Government Financial Policy Coordination Council holds last meeting for this year’s 2nd session in Dubai

DUBAI- The Government Financial Policy Coordination Council recently held its last meeting for this year’s second session to discuss a number of core topics.  The meeting was led by HE Younis Haji Al Khouri, Undersecretary of MoF and Chairman of the Government Financial Policy Coordination Council at the Ministry of Finance’s (MoF) premises in Dubai.

The meeting’s agenda included a presentation on the UAE’s financial statements for the fourth quarter of 2013, comparing them to the first, second and third quarter of the same year. The meeting also featured a review of the results of the technical support project provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an initial meeting during the first quarter of 2014, and the UAE Central Bank showcased the latest state level banking and monetary developments .

HE Younis Haji Al Khouri, Undersecretary of MoF welcomed and thanked the members for their continuous collaboration with the Ministry. HE praised their valuable efforts to ensure the success of the Council’s role and achieve its objectives during the previous period. HE also highlighted the Council’s achievements to date, which include publishing the UAE government’s 2011 financial data for the first time, as well as the quarterly financial data for 2012 and 2013 in the international financial statistics book issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He added: “The local government’s financial departments make tremendous efforts to implement the recommendations of the Council’s meetings. These recommendations generally seek to strengthen the government’s state level financial commitment, which allows it to apply the IMF’s decisions on government finance statistics.”

On behalf of MoF, HE Younis Haji Al Khouri honored the Council’s members for their efforts and great interest in supporting MoF’s strategy to achieve international leadership in the field of financial management. It was also agreed that the Council’s next meeting will be held in September 2014.

During its recent visit to the UAE, the IMF praised the Council’s significant progress in regards to financial coordination between the federal government and UAE Government as well as its efforts to collect and prepare the consolidated financial report for the UAE and improve data quality standards, which was highlighted following an IMF Article IV Consultation mission.