13. Article

We will further raise the effectiveness and efficiency of our public sector. To this end, in July 2001 the Cabinet of Ministers adopted the Public Administration Reform Strategy, 2001-2006, which provides a set of development goals and guidelines for modernizing the public sector and which will help us to better coordinate individual reform initiatives. We have completed, ahead of schedule and based on a newly derived methodology, a comprehensive public administration review in the Secretariat for Regional Development, and the findings of this pilot review are helping us better coordinate our activities in this area. We will build on this pilot review by completing reviews for at least two more policy areas in time for the conclusions to be available during the 2003 budget process. We will determine the policy areas to be reviewed by end-December 2001 and submit the completed reviews to the Cabinet of Ministers by July 2002. The development of regulations for the phased implementation of a new civil service pay scale has moved more gradually than initially expected, because the tight fiscal situation limits the available options. We intend to adopt the regulations by end-December 2001 and to begin implementation of the new pay scale some time after mid-2002. The re-prioritization of spending is critical to meeting our medium-term fiscal objectives, and we will continue to implement the overall framework for medium-term budget planning approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in April 2001. Exchange Rate, Monetary, and Financial Sector Policies