FINANCE WORKSHOP TARGETS CIVIL SERVANTS
 |
|
Approximately 25 persons from St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla are attending the five-day revenue modeling and forecasting workshop
|
Basseterre, St. Kitts (October 04, 2007): The importance of budget forecasting is one of the many topics being stressed at a five-day revenue modeling and forecasting workshop.
The event began on Wednesday and is being attended by approximately 25 persons from St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla. It is co-sponsored by the local Ministry of Finance and the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Center (CARTAC) - which works to enhance the institutional and human resource capacities of regional countries so as to achieve macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policy objectives.
Financial Secretary Janet Harris told SKNIS that the event is catering to public sector employees. She explained that her office is extremely busy but felt that it was important for members of her staff to participate in this session.
“It is very important that we know how much revenue we are collecting so that we can determine how much we are able to spend,” Ms. Harris said. “If the forecast is incorrect then it will derail the stabilization of the fiscal [programme]. We want to give them [civil servants] the tools so that they can forecast accurately and have a basis for the projections that they put forward.”
~~Adz:Right~~ The training is being done in the National ICT Center. The facility is undergoing renovation but Ms. Harris explained that the setting is perfect to hold this high level workshop.
She cited the continued economic growth and high investor confidence that exists in the Federation and outlined how revenue modeling and forecasting impacts this.
“One of the challenges of course is to keep on track in terms of expenditure. That has been working out well and we are doing a lot of work in the areas of budget control and tax administration to make sure that we not only have the [economic] growth and have the revenue but when it comes to allocating resources, this is done well,” she concluded.
