FGC Press Release – 31st August 2020

Release of 2020 Financial Governance Report

H.E. Dr. Abdirahman Beileh, Minister of Finance and Chair of the Financial Governance Committee (FGC), has released the FGC’s fourth Financial Governance Report.

The report assesses the progress made by the Federal Government of Somalia in strengthening financial governance over the period of July 2019 to June 2020.  It also sets out the financial governance priorities the FGC believes need to be addressed in the coming year to strengthen state-building efforts and capitalize on this year’s achievement of International Financial Institution (IFI) arrears clearance and the HIPC Decision point. 

A novel feature of the 2020 FGR is the inclusion of a chapter dedicated to one particular area of FGS financial governance (a ‘spotlight issue’). The intention is to take a deeper dive into the selected topic to describe the state of play, and to look beyond the FGR’s single-year time frame to identify lessons, persistent barriers to progress, and potential reform priorities.   The 2020 FGR’s ‘spotlight’ is on FGS procurement and concessions, which have been a consistently strong focus of the FGC since its formation in 2014

Key highlights from the FGR 2020 include progress made in the competitive tendering of contracts and concessions, revenue collection and administration, public financial and expenditure management, and mobilization of support from IFIs.

The FGR 2020 also highlights four priority issues that require further attention in the coming twelve months: establish, empower, and build capacity within oversight bodies to undertake procurement and concessions; build stakeholder awareness of the legal and regulatory framework for public procurement; build technical expertise and capacity for conducting, or participating in, procurement processes; and continue to enhance the procurement and concessions framework.

The FGC’s current mandate runs to the end of June 2021. Further extension will be subject to agreement between the Government and the international community.