Kosovo specifics (sui generis) not only after the Declaration of Independence but also during the UN administration have been reflected in the PFM efforts also. The efforts to establish the foundations for PFM started in 2000, when everything started from zero. This includes macroeconomic policies, budget policies, tax policies, international audit that were developed in parallel with the development of relevant institutions and bodies, which had a unique form taking into account the way how Kosovo was administered. As a result of those efforts, Kosovo is known for conservative revenue forecast. The introduction of MTEF started in 2001 with activities such as introduction, trainings, seminars, etc. The first medium budget plan was introduced in 2004 and was called Medium Term Budget Framework. 2006 was also the last time to have such medium term plan called as Medium Term Budget Framework, because it was changed to MTEF. 2006 also marks the introduction of forward estimates in budget planning. (
http://www.mfe-ks.org/old/Shqip/mefwww/lajmet/fillojn_degjimet_buxhetore_ne_MEF.html) (sorry it’s an invitation in Albanian for budget hearings, publicly made, and contains instructions and information how the budget since 2004 to 2006 the annual budget was developed in line with MTBF).
The Ministry of Economy and Finance was established in 2002 as part of Kosovo Provisional Institutional Self-Government, which together with UN Administration’s reserved power institutions comprised the general government of Kosova. In this regard, few other decision bodies were established to guarantee allocation of resources to such reserved powers, which were mainly related to rule of law, justice and administration of state owned enterprises (socially owned and publicly owned enterprise), and energy, which used to be and remains most problematic sector with regards to spending of public money. The UN administration was also responsible for planning of resources in such sectors.
During that period, many projects implemented information systems and procedure in different institutions, which included the KFMIS (Treasury) (execution part), and Budget Development Management System and PIP System (planning part) and some of those continue even this day. However, due to very specific structure of responsibilities in budget planning that existed during interim UN administration, the planning system did not receive the appropriate attention by the stakeholders, and uncoordinated implementation occurred, which resulted with un-integrated systems. As a result, there was lack of enforcement of procedures by the institutions on that time and it is still continuing due to lack of tools that capture the policy priorities and the decisions of political level, and lack of tools that inform the political level, in other words lack of tools that merge the "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches.
In 2007, Kosovo carried out the PEFA assessment, which then followed by 2009 PEFA assessment, both as diagnostic tools, which then resulted with a PFM Action Plan endorsed by the government on December 2009. The Government has taken the ownership over this PFM Action Plan and is currently being implemented by the relevant responsible bodies.
MEF's webpage:
www.mef-rks.org 