MOFT and World Bank officially launch the Building Capacity in Statistics and Audit, CAPSA Project

MOFT and World Bank officially launch the Building Capacity in Statistics and Audit, CAPSA Project

 

The Ministry of Finance and Treasury together with the World Bank have launched the Building Capacity in Statistics and Audit, CAPSA Project, on Thursday 3^rd October in Honiara.

The CAPSA is a jointly funded project between the World Bank and the Solomon Islands Government and it aims to support improvements in the quality and availability of audit and official statistics in the country.

This will include a systematic process of building the institutional capacity, resourcing and training of staff in both the Office of the Auditor General and the Solomon Islands National Statistics Office over a period of 5-years.

Permanent Secretary for Finance and Treasury Mckinnie Dentana said with the integration of certain innovative technologies, the process will enable the strengthening and enhancement of the regular delivery of quality audit outcomes and key statistical indicators into the medium to long-term.

“Eventually, this process will support the integration of audit and updated statistics in decision-making and policy formulation, engaging stakeholder participation within the community, accessing and sharing information, and ultimately making a positive impact in the livelihoods of our people.”

He said while the CAPSA Project may have been timely in the Post-Covid-19 era, it has been long overdue – especially when support for government auditing operations has been minimal, accompanied with the lack of adequate resources over the decades.

“While these poses major on-going challenges for the government, recent developments including positive sentiments towards the positive operations of the OAG and the growing demand for public Accounts auditing, including support for good governance and transparency, has shown a fresh light on the work of the OAG including renewed calls for strengthening the mandate of the OAG.

“The CAPSA Project, among other support, is timely and best placed to bring in the much-needed technical support and capacity building in supporting the audit outcomes of the OAG in the medium to long term.”

Mr Dentana believes the CAPSA Project’s aim of building the capacity of OAG will be critical for the effective operation of this constitutional office.

The Government is aware of the Auditor General’s push for more independence and updated legislation which has been supported by the GNUT Government.

Similarly, Mr Dentana said the CAPSA Project support for improving the quality and availability of official statistics is critical for supporting evidence-based policy formulation and decision-making, and in influencing effective service delivery and bringing about positive changes in the welfare of our people.

He is therefore pleased to see that one of the key support areas of the CAPSA Project involves the strengthening of the national statistics system of the country.

“In 2015, the government endorsed the first ever Solomon Islands National Statistics Development Strategy (NSDS) 2015 to 2035 that has provided the path towards successfully carrying out the 2015 Demographic and Heath Survey, the 2017 National Agriculture Survey, and recently the 2019 Population Census.

“The regular flow of up-to-date statistics and key indicators such as the annual gross domestic product (GDP), which is the measure of economic performance and growth in our country, and the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI), the only measure of official inflation in our country, are required for the ongoing monitoring of our fiscal and monetary policies.

Meanwhile, World Bank representative Shohei Nakamura highlighted two of the sub-component projects of the CAPSA Project namely (i) the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2024-2025 and (ii) the National Economic and Establishment Census (NEEC) 2024 that are currently being implemented by the National Statistics Office.

Mr Nakamura said the World Bank is pleased to support the Solomon Islands National Statistics Office and the Auditor General with the CAPSA project.

The World Bank is funding the Auditor General’s Office with 1.7 million USD to support its vision to deliver International standard audits which are up-to-date and fully comply with annual statutory reporting expectations.

Four million USD under the funding will go towards strengthening the national statistics system of the country.

ENDS.///