ACT UNDER REVIEW

Grenada will have a revised Public Finance Management (PFM) legislation as part of the three-year Home-Grown Structural Adjustment Programme, which began as of January 1, 2014.

The current PFM legislation is an Act that provides for the proper management and control of public money, public property and the control of other resources, and provides for matters connected with same.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance,
Timothy Antoine, talking with IMF officials.

However, on Monday, a news release from the Ministry of Finance said that in support of the Home-Grown Programme, a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) spent the past two weeks in Grenada providing technical assistance to improve the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act.

“This is one of the structural benchmarks under the Home-Grown Programme,” said the release.

“The amendment,” according to a representative from the Ministry of Finance, “is aimed at strengthening the enforcement and some aspects of the management and control.”

Mr. Tej Prakash, who is a Fiscal Affairs Expert assigned by the IMF to lead the review, first visited Grenada during the period August 26-30, 2013, when he met with various stakeholders including some members of the Senior Managers Board (SMB).

Mr. Prakash along with Mrs. Elsie Addo Awadzi, Consulting Counsel of the IMF’s Legal Department, are now in the process of drafting the revised Bill. During the period March 31 – April 4, 2014, they conducted follow-up meetings with stakeholders, including a seminar with the SMB on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. The objective of the seminar was to obtain feedback on the main provisions of the revised PFM Act.