Colombia’s Public Auditor Receives $30 Million USD Loan To Modernize Fiscal Controls

Colombia will strengthen the quality, efficiency and citizen participation of fiscal controls with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The IDB’s $30 million loan is designed to strengthen the Contraloría General de la Republica, the government comptroller’s office (CGR) so that it can exercise fiscal controls more effectively, intelligently and innovatively.

The key problem identified by the program is the CGR’s low efficiency in exercising fiscal controls. The CGR lacks auditing guidelines fully in line with international standards on auditing and fiscal controls, and shows weaknesses in the planning and execution of audits based on risk criteria.

The program was developed based on the CGR’s Strategic Plan for 2014-2018 and a robust analysis of its work, according to methodology proposed by the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).

The program’s beneficiary will be the CGR. Among other activities, it will seek to design and implement a control panel, optimize the auditing process and develop a sector for business intelligence and tools for predictive analysis. It will also seek to strengthen the information systems that underpin the CGR’s strategic work. To strengthen the intelligence side of fiscal controls, for example, the program will put in place a system for monitoring spending that will improve the production and timely use of information in support of fiscal controls.

Among the results expected are improvements in the CGR’s productivity and coverage of audits. The program also will increase the CGR’s capacity to react to complaints or petitions from citizens.

The loan is for 15 years, with an interest rate based on LIBOR.