laos.

The assessment results show that, in recent times, Vietnam has made great efforts in reforming public financial management and achieved many important and quite comprehensive achievements, notably: the budget scope has been fully determined according to international practices; fiscal discipline has been strengthened, public debt has been reduced, treasury management has progressed, the ability of organizations and people to access fiscal information has been improved; the efficiency of budget use has been gradually improved...

However, according to the Report, in addition to the achieved results, the current public financial management work also has some weaknesses, which need to be addressed appropriately, including focusing on improving the work of developing 3-year financial - state budget plans to ensure the reliability and predictability of budget estimates; enhancing transparency of public finance in the direction of providing fiscal information according to Government Financial Statistics (GFS) standards; fiscal risk management reports need to be updated annually and used as a basis for making medium-term financial - state budget plans as well as annual state budget estimates, etc.

From the strengths, weaknesses and recommendations drawn from this PEFA Report; on the basis of closely following the goals and orientations to strengthen effective and transparent public financial management set out in the National Financial Strategy to 2030; in the coming time, the Ministry of Finance will preside over and coordinate with ministries, central and local agencies to continue researching and proposing appropriate solutions to overcome shortcomings and limitations in public financial management to further improve the efficiency of management and use of financial resources - State budget, ensure national financial security and safety, contribute to stabilizing the macro economy, improving the national credit rating and promoting sustainable growth in Vietnam.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/quan-ly-tai-chinh-cong-tai-viet-nam-dap-ung-cac-yeu-cau-chat-luong-chinh-thuc-duoc-cap-chung-nhan-pefa-check-276145.html