Sierra Leone - Public Financial Management and Business Enabling Support Project (PFMBESP)

The Public Financial Management and Business Enabling Support Project (PFMBESP) complements and adds value to Government and other development partners’ efforts to meet the challenges faced by the country. The rationale for the project is three-fold: first, severe organizational weaknesses in the PFM institutions constitute one of the most critical constraints to development, poverty reduction and sustainable peace in Sierra Leone. Hence tackling these weaknesses is a priority for the Government and its development partners. Second, by strengthening the fiduciary systems in government institutions, the proposed project will also help to curb corruption and leakage in public funds. Third, the project will help consolidate gains in financial and economic governance reform supported under the previous project and ongoing PFM reform. The project will build capacity of key institutions to deepen and implement reforms in Public Financial Management (PFM), extractive industries transparency and accountability, and private sector development. It has four main components which are mutually reinforcing: (i) strengthening transparency and accountability in public financial management, (ii) improving extractive industries governance; (iii) improving business enabling environment for private sector development, and (iv) project management.