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WB: CAPSAP project allowed Azerbaijan saving $15.9 million

8 July 2016 18:58 (UTC+04:00)
WB: CAPSAP project allowed Azerbaijan saving $15.9 million

By Nigar Abbasova

The World Bank’s (WB) Corporate and Public Sector Accountability Project (CAPSAP) has allowed Azerbaijan to save $15.9 million on the training of students, WB report said.

The report said that as much as 4,843 students were trained at the Financial Science and Training Center (FSTC) of Azerbaijan’s Finance Ministry within the framework of the CAPSAP project. Saving funds became possible due to the fact that the students got the opportunity to study accounting without leaving the territory of Azerbaijan.

“Students also benefited from training in their native language and avoided uneven training standards,” the report said. The WB report further reads that the training activities used the same books as used abroad, translated to the national language. The trainers have been accredited, which means that the activities achieved the required basic standards.

One of the project’s components is the installation of the Financial and Accounting Reporting Application for Budgetary Institutions (FARABI). With respect to FARABI, the cost of the software, hardware and installation for 99 institutions was $11 million, according to the report. The Azerbaijani government plans to additionally install this application in 900 institutions.

Nevertheless, the Chamber of Accounts (CoA) did not audit any budget expenditure using the new methodology, according to the report. The reason is that the financial and performance audits mainly depend on the CoA revised draft law, which has not yet been adopted by Azerbaijani parliament.

Total cost of the Corporate and Public Sector Accountability Project is $24 million. A loan agreement on the project was signed in September 2008.

CAPSAP was financed by a loan of the WB in the amount of $11 million, grants of the Japan Policy and Human Resources Development Fund ($3 million), Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO, $2 million), as well as by the Azerbaijani government ($8 million).

Main objective of the CAPSAP project was to improve accountability and transparency in managing public spending through strengthening financial reporting for public authorities and public interest entities in line with international standards. The project consisted of 3 main components including corporate sector, public sector accountability as well as strengthening accounting, auditing and financial management capacity.

WB was an implementing partner of the projects while Chamber of Accounts and Ministry of Finance were institutional partners.

The project’s implementation was completed in June 2015.

Azerbaijan joined the WB Group in 1992.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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