The year kicked off with
an intense calendar of
engagements for the GIFT
network
to collaborate with IBP in
launching the 2017 Open
Budget Survey. In the coming
months, GIFT
will continue supporting
this effort by participating
in the upcoming regional
launches in Asia and Latin
America. Beyond this, the
network has a range of
fruitful activities planned
for the remainder of 2018,
including the following. We
will be co-organizing
international events with
stewards, such as the OECD
Senior Budget Officials
meeting in Zagreb, Croatia,
or the Fiscal Transparency
launch and workshop in
Brasilia, Brazil. We will
also be part of partner
events, such as an open
contracting event with the
Open Contracting Partnership
(OCP) and the National
Anti-Corruption System
Secretariat in May in
Mexico.
Moreover, stewards will
soon be invited to engage in
exciting and purposive
activities. For instance,
for this year’s Global Open
Government Partnership
Summit, to be held in
Tbilisi, Georgia (July
17-19), the network will
call stewards to submit
proposals for participation
at the side event GIFT
is planning to hold.
Additionally, stewards will
soon be invited to the next
General Stewards Meeting, to
be probably held in Cascais,
Portugal, during the second
semester of 2018. We will
also ask you to be more
active on online peer
learning activities, such as
webinars, and to engage in a
network process to advance
public participation in
fiscal policies. As we are
in the process of organizing
all of these engagements, we
trust that you will be
joining the multiple
promising opportunities to
advance fiscal transparency
and participation in network
country members, and to
strengthen our network
during 2018!
GIFT
presents the
#DataOnTheStreets
International Rally at the
3rd OECD Forum on
Governance of
Infrastructure Paris,
March 26, 2018
The annual Governance
of Infrastructure OECD
Forum brought together
practitioners from across
the infrastructure policy
spectrum from more than 30
countries –infrastructure
planners from finance and
sectoral ministries,
regulators, PPP
managers, as well as
representatives of the
private sector, investors
and civil society– to
exchange experiences on
how to overcome governance
bottlenecks and strengthen
the management of
infrastructure from
conception to delivery.
The Consultation
for Inclusive
Infrastructure
panel addressed the
concern of having more
practical consultation
processes. Panelists
explored examples of how
public participation has
been successfully managed
in a way that enhances the
legitimacy and
accountability of the
investment decisions and
contributes to delivery of
sustainable and inclusive
infrastructure.
Transparent and inclusive
systems for stakeholder
consultation are an
essential component of
most areas of public
policy today, including
the infrastructure sector
where current mechanisms
either do not fully
capture the public
interest or deliver
inferior results.
Tarick Gracida, GIFT‘s
Technology and
Communications
Coordinator, presented the
experience of the
#DataOnTheStreets
International Rally. He
reflected on the benefits
of this successful citizen
engagement strategy,
shared some preliminary
lessons and the great
results of the three
countries involved. He
added that with the
support of the GIFT
network, other countries
can easily implement this
citizen engagement
strategy during the next
Open Data Day 2019.
In the room were two
institutions involved in
the 2018 Rally, the
Mexican Secretariat of
Finance and Public Credit
and the Secretariat of
Transparency of Colombia
that will promote the good
results of the Rally to
motivate more countries to
join.
Check out the
infographics of the
results of Mexico, Chile
and Colombia here!
GIFT
at the Eight Summit of the
Americas in Lima, Peru Open Data: Democratic
Governance April
11, 2018
In the framework of the
VIII Summit of the Americas
(April 13-14 in Lima Peru),
Avina Foundation, the
Interamerican Government
Procurement Network, the
Organization of American
States, Trust for the
Americas, Hivos and the
Latin American Open Data
Initiative –GIFT
Steward- hosted the Open
Data: Democratic
Governance event. The
event explored the role that
open data and civic
technology have in the fight
against corruption in the
Americas. Together with
members of international
organizations, governments,
the private sector, civil
society and the media of the
region, the objective was to
identify common challenges,
successful experiences and
the advancement of a frank
dialogue about the role of
civic technology and open
data in fighting corruption.
The event was held as a
prelude to the declaration
of the Heads of State of the
Americas that called for the
use of open data to combat
corruption in the region. GIFT
participated in the event’s
discussions and endorsed the
Declaration
in Advance of The Summit
of the Americas.
The Heads of State
participating of the VIII
Summit of the Americas
adopted the Lima Commitment
“Democratic Governance
Against Corruption,” which
includes a total of 57
commitments to tackle
corruption in the
hemisphere, among which are
those of open data and open
contracting. (See paragraphs
B and D of the Commitment
found at the following
link: http://www.summit-americas.org/viii/compromiso_lima_en.pdf
The Department for
Effective Public Management
of the Organization of
American States (OAS) will
be working with its
institutional and civil
society partners to meet the
mandates that these
commitments generate to the
Member States and the
General Secretariat of the
OAS. In particular, for the
implementation of the
Inter-American Program on
Open Data to Combat
Corruption, as referred to
in paragraph 20 of the Lima
Commitment.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
IMF-WB
Spring Meetings,
Washington DC, April
16-22, 2018
Each year, the Spring
Meetings of the Boards of
Governors of the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the World Bank
Group (WBG) bring together
central bankers, ministers
of finance and development,
parliamentarians, private
sector executives,
representatives from civil
society organizations and
academics to discuss issues
of global concern, including
the world economic outlook,
poverty eradication,
economic development, and
aid effectiveness. Also
featured are seminars,
regional briefings, press
conferences, and many other
events focused on the global
economy, international
development, and the world’s
financial system.
See the agenda here.
In the framework of the
Spring Meetings, in which
many of the GIFT
Stewards –the IMF and the
WBG, OECD, IBP, ministries
of finance, among others–
have an active
participation, the network
coordination team will take
part of the following
events.
