The goal of the project is to support the Government of Tajikistan’s efforts in establishing more transparent accounting and budgetary reporting practices for state budget execution. The project, administered by the World Bank, is funded through a Trust Fund grant by the Government of Switzerland’s Secretariat for Economic Cooperation (SECO) in the amount of US $2.16 million.

The Public Sector Accounting Reform Project supports the implementation of key goals of the Government-adopted Public Financial Management (PFM) Strategy for 2009-2018. More specifically, the project will support the Ministry of Finance with introduction of the new accounting policy, namely the adaptation and implementation of the Unified Charts of Accounts (UCOA) and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). It will also assist with technical and institutional capacity building of the Ministry of Finance, the Treasury, and Public Financial Management officials nation-wide to generate reports based on the new accounting policy.

“Strengthening transparency and accountability for public resources is a key foundation for all of our programs in Tajikistan,” said Marsha Olive, World Bank Country Manager in Tajikistan. “We are pleased that together with our Swiss partners, we are supporting key public finance management reforms, so that scarce funds are used as intended to improve services for citizens.”

By supporting the Government’s long term accounting reform, the project is contributing towards improving the quality, reliability and consistency of financial reporting and promoting transparency in public sector operational management, through improvements in accounting policies and practices.

The Tajikistan Public Sector Accounting Reform Project is designed to complement the efforts and activities under the World Bank’s Public Management Modernization Project, which is active since 2009. In line with the PFM Strategy priorities, the Public Financial Management Modernization Project works with the Government of Tajikistan to support capacity building in budget preparation and execution, improves the IT capacity and infrastructure of the Ministry of Finance, and helps introduce an integrated Financial Management Information System (FMIS).

The current World Bank portfolio in Tajikistan consists of 14 projects with net commitments of $236 million. The largest share of the portfolio is in the energy and water sector (35%) followed by agriculture and rural development (31%), human development – education, health and social protection (30%), and economic policy and public sector (4%). In addition, planned projects include further support for improvements in tax administration, food security and healthcare.

Since 1996, the World Bank’s cooperation program with Tajikistan has entailed 85 operations for about $700 million. These continue to benefit the people of Tajikistan by contributing to improved education, better access to healthcare, enhanced land rights, more jobs in rural areas, an improved business environment, and private sector development.