Deja-vu

I was not looking forward to my first real day of work, in my first real job after I graduated from university. I turned up, drenched by the rain which was unrelentingly attempting to erode (my tan and) memory of my fabulouso holiday to Thailand just a week earlier. I still remember the awkwardness of my uncomfortable suit that is now buried at the bottom of my wardrobe.

My job- assistant economist in the fiscal policy unit at HM Treasury in the UK. To be honest I didn't really appreciate what that really meant or what I was supposed to do. I spent my first few weeks reading (and googling) and spent an unfathomable amount of time writing a speech on public finance.

Fast forward almost four years and the surroundings of my corner desk with a view of the courtyard, speedy internet connection and comfy chair have morphed into the reality that is the Ministry of Finance, Broad Street, Monrovia. (I've added couple of pictures of my walk into work in Westminster, London.)

This is my new view. To be fair, the Ministry of Finance sounds like a semi-paradise compared with the horror stories of ministries where my housemates are interning. In the Ministry of Education for example, the electricity is only switched on when the Minister is in office and the office is shared with a family of mice!

So on my (second) first day, I turn up, drenched by the rain (again) and tasked with writing a speech for the Finance Minister, on challenges for public financial management in Liberia. This time, the context is not about how to improve the current system but how to create an efficient, transparent means of managing and accounting for money in the government. As with many other areas in Liberia- the challenge is to establish, from a rudimentary base, a new way of working.

This is a daunting task since what we study and learn about is best practice and latest developments. I could provide an extensive analysis of fiscal policy and its optimal design. But given the limited development before the war, and the destruction which followed, focusing on the end goal of what is to be created provides little guidance as to what should be done now. What is required in Liberia, where there is so little, is a system which provides the sufficient level of functionality in the short term, while also forming a solid foundation from which progress can then be built upon. The challenge is to create find the optimal path and sequencing to make progress towards the end goal.

In the Ministry of Finance, Minister Sayeh has made an incredible amount of progress in this direction during her two and a half year tenure. A symbol of this success is the unprecedented speed with which the country is achieving debt relief. Under the debt relief process, the end goal is achieved by successfully implementing incremental reform to public financial management and therefore provides a useful roadmap to focus the efforts of the Ministry of Finance on a month to month basis. There is still much to be done, and while the end goal may seem in the distant future, it is a privilege to be part of the journey.