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Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy |
The TA was programmed under the CSPU 2006-2007 and directly supports the Kiribati Development Plan 2008-2011, which is aimed at enhancing and sustaining growth to reduce poverty. The proposed TA directly supports this objective by building a foundation for the development of growth sectors. The TA implements ADB' Pacific Strategy by focusing on (i) strengthening government capacity to plan and manage for development results; (ii) strengthening transparency and accountability of the Government; and (iii) improving state-owned enterprise ownership, accountability, and performance.
Kiribati falls under the weakly performing country (WPC) criteria established under the ADB policy for Achieving Development Effectiveness in WPCs . It is highly vulnerable to factors that have been acknowledged to underlie weak performance, including its small size, far flung islands over vast ocean area, and geographic isolation, but most of all the country suffers from (i) weak policy, policy implementation, (ii) weak management capacity, and (iii) meager public sector resources and resource endowments. As a WPC and in accordance, with ADB' WPC policy, the proposed TA applies flexibilities available to WPCs, particularly by fostering longer term engagement under the technical assistance, incorporating focus on capacity and institutional building; and by applying new TA delivery modalities, including through use of volunteers to achieve more relevant capacity building outcomes that can be sustained and re-enforced through on-the-job and trainer training concepts.
In order for the objectives of the new Kiribati Development Plan 2008-2011 to be achieved, the processes for annual budgeting, corporate planning, and sector planning must be improved and consolidated to reflect the intended development targets in the medium-term.
The Government has acknowledged inadequacies in the fiscal and planning framework and its weak absorptive capacity, and has requested that ADB provide technical assistance in close consultation with Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Center (PFTAC) to implement capacity building for the adoption of the MTFF, and through this process improving fiscal performance by reducing leakages particularly subsidies to loss-making public enterprises (PEs).
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