Staff Reporter

To enhance prudent fiscal discipline through proper check and control mechanism, and adequate internal control system in the agencies, the Cluster Finance Services (CFS) of the Ministry of Agriculture and  Forests (MoAF) was launched yesterday jointly by the RCSC, the MoAF, and the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

The Cluster Finance Services is the collaborative initiative of the RCSC and the MoF.

This initiative brings together finance personnel working in various regional, autonomous or branch offices under one cluster office.

All  finance services would be catered from the office of Cluster Finance  Services irrespective of the location of the agencies. However, this  initiative does not include the finance sections of the dzongkhag administration.

The initiative, according to a press release from the MoF, is expected to optimise and rationalise the deployment of finance  personnel and eliminate the current practice of their placement in  individual agencies and achieve the objective of doing more with less.

It is also expected to improve the performance and delivery of finance services through enhanced efficiency of finance personnel and standardised service delivery across agencies.

The Cluster Finance Services is expected to contribute towards restructuring the budget process and financial norms as enshrined in  the Royal Kasho on Civil Service Reform, the press release stated.

This initiative was piloted for the regional offices in Paro,  Bumthang and Trashiyangtse dzongkhags starting in March, April  and May 2021 respectively.

This initiative is being carried out with the financial support of a multi donor fund contributed by the European Union and Austrian Development Agency, and administered by the World Bank.

Edited by Tshering Palden