{The Minister of finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete on Tuesday received his counterpart Gilles Baillet of Niger who is in the country for a five day study tour.}
Minister Baillet heads a delegation of Niger officials who are in the country to learn from the best practices in public finance management.
The idea of a study tour was arranged during a side meeting between President Paul Kagame and his Niger’s counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou during the Arab-African Economic Summit in Kuwait last year.
Speaking during one of the meetings at the Ministry of Finance and Economic planning, Minister Baillet noted that the purpose of the visit was to learn from Rwanda on how they can absorb their budget in an accountable way while focusing on development.
“We would like to learn from Rwanda how they have managed to execute their development plans with such speed and accountability,” Minister Baillet said.
According to Minister Baillet, Niger absorbs less than 60% of its budget a situation that has led to reduced support from development partners. The country’s budget execution process is still cumbersome and slow.
“Our poor performance in terms of public financial management has led to reduced donor support. We hope that this visit will help us improve the situation back at home,” Minister Baillet.
He further noted that Niger’s finance ministry was still undergoing reforms as the current structure is still simple and classic.
Minister Gatete has assured full support and cooperation in their quest for public financial management best practices.
“The Niger entourage is with us for five days during which we will share with them how we do things and hopefully it would assist them in managing public finances,” Minister Gatete said.
During its stay in Rwanda the Niger’s delegation will visit several public institutions including the Ministry of Finance, Rwanda Revenue Authority, Rwanda governance Board among others.
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