Ex-post performance evaluation of USAID's fiscal policy development activities evaluation report

The TPAR and FPEMP performance evaluation examined the extent to which they individually and jointly contributed to achieving these objectives and the likely sustainability of their achievements. The evaluation also examined questions related to how external factors contributed to program achievements and the program's coordination with other donor organizations. The evaluation concludes that TPAR and FPEMP made strong contributions to improving fiscal policy management processes and supporting IT systems within the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and its several Directorates, which in turn have both directly and indirectly contributed to increased tax collections in the country via increased voluntary compliance, increased collection of tax arrears, and reduced tax evasion. The administrative and IT reforms enacted with program support are, for the most part, in the process of being institutionalized within the MOF Directorates, implying good prospects for long-term sustainability once USAID's assistance has ended. TPAR and FPEMP also contributed to strengthening MOF's technical capacity, improving fiscal transparency, and engaging the private and public sectors for the purpose of fiscal policy legal reform. In doing so, the programs benefited in many cases from incremental to substantive contributions from other donor organizations and MOF's own initiative, and ongoing support from the Government of El Salvador (GOES) and MOF. (Author abstract, modified)