The Financial Governance Committee (FGC) today held its 23rd meeting in Villa Somalia, Mogadishu.

The meeting was preceded by a two-day meeting in Mogadishu between the Federal Minister of Finance, H.E. Dr. Abdirahman Beileh, and his regional counterparts which was supported by the FGC.

The regional meeting reached agreement on the harmonization of certain taxes, and committed to moving eventually towards customs tariffs based on value rather than volume. The FGC committed to providing advisory guidance on how to harmonise State-level public finance legislation with federal legislation.

H.E. Dr Abdirahman Beileh and his regional counterparts expressed a desire to meet regularly and to improve information sharing between the Federal Government and the Member States. They also expressed commitment to greater harmonisation in the delivery of public financial management reforms. The FGC will provide advisory guidance on how to strengthen co-ordination in the delivery of donor technical assistance.

At the FGC meeting on Wednesday 14th, H.E. Dr Abdirahman Beileh welcomed Mr Abdirahman Adullahi from the Office of the Prime Minister as a new member of the FGC. The Minister thanked the IMF Country Representative for their support in helping the Somali authorities reach a staff-level agreement

on the completion of the second and final review of the IMF Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) and on agreeing the targets for a second SMP noting the IMF’s encouragement at the pace of reforms to restore key economic and financial institutions.

The FGC received an update from the Governor of the Bank of Somalia H. E. Bashir Issa Ali on the recent good progress on recovery of Government and Bank of Somalia assets held in overseas bank accounts, with modest amounts expected to be recovered shortly from accounts in Belgium, the UK and Germany.

The Governor also updated the Committee on progress with currency reform, thanking the IMF for their continued support in this area.

The FGC received an update on numerous government contracts and concessions. The Minister committed FGS to committed to reviewing and, where necessary, renegotiating all contracts and has already started the process in many sectors.

The FGC welcomed news of progress on a report into the protection of public property and land assets.

The Minister stated “The government will not allow the continued embezzlement of public land and property. These assets are the property of all the Somali people and we are determined to recover them”