Background

The Public and Private Finance for Development Project responds to the global need to mobilize resources for the SDGs and to support the development of transparent systems, approaches and capacities for planning, mobilizing and implementing public and private investments in partner countries. The Project is based on an almost 20-year-long programmatic partnership between the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic and UNDP.  

Slovakia has considerable expertise in public finance management. The Public Finance for Development Programme has been implemented since 2009 as part of Slovakia’s official development assistance. It contributes to sound public finance management and good governance in partner countries. Since 2017, the project has been continued as Public and Private Finance for Development (PPFD), and it now also facilitates private sector engagement in development cooperation. 

About the Current Project 

PPFD is currently set to last until 2029. It is implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Moldova and Uzbekistan with the following objectives:

• Strengthen the public finance ecosystem in partner countries to achieve greater efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness of public finances and align the public finance management (PFM) system with national development programs, SDGs and EU requirements.
• Build the ecosystem for the mobilization of external financing, with a specific focus on private financial resources, knowledge, expertise and technologies that have the potential to support the achievement of the SDGs. The focus is around the priorities of Slovak development cooperation, specifically green/clean energy, energy efficiency, digitalization incl. sustainable and smart cities, water and innovation and infrastructure.

Areas of project assistance and cooperation are determined according to the clearly defined needs of partners, such as national institutions including ministries of finance, relevant line ministries, tax and customs administrations, regional authorities, local governments, and other relevant entities. This approach leads to tailored projects that align with the national priorities of partner institutions and leverage Slovak expertise across all project areas, such as public finance, energy, digitalization, and more. 

Major Achievements - Policy Changes 

• In Bosnia and Herzegovina: assessing the financing of sustainable development goals, enhancing the linkages between development strategies/policies and budgets at the sub-national level, supporting the establishment of practitioner network platform, strengthening of internal controls at local governments and cantons (all implemented within the period of 2017-2023)
• In Moldova: introduction of program-based budgeting, establishment and implementation of obligatory spending reviews exercise in budget process, identification of new opportunities to finance long-term national priorities through Development Finance Assessment, Slovak support significantly contributed to the preparation of the following strategic documents:  Public Finance Management Development Strategy 2023-2030 for Moldova that was adopted in 2023, National Security Strategy of the Republic of Moldova (2022), Food Security Strategy and National Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development (2022), Programme on nudging consumers towards energy efficiency (2022); Legal framework and Information System for the Energy Vulnerability Reduction Fund.
• In Montenegro: development of the Economic Reform Programme and the Program for the Suppression of the Informal Economy (2024-2026), country transition from cash to accrual accounting, introducing the application of Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) by strengthening capacities for practical implementation, development of six Citizen Budget Guides for municipalities, budget support for setting up an effective gambling control system, and other (all implemented within the period of 2017-2023).
• In North Macedonia: supporting the fight against the gray economy through a comprehensive range of tools, including the introduction of transfer pricing regulations; Automatic Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes; creation of the Strategy for Reducing Cash Flow in North Macedonia; increasing efficiency of local tax collection; etc. (all implemented within the period of 2017-2023).
• In Serbia: supporting 15 self-governments with preparations of realistic, data-based Local Development Plans (2017-2023); piloting a coordination mechanism for micro-regional development planning (2017-2023); development and improvement of taxpayer identification function for control purposes and control risk management (2017-2023).
• In Ukraine: development of the needs assessment and policy advice on the design and implementation of public finance management reform (2016); methodological support for developing a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework; recommendations for enhancing debt and liquidity management (2016).

Further details including key achievements in partner countries are available on: https://publicfinance.undp.sk/en/