In September 2015 the PEFA PFM Reform Road Map 2015-2018 was launched. This document is the result of one and a half years of detailed examination and analysis into public financial management. The Minister stated that “Strong public financial management is, in any context, the bedrock of a country’s economic and financial performance.” The Road Map defines and prioritises a structured program of reforms to be undertaken over the next four years to strengthen public financial management. The process and development of the document was highly collaborative and cooperative as well as public and transparent.
In conjunction with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from early 2014 the Department of Finance led and coordinated a self-assessment of PNG’s public financial management. A Technical Working Group (TWG) was formed using the PEFA (Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability) framework as a basis. As of May 2015, this assessment framework has been applied at least once to evaluate the PFM systems in 149 countries and is widely recognised and accepted internationally as a peerless methodology for assessing the quality of public financial management and pinpointing areas and opportunities for reform. Consultation and participation was across a broad range of government and agency stakeholders. In March 2015, the self-assessment was used to inform an independent assessment conducted by the IMF which reached similar conclusions.
Following on from the PEFA Assessment, the PEFA Reform Road Map 2015-2018 defines and prioritises a structured program of public financial management reforms to be undertaken over the next four years to address and remedy the major weaknesses identified by the PEFA assessment.
The Department of Finance will continue to lead and coordinate reform implementation and will oversight and engage actively with reform progress in stakeholder departments. The Secretary believes we can all look forward to the economic, financial and development benefits that will surely follow if we successfully meet the challenge of delivering the strengthened and enhanced public financial management in PNG that the reform program provides. Subsequently, in April 2016 the Secretary was invited to present PNG’s experience at the international PEFA Conference, Hungary.