They discussed the latest economic tendencies, situation in Serbia’s public finance system management including budget planning and execution control, and the IMF representatives were especially interested in strengthening the budget forming process at the annual and mid-term level, budget execution control and programme budgeting.
Committee Chairperson Vesna Kovac informed the guests on the budget adoption process at the National Assembly, saying that it lacked a mid-term budget income and expenditure plan and opining that the National Assembly should focus more on controlling budget execution. Committee member Veroljub Arsic pointed out certain deficiencies in the implementation of the Budget System Law and opined that a new law should be passed, a less complicated one and with fewer interventions by the Government.
Sami Ylaoutinen, technical support advisor at the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department, asked about the implementation of the Budget System Law, fiscal strategy and the role of the Fiscal Council. Vesna Kovac opined that the fiscal strategy should be more detailed because it only provides a macroeconomic framework which is prone to frequent change, and Veroljub Arsic opined that a more serious fiscal strategy cannot be expected before 2014.
The meeting also touched on the deliberation on the budget final statement at the Assembly and the National Assembly’s cooperation with the State Audit Institution. Vesna Kovac said that the National Assembly had not adopted the final statements for the period 2002 – 2007 because they have not been revised. She opined that the cooperation with the State Audit Institution was good but it should be developed further.
Arsic opined that the reports of the State Audit Institution are too detailed and that the National Assembly is primarily interested in the legitimacy and justifiability of budgetary expenses.