Public sector modernization and publicfinancial management reforms are important areas of focusfor Jamaica, particularly because of the impact that fiscaland budget-management practices and policies have on growth.Although the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has undertakenseveral initiatives during the past few years aimed atstrengthening management of its public finances, severalfundamental issues continue to affect its fiscalperformance. Fiscal management in Jamaica has been guided bya set of rules that does not support strategic approachesnecessary for addressing its existing challenges. Budgetplanning is fragmented, especially for capital expenditures.Systems for ensuring that public investment allocations areclearly prioritized and aligned with strategic developmentplans and programs are inadequate. The weak link betweengovernment priorities, planning, and budget contributed toinefficient monitoring of public spending. The recent PEFAAssessment conducted in late 2012 confirms theseconclusions. Addressing these impediments is the basis forthe support provided by the current program. Therefore, theinterventions coupled with this project aimed to enhancepublic financial management (PFM) by supporting efforts toimprove strategic budget processes and public investmentmanagement through the provision of policy advice, technicalassistance, and knowledge generation and dissemination. Bydoing that, it was intended to alleviate some of thePFM-based constraints, distortions and factors limitinggrowth such as inefficient budgeting processes, insufficientcontrol over public investment planning process, and weaklinks between government priorities, planning, and budget.
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