Launch
of the IMF Fiscal
Transparency Handbook and
OECD Budget Transparency
Toolkit at the 2018 IMF
Fiscal Forum: Corruption
and Public-Sector
Governance
Recognizing that corruption
can weaken the state’s
capacity to tax, leading to
lower revenue collection and
that it can also undermine
spending programs through
cost inflation and
distorted, low-quality
budget allocation, the 2018
Fiscal Forum will bring
together policymakers and
practitioners to discuss how
revenue mobilization reforms
and fiscal transparency can
help to fight corruption.
On Sunday April 21,
Vitor Gaspar (Director,
Fiscal Affairs Department,
IMF), Luiz de Mello (Director,
Policy Studies Branch,
Economics Department, OECD),
and Juan Pablo Guerrero (Network
Director, GIFT) will
launch the IMF Fiscal
Transparency Handbook and
OECD Budget Transparency
Toolkit at the IMF
headquarters. These are
documents that have been
developed by GIFT
Stewards and that have been
discussed within the
network.
The high-level discussion
on April 17, 2018, proposed
by the Egyptian Ministry of
Finance, aims to convene
government officials from
the MENA region to share
experiences on fiscal
transparency reforms among
peer countries, outline
strategic directions, share
commitments, listen to civil
society, and gain insights
from relevant IFIs and
international agencies
involved in the fiscal
transparency agenda. This
high-level discussion aims
to set the stage for the
identification of specific
plans and commitments to
fiscal transparency among
participating countries, and
to enable periodic follow-up
and monitoring at the
country level. The
discussion will also engage
civil society
representatives, of the
following countries: Egypt,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan,
Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine,
Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia (GIFT
steward). The event will
follow a panel format,
moderated by Deborah Wetzel,
Senior Director of the
Governance Global Practice,
and The World Bank, the IMF,
and GIFT will share how they
can support these efforts.
Francophone
African countries
High-level event
The French Ministry of
Europe and Foreign Affairs
and the International Budget
Partnership will host a
high-level round table to
advance budget transparency
in Francophone Africa, on
April 20. The goal is that
governments discuss with
budget transparency experts
and international investors
about the importance of the
budget Transparency agenda.
One of the main objectives
of this meeting is to offer
the ministries of the region
an opportunity to share
concrete measures to sustain
and strengthen the
transparency of the budget
in their respective
countries. Also, the World
Bank, the IMF, and GIFT
will discuss how they can
support these efforts. The
countries involved are:
Benin (GIFT
Steward), Burkina Faso,
Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali
and Senegal.
NEW
RESOURCES
Coming
up: a new tutorial on
disclosing and using
budget open data, by
Mexico’s SHCP and GIFT
At the request of GIFT
Stewards to have practical
resources that explain how
to implement a fiscal
transparency policy with
open data as a fundamental
pillar, based on the
successful experience of GIFT
Stewards, the Mexican
Secretariat of Finance and
Public Credit (SHCP) –GIFT
Lead Steward- and GIFT
have produced a new tutorial
that will be launched next
month.
The tutorial will be
composed of a series of ten
1-5 minutes that address the
what, how and for what of an
open data policy to disclose
and communicate budget
information.
The tutorial will first
be produced in Spanish and
will soon be offered in
English.
Stay
tuned!
COMMUNITY
WALL
High-level
roundtable Frontiers
in anticorruption:
strengthening
prevention, tackling
impunity, and changing
perceptions April
18, 2018
| 11:00 to 12:00 ET, 15:00
to 16:00 GMT
Preston Auditorium, World
Bank Headquarters
This high-level
roundtable discussion will
bring together thought
leaders and practitioners in
government, the private
sector, civil society, media
and academia to explore:
how
governments are looking
outside the box to fight
impunity and ensure
accountability;
how
the newest technological
developments such as
artificial intelligence
and data analytics
affect how we approach
corruption;
how
the private sector can
play a role in reducing
corruption;
and
how the media is working
to expose wrongdoing in
service of the public
good.
How do you think all of us
can help end corruption and
what questions do you have
for experts? Share your
ideas and questions via the
comments section of this page or by
using #EndCorruption on
Twitter and Facebook.
IMF
Policy paper:
Macroeconomic Developments
and Prospects in
Low-Income Developing
Countries
A
newly
published study by the
IMF on
the increasing number of low
income developing countries
at high financial risk or
debt distress shows that
debt burdens and
vulnerabilities have risen
significantly since 2013 in
many of these countries
(LIDC). The number of
countries in such conditions
has increased from 13 in
2013 to 24 in January 2018.
Not surprisingly, many of
these cases coincide with
the decline of budget
transparency as measured by
the Open Budget Survey in
2017 (Francophone Africa).
The study underscores
the significant gaps in the
available data on public and
publicly-guaranteed debt in
LIDCs. The coverage of
public sector entities is
typically too narrow, while
the coverage of guarantees
is limited, if not absent.
There is also lack of
transparency in the terms
and conditions of loans and
the extent of
“collateralization”. These
information gaps are usually
revealed only late when
countries experience debt
distress and begin to
default. On this respect,
the IMF Executive Board has
discussed that
more efforts are also needed
to project and report
contingent liabilities,
including those arising from
state-owned enterprises and
PPPs.
Finally, the
composition of public debt
in LIDCs continues to shift
from traditional sources
towards bilateral lenders,
commercial external debt,
and domestic debt. “Higher
interest rates on
commercially-priced debt has
led to higher debt servicing
costs and market risks,
while the rising importance
of non-traditional creditors
poses new challenges for
potential debt resolutions,
including difficulties in
ensuring the creditor
coordination needed to
produce comprehensive
agreements acceptable to all
major creditors”.
