Rwanda has improved on its public financial management systems, a recently released World Bank (WB) report reveals. In a survey carried out jointly; the WB and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based think-tank in 54 countries, Rwanda beat forty two other countries to accumulate 4.0 points. The report ranked Rwanda 12th to be at par with Uganda, Ethiopia, Senegal and Ghana. The survey was carried out in developing countries on how countries are implementing the Paris declaration on aid effectiveness. The survey compliments the assessment undertaken by the World Bank to rank countries on the strength of their systems following a six-point scale, with 1 as the weakest, and 6 as the most advanced. Rwanda’s score increased from 3.5 to 4.0, in a period of two years—which was the agreed target before 2010. James Musoni, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning said the Paris commitments are mainly grouped in three categories. They include; allocation of funds according to national priorities, budget support and the strong financial management system. “Of course, the work we are doing to strengthen our systems is not done with only donors in mind. These are the systems used for all government expenditures, and they will continue to be used as our reliance on foreign aid declines,” he said. Government believes providing aid through government systems enhances ownership, efficacy and accountability in the implementation of Rwanda’s new Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS). The recently concluded roundtable at the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra/Ghana from 2 to 4 September 2008 suggested that donors need to make greater use of country systems. Donors and partner countries called for political support to address the legal and administrative constraints limiting their capacity to meet the 2010 targets. Ambassador of Bangladesh to the WTO and UN, Debapriya Bhattacharya, called for a change in the political attitudes of the donors to development aid. “As long as the donor community continues to see foreign aid as a tool for its foreign policy, full alignment with partner country priorities can not take place,” Stefano Manservisi, Director General for Development at the European Commission, said. He added that the more policies are aligned to the priorities of partner countries, the more the mistrust indicator is pushed down, which prevents aid to help immediately where it is needed. Ends
