Budget Department Ministry of Finance

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Details
Category: Directorate General Budget
Published on Monday, 23 December 2013 05:09
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Overview

Budget Policy and Reform Directorate is one of the three directorates of the Budget Department. A key role of the Directorate is setting overall budget framework and ensuring budget remains a key policy tool to implement Government economic and development priorities. This includes setting overall budget reform policies and guidelines for their implementation, as well as undertaking actual activities on budget formulation and preparation, implementation and reporting.  Underpinning all responsibilities rests the capacity building imperative to ensure there is institutional and individual capacity in the budgetary units in the center and provinces and within Budget Department itself to implement public finance management reforms over the longer-term.

Main Outputs

The main documents and papers produced by the Directorate include: Budget Calendar, Budget circulars, Medium-Term Budget Framework (Pre-Budget Document), National Budget Statement, Performance reporting circulars and Budget Performance Report for the Cabinet, as well as PFM Training Need Assessment and Training Strategy and Action Plan for the implementation of PFM reform agenda.

The Directorate also coordinates budget issues with the different sectors within Budget Department, as well as with the line ministries and their provincial directorates, Budget Committee, Cabinet and Parliament.  This Directorate undertakes organizing of budget committee meetings chaired by MoF, providing necessary document to discuss the budget issues, and organizes negotiations with line ministries in the mid-year and end-year budget hearing processes.

Key Components

The Directorate consists of four Units, including:

  1. Budget Policy Unit – responsible for setting overall budget formulation and budget preparation policies and guidelines and developing key national budget documents. 
  2. Provincial Budgeting Unit – responsible for integration of specific provincial needs and requirements in the national budget.
  3. Budget Performance Evaluation and Reporting Unit – responsible for setting overall performance monitoring and reporting policies and guidelines and preparing Budget Performance report for the Cabinet.
  4. Budget Reform Unit – responsible for to providing centralized public finance management capacity building function.

Key Achievements in the Past Year

The key achievements of the Budget Policy and Reform Directorate during 1389 and 1390 include:

  • 1390 Pre-Budget Document including budget ceilings for all budgetary units, approved by the Cabinet in September 2010;
  • 1390 National Budget Statement prepared in three languages (Dari, Pashto and English) submitted to the Parliament in February 2011 and published on-line;
  • 1390 National Budget Statement approved by the Parliament in April 2011;
  • Budget Calendar (Timetable) approved by Budget Committee and issued to all budgetary units in April 2011;
  • Provincial budget policy developed and launched in April 2011;
  • Provincial Budget Symposium with 5 pilot ministries and their provincial directorates organized in May 2011;
  • PFM training need assessment undertaken in 14 ministries and corresponding training programme under development.