The Ministry of Finance held a number of working meetings within the framework of the World Bank mission on the new SURGE project

On May 6-9, a World Bank mission was held in Kyiv with the participation of the leadership of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and representatives of the Bank to prepare a new joint project Supporting Reconstruction through Smart Fiscal Governance (SURGE) using the financial instrument "Program-for-Results".

The events were attended by First Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Denys Uliutin, Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Olga Zykova, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine and the State Tax Service of Ukraine. 

The mission of the Bank included Practice Manager for the Governance Global Practice in Europe and Central Asia Adrian Fozzard, Global Lead for City Management, Finance and Governance Roland White, Senior Public Sector Specialist at the World Bank, Latin America and Caribbean Urska Zrinski, and World Bank's Country Manager for Ukraine Gevorg Sargsyan.

The parties discussed the peculiarities of using the Program-for-Results financial instrument during the implementation of the Project, the list of activities to be implemented by the Ukrainian Party, as well as the issue of coordinated interaction between state authorities and local governments in implementing measures to achieve the Project goals.

"Thanks to the productive work of the teams of the Government of Ukraine and the World Bank, we have a harmonized list of priorities that will form the basis of the new program and contribute to more efficient and transparent public finance management. The rational use of limited financial resources is especially important in the context of the ever-growing needs for recovery, so efforts will be directed at a complete change in approaches to public investment at both the state and local levels, the restoration of medium-term budget planning, the use of up-to-date information on the number of people in the calculation of intergovernmental transfers and the improvement of tax administration," said Denys Uliutin. 

 In particular, the meetings covered the following areas: 

• reforms in the administration of budget revenues;

• financial management of local budgets for post-war recovery;

• public investment management.

"We are highly appreciative of the World Bank's comprehensive cooperation, which significantly contributes to maintaining financial stability in times of uncertainty. Since the first days of the russian full-scale invasion, the World Bank has promptly adapted existing projects to Ukraine's most pressing needs and implemented new, timely and essential initiatives. The implementation of the SUGRE Project supports reforms aimed at strengthening public investment management, improving fiscal management at the local level, and improving the integrity of revenue administration and the quality of taxpayer service," Olga Zykova said.

As a result of the meetings, the Parties agreed on the indicators and results related to the payments to be achieved under the SUGRE Project, the time schedule for their achievement by the implementing agencies, as well as further steps in the preparation and implementation of the Project.