Ghana: Public Financial Management Reform Project

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The project development objective for the Public Financial Management Reform Project is to improve the budget management, financial control and reporting of the Government of Ghana. The project will contribute to enhancing fiscal discipline, strategic allocation of resources and service delivery efficiency, through strengthened systems and procedures and targeted capacity building. The project is comprised of four components. The objective of component 1, enhancing budget component, is to improve budget management and strengthen credibility of the national budget. The main activities financed will be: i) review and strengthening of Cabinet’s formal engagement in the budget process; ii) design a strengthened budget framework paper to be used as a vehicle for obtaining cabinet approval to medium term forecasts of fiscal space; iii) build ministries, departments and agencies (MDA) capacity to develop costed sector strategies and Sector Medium Term Development Plans (SMTDP); iv) strengthen technical linkages and information sharing between fiscal forecasting and analysis and the budget formulation and execution processes; and specialist on-going training for forecasters in ERFD; v) provide technical training to Economic Research and Forecasting Division (ERFD) forecasting staff; and vi) Strengthen capacity in the Debt Management Division (DMD). The objective of component 2, public financial management systems and control component, is to support the design, development, implementation and coverage of the Government’s public financial management (PFM) systems and control. The main activities financed include three groups: (1) enhancements in the coverage of the financial systems modules, (2) human resources management information system (HRMIS) roll-out, and (3) technology infrastructure. The objective of component 3, reinforcing financial oversight and accountability component, is to enhance external audit capacity as well as legislative oversight over budget management. The main activities financed will be: (i) provision of continuous training of Ghana Audit Services (GAS) staff in electronic audit techniques; (ii) acquisition, installation and deployment of appropriate Computer Assisted Auditing Techniques; and (iii) undertaking of selected performance and specialized audits using the electronic tools. Finally, the objective of component 4, PFM reform coordination and change management component, is to provide a continuing institutional and coordination basis for overseeing the implementation of the (PFMRS) as a whole, as well as manage the implementation of the proposed project.