Finance minister holds coordination meeting with stakeholders
Freetown, (SLENA) – The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Khelfala Marah (in photo) on Tuesday 11th June 2013 held a coordination meeting on Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) at his ministry’s Conference Room in Freetown.
The Country Policy and Institutional Assessment framework assesses the quality of a country’s present policy and institutional framework and its rating is used by the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other multilateral financial institutions to determine the amount of resources allocated to low income countries, including Sierra Leone.
The CPIA rates countries against a set of 16 criteria, grouped in four clusters, namely, economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity and public sector management and institutions.
The ratings provide an important snapshot of the strengths and weaknesses of the country’s performance assessed against other countries in similar circumstances.
Thus, policies and programmes implemented by key Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) contribute to improve the country’ CPIA rating, and hence enabling the country to receive more resources from its development partners.
The meeting brought together cabinet ministers, the Chief of Staff, Office of the President, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of MDAs.
Welcoming participants to the meeting, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Khelfala Marah, informed his audience that the Agenda for Change is gone and that there are projects and programmes that they have been working on which he sad have sailed through and would serve as the bases for the Agenda for Prosperity, noting that water, roads, energy, schools, free health care and many other projects are on- going.
He reminded participants about the retreat they had with ministers on the Agenda for Prosperity which was followed by another with development partners and the other with His Excellency the President.
He added that the pillar heads have been working in collaboration with relevant Ministries Departments and Agencies to finalize or contribute to the Agenda for Prosperity, pointing out that development aid dropped by 2 % in 2011 which was later followed by a 4% drop, while noting that amidst all fiscal constraints in developed economy, government will be able to take forward the agenda for prosperity, adding that Sierra Leone has all what it takes to expand its economy.
While explaining the purpose of the meeting, the minister expressed the hope that the country’s mineral resources as well as the traditional sources of revenues will continue to support them down the road.
He noted that Sierra Leone’s current score is between 3.3 and 3.5 out of six, stating that Ghana has been able to benefit from the above framework to levels above $ 400 million dollars. He said Sierra Leone was able to benefit in the region of about $ 113 million dollars.
HB/MoDEP/SLENA
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