Domestically-financed capital projects in the budget are not selected according to standardized selection criteria or formalized selection procedures, and no pipeline of appraised investment projects is maintained. The MoF is currently not applying standard project selection criteria. Projects are selected by spending ministries and agreed with the MoF during budget negotiations, but selection is not undertaken on the basis of standard and consistent selection criteria.
The selection process for projects at municipal level financed by transfers from central government budget through the Regional Development Fund (RDF) is more transparent, with projects assessed against specified criteria. Nonetheless, while the RDF is one of the main sources of infrastructure projects in municipalities, the total amounts of the transfer represent around 20 percent of central government capital expenditures. While project selection procedures and criteria are contained in the new PIM methodology, this has not been implemented yet.
Major externally-financed projects are subject to project appraisal; however, there is not a systematic review by a central agency before it is included in the budget. There is no project pipeline currently, but the new PIM procedures include a stage of appraising projects to go into a list of projects intended for inclusion in the budget.
IMF
