Mauritius Government Finance Statistics- Data Quality

ROSC- Data Module for Mauritius was recently posted by the IMF. The recommendations on government finance statistics are well worth a look;

• Legally/officially assign the responsibility to compile GFS for the general government to the CSO.
• Strengthen and increase staff resources for work on GFS
• Inform the users of the internal approval processes of the data
• Prepare a detailed migration path and obtain official approval for implementing GFSM 2001.
• Continue work on improving the timeliness of source data by obtaining an agreement on the timely provision of data from all major source data providers.
• Improve the timeliness of the general government operations data.
• Regularly check for consistency between GFS and monetary data and prepare a reconciliation table.
• Explain the revision policy in the GFS publication
• Prepare and disseminate advance release calendars for central government operations and outstanding central government debt.

On the capacity side;

The CSO has four staff positions dedicated to the compilation of annual GFS for the general government sector and in cooperation with the MOFED the functional classification of budgetary central government expenditure on a quarterly basis. These staff also are assigned to compile quarterly general government statistics for the national accounts. Resources are limited; in particular staff resources are constrained taking into account the current migration from the methodology described in the GFSM 1986 to the methodology described in the Government Finance Statistics Manual, 2001 (GFSM 2001). While computer resources seem adequate at the moment, any additional demands could over-extend these resources.

On-the-job and external training have been available to the MOFED and CSO staff. Formal internal training has not been provided. Some staff have attended external training on the GFSM 1986 and on the GFSM 2001.

Significant progress to automate government finance compilation procedures has been achieved recently through the implementation of the Treasury Accounting System (TAS) used by the Accountant-General to follow the cash flows of the budgetary central government. However, this process needs to be extended to other areas of the general government. Data for non-budgetary central government and local governments are input manually. A new chart of accounts, based on the GFSM2001, is currently being prepared and is expected to be implemented as from the financial year 2008/09.