Public Financial Management Reform in the Middle East and North Africa : An Overview of Regional Experience

One of the most important functions that governments perform is mobilizing financial resources and deploying them to achieve their objectives. According to the most recent World Bank data, governments throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region spent approximately US$407 billion dollars in 2007 in delivering their policy, regulatory and service functions. This report is divided into two volumes. The first volume summarizes the results and presents the conclusions of this analysis. The second provides the individual economy case studies and templates upon which many of these conclusions are based. This report seeks to reflect upon this experience and better understand the nature of the Public Financial Management (PFM) challenges confronting the economies of the MENA region. Turning to the substance of these reforms, it asks where are they performing well and where are they struggling? To what extent are these economies dealing with common problems stemming from similar administrative traditions and comparable levels of development, or unique challenges grounded within their own particular historical or bureaucratic experience? The analysis also seeks to understand the type of PFM reforms that have been implemented across the region in the last decade, including where these reforms have gone well, where they have not, and why.