MEFMI & IMF Host the First Capacity Building Workshop on GFSM 2014

The introduction and launch of capacity building on the Government Finance Statistics (GFS), based on the new manual GFSM 2014 is a major milestone for MEFMI. The Institute, in conjunction with the IMF Statistics Department, conducted its first training course on the system at a workshop that was held in Lilongwe, Malawi from 6 to 17 October 2014. The workshop brought together 34 participants from 12 of the MEFMI member states. While there were more participants from Ministries of Finance and national statistics offices, which accounted for 24 officials or 70.6%, participants were also drawn from central banks and a research institution. The mix of participants is to promote interaction among compilers and users of data.

The new system is an improvement on the GFSM 2001. The new system incorporates and aligns new developments in macroeconomic statistics concepts and compilation methodologies brought about by the changes in:

• The Balance of Payments Manual 6 (BPM6);
• The UN System of National Accounts,  SNA 2008;
• The Public Debt Guide 2011;
• Corrections and Omissions in the GFSM 2001; and
• Clarifications and presentation issues.

Economic and financial data is one of the key areas of focus for capacity building as it assists countries to adopt international best practices set by the IMF and the United Nations to achieve accurate, timely, consistent and comparable data. To this end, MEFMI and IMF have conducted a series of capacity building activities under data requirements for economic management on the four macroeconomic accounts, namely; System of National Accounts, Government Finance Statistics,  Balance of Payments; and Money and Financial Statistics. The focus in 2014 was on the Government Finance Statistics based on the new GFSM 2014.

The opening session received a high level of support with the participation of the Secretary to the Treasury, Dr. Ronald Mangani. He was accompanied by Mr. Ralph Tseka, the Director of Economic Affairs, at the Treasury in Malawi. Mr. Tseka is a MEFMI Accredited Fellow in Financial Programming and Policies.   

Dr. Mangani welcomed participants to Malawi and encouraged them to make the most of the opportunity availed to them, to refine their skills, and to develop relevant and applicable systems in their institutions. His key message was that the region does not have a deficit of training opportunities, but rather, on the application of new tools.  He challenged participants to go back and apply the new tools learnt.

MEFMI was represented by a Programme Officer from the Macroeconomic Management Programme, Mr Amos Cheptoo. The Programme Officer welcomed the IMF team and expressed appreciation on behalf of the Institute for the continued financial and human resources support. He underscored the importance of adopting a common approach with international cooperating partners to ensure that the region derives maximum benefits from the training programs. He singled out the myriad of problems facing the region, key of which is weak capacity. He encouraged participants to exert themselves fully and exploit the rare opportunity availed to them, to learn and share experiences with their colleagues and experts.. 

For this workshop, the IMF Statistics Department seconded two experts who facilitated during the workshop; Mr Gary Jones, Senior Economist, Government Finance Statistics, IMF Statistics Department. The other resource person was Mr Danny Labonte, IMF GFS regional expert from the Government of Seychelles, Ministry of Finance.

Data from the 12 countries that were represented was reviewed with a view to providing guidelines on the new compilation methodology according the GFSM 2014. As the workshop was specifically designed for compilation aspects, efforts were made to make it as hands-on as much as possible. In this regard, participants worked in groups where they were given assignments to apply the knowledge gained during lectures.

Three countries who are fairly advanced in the latest GFS compilation methodologies; namely Uganda, Kenya and Malawi, made presentations on the status of their GFS data compilation.

Use of short GFS videos was also employed during the workshop. These offered an introduction to the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014) methodology. Key concepts and elements of the GFS framework were explained. The facilitators adopted an excellent approach of teaching and imparting skills with a bias towards a hands-on methodology, which engaged the participants throughout the two weeks. They also reviewed country data for the 12 countries that participated, which made the workshop very relevant as it was based on real country situations.