Advisory panel

In line with OECD recommendations for fiscal councils, the CBR appointed a five-member advisory team in December. These internationally-renowned experts in macroeconomics and public finance have been appointed to oversee, in particular, the procedures and methodologies employed by the CBR in the pursuit of its tasks mandated by law. The Advisory Panel is scheduled to convene once a year. Apart from attending the panel’s meetings, its members are available for consultation by electronic means throughout the year. The expertise of the advisors guarantees the high-quality output of the CBR’s work. The advisors perform their function for free.
The CBR is honoured that the following personalities have agreed to cooperate:

George Kopits – has longstanding experience in the area of fiscal and monetary analyses. He began his carrier with the U.S. Treasury Department. He then worked for almost 30 years for the International Monetary Fund. He led numerous missions to various countries of the world. He co-authored key IMF publications in the field of fiscal transparency and fiscal rules (e.g., the Kopits-Symansky criteria). Later on, he was appointed as a member of Hungary’s fiscal council. In the recent past, he has been active particularly in the area of fiscal councils. After his term at the helm of the Fiscal Council of Hungary, he accepted membership in the Portuguese fiscal council. In addition to his public engagements, George Kopits is active as a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and Central European University.

 

Simon Wren-Lewis – is a professor of economics at the University of Oxford. He began his career working for the H.M. Treasury. In 1981, he accepted an offer to work for the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), where he constructed the first version of the renowned NIGEM model. He was then a professor at Strathclyde University and, later on, at Exeter University. He has a long track record of publications in prestigious academic journals, primarily in the area of monetary and fiscal policy in small macro-models and in the area of equilibrium exchange rates. He is a long time “fan” of fiscal councils:  his proposal from 2007 strongly influenced the formation of the Office for Budget Responsibility in the UK. He is also currently known through his Mainly Macro blog.

 

Daniele Franco – has recently moved to the Italian Ministry of Finance, leaving the position of the managing director for economic research and international relations of the Bank of Italy. Previously, he was in charge of the Public Finance Division for ten years. He also worked shortly for the European Commission. He has written books on public spending, social safeguards and fiscal rules in Europe. In addition, he is an author of numerous publications on budget policy, fiscal federalism, generational accounting, taxation of financial assets and income distribution. He co-authored the proposal to set up Italy’s fiscal council.

 

Kevin Page – graduated in economics at Queen's University; in 2008-13 he served as the first-ever Parliamentary Budget Officer in Canada. Mr. Page currently works as the Research Chair at the University of Ottawa. He had worked for more than 27 years for public institutions in Canada, mainly in the field of economic and fiscal analyses. He served at three major central agencies: Finance Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat and Privy Council Office.

Jeromin Zettelmeyer – has been the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics since January 2019. From 2014 until 2016, he served as director-general for economic policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. He was responsible for economic analysis and forecasting, the microeconomic policy framework, and a key policy initiative to boost private and public investment. He also represented Germany at the OECD Economic Policy Committee and served as a founding cochair of the OECD’s Global Forum on Productivity. Before joining the German government, Zettelmeyer was director of research and deputy chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (2008–2014), where he cowrote and edited flagship publications. Prior to that, he was a staff member of the International Monetary Fund (1994–2008). 

 

First Meeting of the Advisory Panel
The first meeting of the Advisory Panel to the CBR took place on October 4, 2013, in Bratislava. The advisors together with the members of the Council for Budget Responsibility discussed issues ranging from the fiscal framework of the CBR, its economic models, measuring the output gap and structural balance of public finances, OECD principles for independent fiscal institutions as well as long-term sustainability of public finance.

Second Meeting of the Advisory Panel
The second meeting of the Advisory Panel took place in Bratislava on October 3, 2014. Fiscal councils missions, fiscal risk assessment, long-term sustainability of public finances, DSGE models and others were being discussed.

Third Meeting of the Advisory Panel
The third meeting of the Advisory Panel took place on 30 September 2016 in Bratislava. Fiscal risk assessment, expenditure ceilings, minimum fiscal framework standards and microsimulation models were being discussed.

Fourth Meeting of the Advisory Panel
The fourth meeting of the Advisory Panel to the CBR took place on October 5th, 2018, in Bratislava. The advisors with the members of the Council for Budget Responsibility discussed macroeconomic forecasting, budget nowcasting, communication strategy, debt sustainability, expenditure ceilings and evaluated fiscal consolidation strategies at the CBR.