The aim of the event organised this week to mark the Finnish EU Presidency is to consider different ways of ensuring that the EU countries base their fiscal policy on reliable information. Speakers at the international event include the Directors General of Eurostat and the Hellenic Statistical Authority as well as Martti Hetemäki of the Ministry of Finance and Olli Rehn of the Bank of Finland.
The Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of the EU countries, the Finnish and Greek statistics authorities, and representatives of the Finnish central government gather together later this week to discuss the significance of reliable data in the steering and monitoring of general government finances. You can follow the discussion on Twitter on Thursday under the hashtag #BuildingTrust2019.
To mark the Finnish EU Presidency, the National Audit Office of Finland and Statistics Finland organise a seminar focusing on fiscal data and its reliability. Such data includes public sector accounting data as well as statistics and forecasts related to general government finances.
“The European economic crisis was a concrete evidence of what happens when decisions are taken on the basis of unreliable data. It appeared that economic statistics had been distorted, and essential information on liabilities had been withheld. This jeopardised the operation of the entire euro system. It is therefore important that the authorities provide reliable statistical and forecast data on general government finances and that SAIs ensure the reliability of this data. This ensures that decisions related to fiscal policy are based on correct data,” says Matti Okko, Director at the National Audit Office of Finland.
Speakers at the cross-sectoral and international authorities seminar include Olli Rehn, Governor of the Bank of Finland, who served as a European Commissioner during the euro crisis, Martti Hetemäki, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, and Marjo Bruun, Director General of Statistics Finland. International speakers include Mariana Kotzeva, Director General of Eurostat, Delphine Moretti, a representative of the OECD, and Athanasios C. Thanopoulos, President of the Hellenic Statistical Authority. The event will be opened by Tytti Yli-Viikari, Auditor General of Finland.
You can follow the discussion and the topics of the event on Thursday, 28 November 2019, on Twitter under the hashtag #BuildingTrust2019 and by following the National Audit Office of Finland on Twitter – @VTV_fi.