Growth Recovery Support Program

Under the program implementation arrangements, a regional TA was envisaged to help the government (and other countries in the region such as Armenia and Tajikistan) implement its crisis budget effectively by improving public expenditure monitoring and developing and maintaining sound audit trails. However, the regional TA was not implemented and the envisaged fiduciary arrangements were no longer monitored under the GRSP. Nevertheless, other development partners have taken related initiatives. The World Bank, Department for International Development of the United Kingdom, Government of the Netherlands, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency provided $15.00 million for public sector financial management reform, the United States Agency for International Development provided $3.29 million to support foreign reserves and payment systems, and the European Union provided €11 million to support a second phase of public financial management reform. The completion report for the World Bank project noted that the MOF had strengthened its strategy and annual budget planning processes and improved arrangements for monitoring and oversight of budget implementation through capacity building provided by the project. Capacity and procedures for strategic expenditure planning, budget preparation, and budget management were also strengthened in line ministries. An internal budget policy and public expenditure review process was introduced and capacity building and training strategy for staff in the MOF Budget Department and line ministry budget units were developed and implemented. The World Bank project also supported an external audit of central government spending. This suggests that the coordination among the development partners under the JNA framework worked well for Georgia.

Project Name

Growth Recovery Support Program

Project Number
42529-013
42529-023
Report Date
Report Source
Independent project evaluation
Country
Report Rating