EXECUTIVE SUMMARY _____________________________________________________________________ cottage industries; and to contribute to the equitable development of the different regions. 4.17 Coordinating the efforts of the different departments. The economic policies need efficient and coordinated management. This depends on the capacity to: define and distribute responsibilities in the piloting of government action; ensure coherence and operational coordination of the development strategies and programmes; promote the efficiency and accountability of the decentralised entities; and to build confident intergovernmental relations and partnerships between government and other stakeholders. The reform efforts, at both centralised and decentralised levels, have not achieved convincing results for capacity building and organising institutions or for coordinating the different instruments. 4.3 Promoting sound public finance management 4.18 The economic reforms launched after 1991 in Burkina Faso have always favoured stabilising public finances and transparency in budgetary management as a component of macroeconomic balances. The results of these reforms – in terms of budgetary discipline, strategic allocations and efficiency in implementing and controlling the budget – are unequal. At the level of institutional and organisational development, the legal framework, which determines the organisation of the Department of Public Finance, reflects WAEMU guidelines. 4.19 The preparation of the budget is based on macroeconomic forecasts, budgetary expenditures and incomes assisted by the Automatic Forecasting Tool (AFT) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, these tools are not sent to Parliament with draft budgets to serve as a basis for analysis. With regard to the execution of the budget, the government has implemented reforms aimed at ensuring the institutional development of the tax and expenditure administrations, the control of public expenditure, and the broadening of the tax base. Efforts for computerising all the budgetary and accounting operations have achieved perceptible results in the transparency, reliability and rapidity of operations, even though the process still seems incomplete. Similarly, the consultative structures established to ensure the regular monitoring of the Treasury have helped to improve the quality of services, to promote the control of management and to regulate expenditure. 4.20 The issue of Treasury bonds after 2002 has improved the regulation of expenditures and stimulated domestic savings. Similarly, the level of resources allocated to public investments has exceeded that of current expenditure. This demonstrates the efforts made to improve the management of public finance. Moreover, reforms in the tax system have made taxpayers aware of their responsibilities and stimulated the development of the private sector. 4.21 Monitoring control of expenditures. The efforts made have not produced all the expected results. The persistence of poor performance at each level of 14