Review the implementation of the various public finance reforms during 2019 and present the main lines of reforms planned for 2020. This is what the 2019 review of public finances, organized on Friday, January 31 in Cotonou, was used. It was above all an opportunity to assess the series of actions undertaken to improve the performance of the public finance management system. The Government’s Action Program (Pag) adopted nine flagship reforms on behalf of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. These are the reform relating to the implementation of a single treasury account system, the reform relating to the award of public contracts, the control bodies of the administrative order, the reforms relating to asset management. of the State and the review of the legal and regulatory framework of public establishments and the like. Added to this are the reform relating to the implementation of program-based budget management, those relating to tax audit procedures and clarification of rights and obligations in tax litigation, the reorganization and professionalization of control bodies. of the State and finally, the reforms relating to the rationalization of the function of public accountant and of the function of financial control. Nine flagship reforms which are already being deployed and which are changing the face of public finances in Benin. 2020 being a pivotal year in the achievement of the Pag, the urgency is to prioritize the implementation of these nine flagship reforms which is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, argued during the tenth financial review. public, Alban Bienvenu Bessan, coordinator of the management unit for the reform of the public finance management system (Ugr). The review of public finances, he will say, “is a considerable collective effort which takes place each year to take stock of the implementation of the actions carried out”. It is also, he continues, an opportunity to exchange views between stakeholders on the choices made and the orientations adopted in the design and implementation of public finance reforms. For him, the government has undertaken major reforms of the public finance management system with a view to improving the quality of services offered to clients and increasing the mobilization of domestic resources. Reforms which, for the most part, aim at the digitization of procedures in the administration thanks to the development of digital technology. “This new paradigm of reform driven by the government aims on the one hand to limit human contact as much as possible and on the other hand to apprehend all the tax haven which formerly escaped the State”, indicates Alban Bienvenu Bessan. Public Finance Review 2019: Priority to the implementation of nine flagship reforms In this quest, 2019 offered itself as a field of experimentation which it is important to take stock of. This is why the theme of this review is justified, “public finances in the face of the digital boom: management in program mode”. The choice of this theme is also justified by the generalization of dual control and the switch to the new public finance management information system (Sigfp), retains Alban Bienvenu Bessan. This will be an opportunity, he announces, to retrospect the implementation of the various public finance reforms during 2019 and to present the main lines of reforms envisaged for 2020. The review will above all make it possible to assess the series of actions undertaken to improve the performance of the public finance management system, to make recommendations and to identify prospects on a consensual basis. Ruben Alba Aguilera, Head of Cooperation of the Delegation of the European Union, will say for his part that this “theme is indicative of the concern of the Beninese authorities, to put modern tools at the service of the public sector for greater efficiency and improvement. ‘efficiency’. What pleases him is that Benin has strengthened its macroeconomic framework in recent years. “Efforts to consolidate and consolidate public finances (with a budget deficit reduced to less than 2% of GDP) give the country the fiscal space necessary to mitigate possible exogenous shocks, such as that represented by the closure of the Nigerian border ”, appreciates the European diplomat. “The year 2019 was marked by encouraging progress in many areas,” he says. “The efforts around resource mobilization are notable with measures aimed at broadening the tax base, dematerializing transactions, and securing tax gains,” he underlines. These assessments still do not allow us to sleep on our laurels, will qualify the chief of staff of the Minister of Economy and Finance, Herman Orou Takou. The course will be maintained and the reforms will continue, assures the minister’s representative who nevertheless recognizes the public finance players, the commitment they show to give substance to the ambitions of Minister Romuald Wadagni and President Patrice Talon.