“The introduction of advanced banking solutions in the country’s Treasury system opens up new opportunities for efficient and rational management of public monetary resources. This system allows the use of temporary free liquidity, reduction of short-term borrowing and borrowing costs and investment of available funds, as well as eliminates the credit risk”, said Minister of Finance Gintarė Skaistė.
The consolidated account management system (VIKSVA), which was launched in June last year, allows for central storage of public monetary resources, rational management of temporarily idle funds and more efficient and effective execution of the State Treasury payments. Budgetary and public bodies are given the opportunity to open and maintain accounts with the State Treasury, to make payments and to use other services customary in electronic banking. After the Ministry of Finance accessed the payment system CENTROlink, VIKSVA users can make instant payments, i.e. to settle the transaction with suppliers, employees and other recipients of funds in real time. Moreover, additional integrations have also been introduced to allow Target2 payments (Target2 – real-time settlement system in euro), while the integrative gateway channel offers the institutions a simplified exchange of data between VIKSVA and their accounting systems.
In total, around 470 existing budgetary, public bodies and funds will benefit from the new system. Municipalities and higher education institutions also have the possibility to hold funds with the State Treasury, but this is not obligatory.
VIKSVA system was designed to centralise services, to harmonise processes, to reduce administrative burden and servicing costs, and to improve the quality of services provided by the State Treasury. Preliminary estimates show that the reduction in the volume and costs of public borrowing, payment orders and account servicing costs of budgetary institutions would result in annual savings of about EUR 2.6 million.
Additional information:
- In December 2023, the State Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance implemented a project “The Establishment of the Consolidated Account Management System of the State Treasury” co-financed by the European Union Structural Funds with a value of EUR 3.1 million (of which EUR 2,178 million was used to implement the system).
- The Single Treasury Account principle is one of the most widely applied ways in the area of public finance management by advanced countries to increase the efficiency of the management of public monetary resources by consolidating the collection and disposal of public funds in a single system.
- This principle is applied by almost all the most advanced member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the worldin public finance management.
- In order to adopt good practices and adapt them to the management of public monetary resources, Lithuania has analysed the examples of the Treasury management of the European Union countries such as France and Sweden.
