Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Planning Commissions should disappear as countries develop?

South Africa I guess is an exception- their recent green paper on the newly established Planning Commission;

What will the role of National Planning Commission be?

* Lead the development (and periodic review) of a draft Vision 2025 (“South Africa Vision 2025”) and long –term national strategic plan for approval by Cabinet (first plan 2010)
* Lead investigations into critical long term trends under the supervision of the Minister in the Presidency for the National Planning Commission, with technical support from a Secretariat and in partnership with relevant other parties
* Advise on key issues such as food security, water security, energy choices, economic development, poverty and inequality, structure of the economy, human resource development, social cohesion, health, defense capabilities and scientific progress
* Assist with mobilizing society around a national vision and other tasks related to strategic planning
* Contribute to reviews of implementation or progress in achieving the objectives of the National Plan
* Contribute to the development of international partnerships and networks of expertise on planning


Related:
Development of central fiscal institutions;
Planning ministries are quite common in developing countries, but become less common as countries develop. Across the world, there has been a shift from traditional detailed planning, as reflected in 5-year plans and similar instruments, towards strategic coordination. This coordination is increasingly done by finance ministries or by prime ministers’ offices. This is often accompanied by a gradual integration of planning, strategy development and budgeting into a single, coordinated process, and a unified, strategic budget document. Planning ministries were often involved in project preparation, but this function is shifted to line ministries as their capacity develop


Fiscal Risks: Sources, Disclosure and Management
Ministries of Finance in Small, Developing Economies – Their Role and Structure

South Africa: Restructuring of the Ministry of Finance: A Case Study

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