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Preliminary Program AgendaMonday, September 30, 20242:00 PM–5:00 PM 5:00 PM–6:30 PM Tuesday, October 1, 20248:30 AM–10:00 AM 10:00 AM–10:15 AM
10:15 AM–10:45 AM
10:45 AM–10:55 AM 10:55 AM–11:45 AM
11:45 PM–1:00 PM 1:00 PM–2:00 PM The International Budget Partnership (IBP)’s Open Budget Survey is the only independent, comparative, and regular measure of budget transparency and accountability around the world. This latest survey marks the largest round ever—with 125 countries assessed. It showcases key trends and findings in government budget practices and includes specific policy recommendations for how governments can ensure more equitable and accountable management of public resources. The session will explore both key findings from the survey and concrete paths to make budget processes more inclusive and accountable to everyday people.
2:00 PM–2:15 PM 2:15 PM–3:00 PM Transforming Payments in Moldova with MIA - Accelerating Financial Inclusion and Service Delivery through Innovation and Collaboration Moldova’s launch of the MIA instant payment system marks a pivotal step in modernizing the nation’s financial infrastructure, offering a blueprint for other countries seeking to upgrade their payment systems. Supported by USAID’s Moldova Institutional and Structural Reforms Activity (MISRA), MIA offers fast and secure real-time payments, making cashless transactions more accessible and serving as a key driver for increasing financial inclusion across the country. MIA's success is attributed to more than just its infrastructure; critical factors include mandatory participation from all banks and payment service providers, transparent fee structures, distinctive branding, and user-friendly interfaces. Since its launch in March 2024, MIA has seen rapid adoption, with over 200,000 users in the first six months. The ongoing rollout of additional features, such as consumer-to-business and consumer-to-government payments, underscores Moldova’s commitment to building a modern and inclusive financial system. This panel discussion will delve into the economic benefits and challenges of implementing instant payment systems like MIA. We will explore how this initiative serves as a model for other nations aiming to modernize their financial systems, with a focus on scalability, sustainability, and the broader implications for financial inclusion and economic growth.
3:00 PM–4:00 PM Increasingly in most countries, climate change in PFM is no longer just a trend. It is a critical consideration for a country’s ability to maintain its fiscal goals over the medium- to long-term. Natural disasters, exacerbated by climate change, are having an increasing impact on countries’ fiscal health. Meeting goals for climate change adaptation and mitigation requires significant fiscal resources, and the coordinated effort of all of society. This session will include a discussion of DAI’s recent experience piloting their Fiscal Blueprint for Climate Action tool in Egypt, as well as efforts to integrate climate into PFM and public investment planning systems there. The panel will also discuss USAID’s effort to include climate as a consideration in its work to strengthen PFM systems.
Dalia Sakr, PHD
4:00 PM–5:00 PM The Moldova Ministry of Finance and the Central Securities Depository sought to open up the securities market. Moldovan citizens were willing to seek alternatives to cash, such as investing in instruments with attractive yields like government securities. Today, the USAID Moldova Financial Sector Transparency Activity (FSTA) has developed a platform to sell government securities to retail investors. This panel will discuss the challenges and lessons learned throughout the process of building and launching the direct sale IT platform, including necessary legal reforms and capacity-building efforts within the ministries. Insights into the project's impact on Moldova's financial landscape, expected revenue, and critical upskilling needed to sustain advancements will be shared, as well as the process of creating the comprehensive roadmap for market development, integration with e-government systems, and links with EU depositories.
5:00 PM–5:15 PM 5:30 PM–7:00 PM Wednesday, October 2, 20248:30 AM–10:00 AM 10:00 AM–10:10 AM
10:10 AM–10:40 AM
10:40 AM–10:55 AM 10:55 AM–11:55 AM This session will highlight the results of the third edition of USAID/FAST Debt Transparency Score (DTS) using a methodology that evaluates the breadth and depth of debt reporting provided by governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to their citizens. Based on a survey of 102 LMICs applying the DTS methodology, the discussion will focus on the fact that countries’ debt reporting is quite incomplete. In addition, presenters will highlight how the Debt Transparency Monitor framework has a direct causal relationship with credit score rankings and can be used to improve fiscal policy. The presenters will also discuss how International Financial Institutions, like the IMF, support debt transparency, the current pressures on debt sustainability in LMICs, how concessional multilateral support reaching limits as global conditions debt pressures grow, and what can be done.
12:00 PM–1:00 PM 1:00 PM–2:00 PM This presentation will focus on the policy and technical reforms that the Angolan Ministry of Finance has taken to establish a liability management program and execute debt exchange transactions in order to lower borrowing costs, reduce risk and more efficiently manage its sovereign debt.
2:00 PM–3:00 PM Nations derive an economic benefit from the exploitation of the mineral resources within their territories through a mix of royalties, participation rights, taxes on profits and duties on imports. The extent to which countries benefit, through these means, from their natural resources depends on the amount of ore mined and processed, what products are made within the county's borders, the terms on which these products are sold and how such operations are financed. Governments face numerous challenges when seeking to maximize the economic returns from their mineral resources. Production shortfalls caused by underinvestment in mine development coupled with suboptimal marketing and pricing strategies, corruption and incompetence are recurrent issues. In particular, although the value of minerals is innate, the revenues generated from mineral sales, and the government's share of those revenues, depend on the state in which the minerals are sold, what further downstream processing and refining will have to be undertaken by the purchaser and the terms on which any related financing has occurred. Price transparency is not always assured and investigations and enforcement action on an industry scale is beyond the means of many mineral rich nations. This panel will consider how certain frequently utilized contracts might be strengthened and utilized by governments to regulate their relationship with mining companies to address these recurrent problems and protect their economic interests.
