MTEF Expert of the Day - Graham Scott

Dr. Graham Scott, former Secretary to the Treasury of New Zealand. Some of his experience;

Office of the Public Sector Development
Commission, Bangkok in cooperation with the World Bank – Case Study on Thailand’s Public Sector Reform. Writing a case study for inclusion in a book on the Royal Thai Government’s Public Sector Reform to assist other developing countries, particularly Asian countries, contemplating public sector reform.

Advised Royal Government of Bhutan on the development of new financial management arrangements to support the move from a monarchy to a constitutional democracy. This included drafting a Public Finance Act and advising on the design and implementation of reforms associated with this Act. [World Bank project]

World Bank - Governance Reform in Lao PDR. Writing a background report on governance reform in Lao PDR as input for the Lao PDR Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA).

Advised Government of Latvia on financial management reforms including reforms to the budget process (MTEF etc). Assisting Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy with development of new programmes, strategic plans and the linking of this work to the budget and reporting systems.

Advised Ministry of Finance and Economy on the concepts and implementation of MTEF approach to budgeting. Includes advice on roles and responsibilities in the MTEF process, programme design, legal matters, timing and information requests and processing.


Advisor to the World Bank on the public expenditure review for Mongolia.

Advisor to Ministry of Finance in Macedonia on reforms to financial management and organisational developments within the Ministry of Finance, including implementing strategic planning processes

Advisor to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada on the examination of the public service reform initiatives- also 1994,1995.

Visiting Scholar to the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund. Produced paper for publication- “Government Reform in New Zealand”. Occasional paper No 140, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC, October 1996.

The Secretary to the Treasury, Government of New Zealand
The chief executive of the Treasury responsible for providing policy advice on a broad range of economic, financial and commercial issues. The significant work achieved during this time included:

• Design and implementation of approaches to fiscal policy and public management which revolutionised the way New Zealand governments manage their financial affairs.
• Development of the State Sector Act and the Public Finance Act which brought about the devolution of financial authority to government departments and agencies and pioneered the concepts of output-based budgeting and performance management.
• Initial development of New Zealand’s pioneering Fiscal Responsibility Act which strengthened the accountability of the executive to parliament for sound principles of fiscal management on a medium and long-term framework.
• Design and administration of New Zealand’s corporatisation programme which created State-owned enterprises out of many departmental functions and incorporated them under New Zealand company law. Privatisation of most of these activities.
• Redesign of the functions of the New Zealand Treasury, including privatising the management of pension funds and other functions.
• Establishment of the Debt Management Office, an office which holds responsibility for the policy and administration of the government’s official debt. This has become a world leader in the application of modern portfolio management techniques to government debt management.