11 - 13 February 2015|BCOP Event|Yerevan, Armenia
BCOP Plenary Meeting: Fiscal Consolidation
The BCOP, led by the BCOP Executive Committee, organizes plenary meetings of its community of practice on an annual basis to discuss public finance reform issues. For the plenary of 2015, fiscal consolidation was chosen to be the theme given measures being implemented to recover from the global economic crisis of 2008 across many member countries.
The crisis caused severe contractions of GDP in most countries and lower government revenues, which increased government debt. This situation forced many governments to implement fiscal consolidation policies to improve fiscal balances, control debt, and ensure fiscal sustainability.
The ECA region, comprised of 31 countries including 21 PEMPAL BCOP members, has undergone a modest economic recovery since 2010. However, the economic recovery may be at risk of stalling due to a slowdown in the pace of structural reforms, economic volatility, and political tensions affecting several ECA countries. Several countries also have large expenditures outside of the budget (such as social and health expenditures delivered through extra budgetary funds), which present significant risks to fiscal sustainability and the ability to meet fiscal consolidation targets.
Given these concerns, the majority of BCOP member countries elected to meet face-to-face to examine current thinking regarding fiscal consolidation and to discuss and compare the approaches that are being applied. In particular, members requested a focus on spending reviews as a key tool to facilitate consolidation.
Language: The meeting was conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Russian and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS).
Further information: please contact Živa Lautar, PEMPAL Secretariat
