The Ministry of Finance has made significant achievements in promoting the economic growth in the country by expanding and diversifying the sources of the general budget revenues and rationalizing expenditures in order to achieve financial surpluses as well as improve the financial position.
In this context, the Ministry launched several major projects and initiatives to develop and strengthen the financial performance in all government institutions. The most important of these projects was a department for regulating government projects to ensure the necessary financial allocations for the implementation of major projects, which are part of Qatar National Vision 2030. The department will play a crucial role in monitoring the implementation of projects and initiatives to enhance the efficiency of major projects in the country.
The Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Qatar Central Bank and other relevant bodies coordinates effectively fiscal and monetary policies so as to achieve the targeted economic growth rates and control inflation.
The Ministry also embarked on the execution of the Government Financial Information Management System (GFMIS) (Al Khazin) project. GFMIS primarily aims to efficiently manage the available financial resources to maintain the financial stability in line with the national priorities to upgrade the public fund dealing mechanisms and the services provided to the ministries and public bodies in Qatar.
Al Khazin project, which will be fully launched during fiscal year 2016 – 2017, connects all spending institutions with the Ministry of Finance to transparently allocate, use, control and monitor the valuable public resources in all public bodies and ministries based on clear and well-studied work plans.
The Ministry is also scheduled to launch the Tax Administration System (TAS), a modern Information system that aims to bring in the complete automation of the Tax payment and management process within the State of Qatar.
The Tax Administration System (TAS) will maintain fiscal stability and more efficient allocation of available financial resources, while contributing to the creation of a skilled workforce following efficient business processes.
As part of its commitment to facilitate and encourage business environment, the Ministry started tax window service for taxpayers, which provides the services of tax department. The Ministry also seeks to educate investors on financial fines in case of the absence of a request for registration and issuance of the tax card through the inauguration of a service center at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce.
On the financial performance front, the Finance Ministry announced the state budget for the fiscal year 2014/2015 in which the projections of total expenditures amount to QR218.4 billion with an increase of 3.7 percent when compared to the FY budget 2013-14. The increase in allocations for 2014-15 has been mainly dedicated to the completion and implementation of key development projects that have been allocated QR87.5 billion, up by 16.8 percent from the previous budget.
The current fiscal year budget’s projects worth an estimated QR664 billion and are anticipated to be implemented during the next five years. This excludes oil and gas projects or private sector projects.
The combined share of total expenditure on education, health, infrastructure, and the transportation sectors will increase by 54 percent to QR 117.6 billion in 2014-15 as compared to QR100.5 billion in 2013-14. This will be a leap forward for these sectors and positively contribute to the overall development of the country.
The allocation for education is QR26.3 billion, a 7.3 percent increase over the previous year. This increase will help boost the spending on education projects in line with the strategic plan for the sector.
The health sector has also seen an increase (12.5 percent) in allocation over the previous year with QR15.7 billion to be spent on the implementation of a set of advanced strategic programs to enhance the sector and achieve higher standards of health services.
The current fiscal year budget’s allocation for the infrastructure projects is QR75.6 billion. The allocation represents a massive 22 percent increase in allocation for infrastructure projects over 2013-14 to enable the completion of major infrastructure expansion and to start building the 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums.
Within the Finance Ministry’s efforts to develop the capabilities of its human resources, the Ministry’s Human Resources Department organized 107 training courses for 236 employees.
The Finance Ministry also organized several forums and conferences including a seminar on ‘Qatar Vision: from Strategy to Implementation’. The seminar, which was held in October last year, sought enhancing the communication between different government institution and reviewed Qatar National Vision 2030 and Qatar National Development Strategy 2011-2016.
In November 2013, the Ministry organized the annual 6th meeting of the MENA-OECD network of Senior Budget Officials in cooperation with the Organization for Economic co-Operation and Development (OECD).
The conference’s aim was to promote exchange of common experiences in budget reform field as well as the inter-dialogue between the decision-makers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Organization for Economic co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries.
Source : Qatar News Agency
