US$5 million boost for public sector reform

GOVERNMENT’S  Public Sector Reform Initiation Programme received a welcome boost of US$5 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to start the new year. A statement yesterday from the Ministry of Planning and Development said the loan was negotiated with the IDB by a team led by Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis and “aims at supporting initial development and the implementation of a long-term strategy to reform the public sector. Public sector reform is a crucial component of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago’s strategic thrust towards realising the vision of transforming TT into a developed nation by the year 2020,” the Ministry indicated.

The Ministry said the first component of the loan, US$2.3 million, will finance coordinated activities which includes the development and implementation of the first phase of a National Dialogue Strategy, development and implementation of a communication strategy and the training of key decision-makers and stakeholders in economic policy and national development strategy. The loan’s second component of US$2.6 million “will provide the necessary resources for technical assistance, training, equipment and materials to faciliate the readiness of the financial, human resources and information management systems within the Ministry of Public Administration and Infor-mation, Ministry of Planning and Development and the Tobago House of Assembly to facilitate implementation of the reform. The Ministry said only through such a “holistic and comprehensive review” of the public sector can TT achieve its “ultimate objective” of developed nation status by 2020. The Ministry added that “a reformed public sector will generate saving to the country that can be applied to investments in the economic and social infrastructure.”