Public finances
Public finances are central to the governance of all countries. Having an effective and fair tax collection system and well-functioning system for the management of public funds mobilises the means required to implement the public policies defined by the local authority. The modernisation and strengthening of public finance systems consequently play an important role in the development process and have, as a result, always figured prominently in the cooperation programmes and actions of international donors. These are also focus thematic areas for France’s bilateral technical cooperation.
In recent years, the strengthening of democratic processes in partner countries, giving rise to demands by citizens for a greater accountability of public authorities, the application of the principles of the Paris Declaration and the need to mobilise partner countries for the implementation of international aid, as well as the development of decentralisation-deconcentration processes, which require building the capacities of local authorities to collect and manage expenditure, have contributed significantly to countries and donors giving greater attention to these issues.
This is the context in which an operator like Expertise France has been working for over thirty years, with the technical directorates of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, for technical assistance projects which improve the economic and financial governance of partner countries.
The agency takes action with three main objectives:
- Support the fair and effective collection of domestic public resources by assisting tax administrations and local authorities with their projects for reforms and to build their capacities;
- Support the efficient allocation and management of public funds, an issue for the acceptability of tax by taxpayers, by assisting reform projects targeting performance-based budgeting, the modernisation of public management, helping to improve the reliability and transparency of public accounts, etc.
- Strengthen public accountability mechanisms by promoting ethics and codes of conduct, the professionalization of internal control and audit, capacity building for supreme audit institutions, etc.
With some fifty projects implemented over the past two years (including twinning operations) and some thirty development projects, the agency has underscored its position as the leading operator in the fields of economic and financial governance.
Many countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and the European neighbourhood (south and east), where the agency is particularly active, turn to France whose competence is recognised among OECD countries. This competence is also recognised by donors, such as the European Union or World Bank, who highly value the Francophone expertise that the agency is able to mobilise.
For example, the agency is supporting the reform of the tax administration in Haiti (EU financing, 2016-2018), the modernisation of the tax system in Indonesia (AFD financing, 2017) and the continued training of tax officers in Mali (EU financing, 2016-2017). The agency is also helping the District of Bamako, the Province of Kinshasa and the Municipality of Boffa increase their own resources.
Expertise France also supports countries such as Morocco (World Bank financing, 2014-2017) and DRC (AFD-C2D financing, 2015-2018) for their budgetary and accounting reforms. In addition, it supports capacity building for control officials, for example, inspection or internal audit structures in Mauritania (French financing, 2015-2017), or the Court of Auditors in Niger (World Bank financing, 2015-2016), or in Vietnam (EU financing, 2016-2019).
For 20 years, Expertise France has been committed and recognised in the field of creating and strengthening financial institutions in the European neighbourhood and in Africa. It is part of a consortium that has just been selected to support the creation and development of a public financial institution in Angola with competence for Lusophone Africa and Timor-Leste (EU financing, 2017-2019).
