Capacity Building: Members of Parliament Exchange Experience and Build Knowledge

The IMF and JVI have partnered to help members of parliament (MPs) build their knowledge and understanding in areas that are critical to economic stability and growth. MPs who sit on the finance, economy, or budget committees often deal with some of the most complex and difficult issues facing their countries, and welcome the opportunity to participate in the joint IMF-JVI workshops, which help build knowledge and allow for exchanges with peers from other countries on best legislative practices.

During November 13-14, 2017, the most recent installment of the workshops took place in Vienna, with 19 MPs representing countries from the Caucuses and Central Asia—Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan. A parliamentary workshop for this group of countries was last held in 2015.

IMF Resident Representatives from Armenia, Georgia, and Tajikistan, along with several JVI economists led the sessions, which covered subject areas within the expertise of the two institutions. Topics included regional economic issues, fiscal policy rules, central bank autonomy, anti-corruption and good governance, building resilient financial sectors, and energy subsidy reform. The head of Austria's Parliamentary Budget Office, Dr. Helmut Berger, also delivered a session describing and explaining his organization's work as an independent source of analysis of macroeconomic and fiscal policy, helping to promote greater budget transparency and accountability for the Austrian parliament.

The workshops typically provide occasions for Resident Representatives to engage with MPs. Many times, they offer good opportunities to provide insight on policies that underpin bills coming before parliament. This was indeed the case for Armenian MPs at the November workshop. “The Armenian government's proposal to revise the existing fiscal rule was to have been submitted to the National Assembly of Armenia in early December,” said Yulia Ustyugova, IMF Resident Representative for Armenia, “so the workshop provided a timely opportunity to inform Armenia's MPs, including from the opposition, about the international experience with fiscal rules and explain the rationale behind the IMF's recommendations for the revisions being considered by the Ministry of Finance of Armenia.”

Most MPs in attendance at the November workshop currently serve on budget/finance/economy committees—among them, a former central bank governor from Georgia and former prime minister from Armenia. The MPs were well-versed on the issues covered during the sessions, not only pressing presenters on various points, but also offering solid examples from their countries (e.g., Georgia's harsh, but successful, methods of dealing with corruption in the public service; Armenia's current discussions on instituting a new fiscal rule framework; or Kyrgyz Republic's claim that inadequate communication surrounding energy subsidy reforms was a contributing factor to the civil unrest experienced in past years).

“We learned a lot about macroeconomics and the formation of sustainable policies during the seminar. It was also very useful to learn the experience of the advanced countries in overcoming various kinds of crises and in building economically sound decisions based on modeling,” said Mr. Bakhodur Akramzoda, Member of Parliament of Majlisi Namoyandagon Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan (Parliament) and Member of the Economics and Finance Committee.

Many parliaments have important oversight responsibilities to ensure their governments tax and spend responsibly, and the workshops offer a valuable opportunity for MPs to engage with their peers from other countries in the region on best practices in these areas. By sharing their own personal knowledge on issues and exchanging legislative experiences they have had in their own countries, MPs come away with valuable new perspectives on the issues their parliaments are debating.

Glenn Gottselig, Senior Communications Officer, IMF