Finance Minister Mohammad Yasser Baruni held talks with a team of senior officials from the Public Financial Management Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enhance cooperation and technical support provided to the Ministry of Finance and Syrian government entities, and to build capacity in areas of public financial management.
The Ministry of Finance stated on Friday that the two sides discussed during the meeting, held on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group in the Thai capital Bangkok, areas of technical support in policies and tax administration, enhancing revenue management, improving expenditure management efficiency, and developing public financial management processes and systems.
Supporting the development of the medium-term budget framework
The ministry clarified that the meeting focused on developing government financial statistics according to modern international methodologies and standards, thereby supporting the improvement of the quality of financial and statistical data in Syria and meeting future statistical requirements. In the context of developing the budget framework, the two sides discussed providing support to develop the medium-term budget framework and enhancing expenditure management and allocation methodologies over the medium term.
The meeting also discussed opportunities to benefit from artificial intelligence technologies in the tax field, particularly in enhancing tax compliance, data analysis, and providing better insights to support decision-making, within the ministry's trend towards developing financial management tools and leveraging modern technologies.
Supporting the financial and institutional reform path
Baruni expressed his appreciation during the meeting for the technical support provided by the Fund, emphasizing the importance of continuing cooperation to contribute to developing the capacities of employees in the ministry and relevant institutions, enhancing the efficiency of public financial management, and supporting the financial and institutional reform path. The Finance Minister expressed his keenness for Syria to be among the first countries to implement the new methodology, scheduled to be launched next year.
An agreement was reached to prepare a joint action plan, including priorities and programs for technical support and capacity building, to support the implementation of the reform and development agenda in the Ministry of Finance. The Finance Minister, Mohammad Yasser Baruni, had discussed yesterday, Thursday, with Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF, the steps and developments of financial reform in Syria and preparations to complete the requirements for Article IV consultations under the IMF's Articles of Agreement.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
Comments (0)