Day: April 11, 2024

The Dominican Republic hosts the XXI Meeting of the Results-Based Budgeting Network of Latin America and the Caribbean: climate change and actions from the General State Budget are on the agenda

The event aims to leverage best practices and strengthen collaboration among the budget offices and departments of member countries for the 2024-2025 period. Punta Cana, La Altagracia Province – With the participation of budget directors from 17 countries, the Dominican Republic is hosting the 21st Meeting of the Results-Based Budgeting Network of Latin America and the Caribbean. This meeting aims to exchange and leverage best practices, strengthen collaboration among countries, and develop a work plan for the Network for the 2024-2025 period. The event, taking place from April 10-12 in La Altagracia Province, brings together budget directors and representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Barbados, Belize, and Guyana. The welcoming remarks for the first working session were delivered by Derby de los Santos, Vice Minister of the Treasury, representing the Minister of Finance, José Manuel Vicente. Luis Madera Sued, Vice Minister of Planning and Public Investment, representing the Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, Pável Isa Contreras; Teodora Recalde, President of the Latin American Results-Based Budgeting Network; and Ariel Zaltsman, fiscal specialist from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), each spoke independently, emphasizing the environmental issue and climate change. Derby de los Santos, addressing the topic, highlighted the Dominican government's commitment to tackling climate change, noting the extensive work being done on resilience initiatives through the main instrument of public finance. "Meetings like this allow us to present our initiatives and learn about those employed by sister nations in adapting to and combating this phenomenon by sharing best practices and experiences," he emphasized. For his part, Luis Madera Sued, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, underscored the importance of results-based budgeting as one of the Dominican government's key priorities, aligned with the vision of linking planning to the budget. “Results-based management is one of the key principles of this new approach to policymaking, focusing not on what we do, but on what we achieve for our people. It must be said that the General Directorate of Budget has been the pioneering institution in this paradigm,” Madera pointed out. Similarly, Teodora Recalde, president of the Network, highlighted the fundamental challenges directly affecting societies, marked by the global climate emergency, and stated that budgets, fiscal responsibility, and efficiency can be active tools in the use of resources. Ariel Zaltsman of the IDB expressed his satisfaction with the event and with the Dominican Republic as the host country, given the initiatives it has been developing in both results-based budgeting and climate change adaptation and mitigation, supported by the IDB through both resources and technical cooperation. The three-day meeting addressed topics such as fiscal challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean in the face of the global climate emergency and the role of results-based budgeting, transparency in climate public policy, progress in identifying climate public spending in Latin America and the Caribbean, how to leverage practices implemented in LAC to have a positive environmental impact, monitoring and evaluation of climate-related spending and its potential to contribute to mitigating climate change, and the use of advanced information technology in budgeting. The event included the participation of staff from the General Directorate of Budget, the host institution, with the collaboration of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In addition, representatives from the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPYD), the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the National Office for Seismic Evaluation and Vulnerability of Infrastructure and Buildings (ONESVIE), the Commission for the Promotion of Technological Upgrading of the National Irrigation System, the Technical Unit for the Execution of Agroforestry Development Projects (UTEPDA), the National Botanical Garden, and technical and qualified personnel from the participating institutions were present. Rijo Presbot: Climate Change as a National Priority. José Rijo Presbot, Director General of the Budget, was in charge of closing the first day of the Meeting of the Results-Based Budgeting Network of Latin America and the Caribbean. In his speech, Rijo thanked those present and the President of the Network for choosing the country to host the event. He also valued the exchange of experiences among the represented countries as a demonstration of the firm commitment to ensuring that expenditures related to climate change, biodiversity protection, and disaster risk management are properly identified and made transparent in the general budgets of each State. “Climate change prevention and risk mitigation are especially important issues for the Dominican Republic. Between 2000 and 2019, Puerto Rico and Haiti were among the countries most affected by extreme weather events; it is clear that the Dominican Republic's absence from the top 10 is purely a matter of luck,” explained Rijo Presbot. Regarding public finances and the budgetary framework in particular, Rijo noted how countries have been preparing and optimizing methodologies and techniques for identifying the full range of government actions, specifically those focused on climate. The Latin American and Caribbean Results-Based Budgeting Network Meeting has been held annually since 2003 to comparatively analyze the experiences of OECD countries in results-based management.