The Argentine Congressional Budget Office (OPC) presented the work methodology that guarantees the transparency and thoroughness of its reports at the XXVII National Seminar on Government Budgeting that took place in July in the Paraguayan city of Encarnación.
The event, to which the OPC was invited, was organized by the Paraguayan Public Budget Association (APAPP), a non-governmental, non-profit organization whose objective is “to promote the improvement of public financial theory, technique and administration”.
The director of Fiscal and Tax Analysis of the OPC, Martín López Amorós, and the coordinator of Institutional and Parliamentary Relations, Natalia Laria, presented at the opening of the event on the legislative debate prior to the enactment of Law 27,343/2016, creating the OPC.
They also referred to the OPC’s structure, governance and the methodology for the preparation of the fiscal impact reports, which the OPC prepares at the express request of the Budget and Finance Committees of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
“We try to be rigorous, transparent and clear because that makes us useful and reliable”, said López Amorós, arguing why the working procedures and the appointment of directors and analysts by competitive examination and background are pillars of the political independence and technical rigor of the OPC.
The seminar, held between July 17 and 19, was attended by officials from Paraguay and Brazil, representatives of international organizations, private entities and scholars from different countries.
Representatives of the executive and legislative branches of Paraguay are analyzing the possibility of creating an agency similar to the OPC to provide technical assistance to the parliamentary debate.