KARACHI: The Board of South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) which met in Colombo, Sri Lanka has approved a proposal initiated by Mohammad Iqbal Ghori, President ICMA Pakistan and Chairman of SAFA Committee on Governmental and Public Sector Enterprises Accounting (GPSEA) to develop a SAFA Index on Public Financial Management (PFM) for SAARC countries.

The SAFA PFM Index would be published every year based on PEFA data and analysis and circulated among the government bodies and other stakeholders in SAARC countries for their guidance and reference.

A Task Force headed by Mohammad Iqbal Ghori and comprising representatives from all the SAFA countries, has been formed to undertake the assignment.

The proposal was earlier considered and endorsed by the SAFA GPSEA Committee in its meeting held on 30th October 2017 which onward recommended it to the SAFA Board.

The objective of the proposed PFM Index is to develop and implement a uniform PFM Assessment framework to strengthen public financial management practices in SAARC countries in line with global requirement. This would not only enhance transparency, accountability and good governance in public sector organizations in SAARC countries comprising of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and others but would also stimulate economic growth in the region which would ultimately benefit the common man and the business enterprises in SAARC.—PR