Project to support reforms and capacity building in Madagascar

Improving the effectiveness and transparency of public spending in Madagascar

Madagascar is the fifth largest island in the world, located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southern Africa. With 30 million inhabitants (2023), the country has one of the highest rates of poverty in the world (80%), despite its wealth of natural resources.

Following the PEFA self-assessment in 2013, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), with support from sectoral ministries, developed its 10-year Strategic Plan to Modernise Public Financial Management (PSMGFP) in 2016. It has the objective of “establishing an effective, efficient and transparent public financial management system to consolidate its fundamental functions and contribute to the credibility of the National Development Plan.”

While there has been encouraging progress in the area of public finances since 2016, in particular in terms of standards and regulations, financial governance still shows many weaknesses, which undermines the exercise and sustainability of public action.

Intervention logic and project components

The process to improve public finance management and increase the Government’s capacity to finance its development policy has been engaged through endogenous growth dynamics driven by the ministry’s teams.

More specifically, the project aims to:

- Improve the way in which spending is carried out

- Improve the information systems of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and ensure that there is systematic information sharing

- Improve human resources management and develop skills

- Support the ownership, coordination and management of the reforms, and the monitoring-evaluation

Stakeholders and synergies encouraged

The project contracting authority has been entrusted to the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Madagascar, in which the Directorate General of the Treasury (DGT) is the project leader. A dedicated team has been mobilised to work using a cross-departmental approach, supported, where necessary, by the expertise deployed by Expertise France.

The beneficiaries of the PARRC and the stakeholders in its implementation are as follows:

- The Directorate General of the Treasury (DGT), the project leader 
- The Directorate General of Budget and Finance (DGBF)
- The Directorate General of Financial Control (DGCF)
- The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (ARMP) and the National Procurement Commission (CNM) 
- The Directorate of Information Systems (DSI) 
- Functions related to human resources (HR) at the DGT and DGBF 
- The Directorate for Coordination and Monitoring of Reforms (DCSR)