The Council of Ministers of Finance of Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic (COSEFIN), aiming to coordinate efforts on issues of great importance to the region and to organize the work to be carried out in relevant areas, agreed in July 2015 to request its Executive Secretariat to develop a work plan that included the priorities of each of the member ministries.
In February 2016, the ministers reached a consensus and approved an initial matrix of fiscal priorities. In September of that same year, COSEFIN instructed its Executive Secretariat to reorganize the Fiscal Priorities Matrix (MIF, by its acronym in Spanish) and recommended prioritizing seven topics.
In March 2017, the topics of interest contained in the MIF were approved. From that moment on, the MIF became the guiding instrument for COSEFIN’s regional work, which is based on the following areas:
1. Tax exemptions.
2. BEPS strategy.
3. Efficiency in public investment management.
4. Fiscal risks.
5. Modernization and coordination of tax and customs policies and administrations.
6. Budgetary processes.
7. Financial integration.
The MIF and its Operational Plan have become COSEFIN’s main working instrument, defining above all the fiscal policy priorities in the region and serving as a roadmap to guide the efforts of COSEFIN’s member ministries in harmonizing fiscal policies and strengthening coordination of regional macroeconomic policy.
On June 23, 2021, in response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, COSEFIN issued a special resolution, “United for Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery,” instructing the COSEFIN Executive Secretariat to carry out the process of adjusting the Regional Work Plan of the COSEFIN MIF, in coordination with the members of the Fiscal Policy Working Group (GTPF, by its acronym in Spanish). This
adjustment aims to incorporate relevant topics, clearly reflected priorities, and promoted harmonized and coordinated actiones to be addressed through consensus.
As a result, new priority areas were incorporated:
Core and cross-cutting components of the NMIF
The new SECOSEFIN Fiscal Priorities Matrix includes both core and cross-cutting components, and its main objective is to improve fiscal management and ensure the sustainability of public finances.