3:00 PM–3:45 PM This presentation will focus on a model that reflects the impact of increasing the competitiveness of jurisdictional mining policy on estimated project outcomes in the mining industry.
3:45 PM–4:00 PM 4:00 PM–5:00 PM Fiscal decentralization in Indonesia has come a long way in the past two decades. This session will examine how reform began in 1999 and how the enactment of two key laws known as the “Big Bang” of fiscal decentralization in Indonesia, started a new era of regional autonomy by delegating to regions the authority to manage their fiscal budgets, both in terms of revenues and expenditures. The presentation will review the evolution of fiscal decentralization reform in the last two decades from the revenue, expenditure, and governance perspectives based on a study funded by USAID.
5:00 PM–5:05 PM
Wrap-up Thursday, October 3, 20248:30 AM–10:00 AM 10:00 AM–10:10 AM
10:10 AM–10:45 AM
10:45 AM–11:30 AM The Public Financial Management System (PFMS), designed, developed and implemented by O/o Controller General of Accounts under the supervision & guidance of the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has played a pivotal role in the financial administration. It has established an efficient fund flow system alongside a robust payment and accounting network facilitating a real time reliable and meaningful management information system and for more transparent, accountable and people centric governance. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism, facilitated through PFMS, has eliminated inefficiencies and ensured that the benefits are delivered directly to the citizens without any leakages.
11:45 PM–12:45 PM 12:45 PM–1:45 PM Governments worldwide have undergone significant digital advancements over the past two decades, ranging from isolated e-government efforts to broader user-experience-centered government digital services. Many efforts have focused on digitizing front-end services (facilitative approach), while others have incrementally tackled or postponed the more challenging reengineering of government operations, processes, and systems (transformative approach). Countries with advanced digital government transformations had a lifeline during the pandemic; others felt the urgency to advance tech solutions and identified the space as a starting point. In this panel, DAI will discuss case studies of successfully supporting tax administrations and finance ministries to implement Government Tech solutions in PFM to strengthen tax collection, improve expenditure management, and ultimately enhance public service delivery. The panel will present successful case studies and lessons learned from implementing digital solutions in PFM, including Kosovo, Guatemala and Jordan.
1:45 PM–2:30 PM This discussion will showcase the achievements of the Government of Jordan with a particular focus on the transition from paper-based to electronic tendering procedures. This significant transformation was supported by the USAID-funded Public Financial Management Activity (PFMA) project. Focus will be on Jordan’s progress in modernizing public procurement to achieve "Value for Money."
2:30 PM–3:30 PM As the digital landscape continues to evolve, governments are increasingly embracing innovative technologies to transform public financial management systems. This session will explore how these advancements are shaping the future of financial management, focusing on the essential building blocks that agencies must develop to enhance transparency, ensure program integrity, and improve service delivery. Attendees will be introduced to a forward-thinking approach that pairs digital solutions with practical use cases, exploring how modernization can lead to more reliable and efficient financial management practices. The session will highlight recent initiatives by the U.S. Treasury Department that demonstrate how integrating data transparency with payment integrity can reinforce trust in public financial systems. Additionally, the panel will discuss the strategic use of emerging technologies globally, such as artificial intelligence, to optimize internal operations and improve engagement with citizens and taxpayers, showing how governments can become well-positioned to meet the demands of a rapidly changing digital environment.
3:30 PM–3:45 PM 3:45 PM–4:45 PM In Kosovo, the Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK) and the Ministry of Finance, Labor, and Transfers (MFLT), with support from the USAID Kosovo Economic Governance Activity, implemented by Chemonics, are adopting digital solutions to improve access to reliable and timely financial data to support evidence-based, data-driven policymaking. This session will present two digitalization initiatives –the TAK Open Data Initiative and the adoption of the MFLT’s data warehouse—that helped improve access to reliable tax and financial data for Kosovo decision makers and citizens.
4:45 PM–5:00 PM Friday, October 4, 20248:30 AM–9:30 AM 9:30 AM–9:40 AM
9:40 AM–12:00 PM
In this two-part panel, experts will discuss PFM’s impacts—both past and future—on development outcomes. The first session will focus on how PFM has performed over the last two decades and its influence on development outcomes. The second session will concentrate on rethinking PFM’s impact to enhance its effectiveness in influencing development outcomes.
9:40 AM–10:40 AM This panel will explore the significant barriers, challenges, and successes of Public Financial Management (PFM) systems over the past two decades, with a particular focus on how strengthening PFM practices has influenced broader development outcomes such as improved service delivery in the post-Covid 19 world, climate resiliency and adaptation by appropriate resource allocation, financial inclusion etc. Despite advancements, PFM systems continue to grapple with fiscal discipline, integrating modern practices, and ensuring transparency. The session will highlight how improved PFM practices have led to successes and posed challenges in achieving these broader development goals. Presenters will share lessons learned, best practices, and strategies to overcome these challenges, leveraging PFM for sustainable development and improved public financial outcomes. Annabelle Atillo
10:40 AM–10:50 AM 10:50 AM–12:00 PM Twenty-five years after the publication of the field-defining Public Expenditure Management Handbook, The World Bank has started a process to rethink and update its approach to public finance management reforms, taking into account lessons learned and shifts in the broader context. This session will feature an interactive discussion with conference participants on some of the lessons that have been learned over the past 25 years of public finance reforms. The attendees will look at ways to promote an alternative approach that focuses more directly on the role that public finance can play in achieving development outcomes and on the bottlenecks that governments face in doing that. A framing paper on the ongoing initiative will be circulated in advance to facilitate participants’ engagement.
12:00 PM–1:00 PM
Adjourn
Special Thanks to Our
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INTRODUCTION
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PRESENTER & MODERATOR
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MODERATOR: 
Eunice Heredia-Ortiz
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John Hanley
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