Beyond the preparation of the 2027 Budget, a deeper evolution in public investment management is taking shape: less dispersion, greater prioritization, and increased demands for measurable economic and social impacts. Simply increasing funding is no longer enough. The real challenge now is ensuring that each public investment meets a genuine need, supports economic activity, and produces tangible effects in daily life. It is with this logic in mind that the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) is strengthening the preparation, selection, and monitoring of projects, placing regional priorities at the heart of budget programming. The indicated direction now targets projects that stem from ground-level needs rather than solely from decisions made from the capital. This direction is emerging through the 2026 Regional Budget Conferences (CBR), officially launched last Friday in Miarinarivo, in the Itasy region, and which will continue in the different regions of the Great Island. According to information, the objective is to gather the needs and priorities of the Regions so that they are effectively taken into account in the preparation of the State Budget 2027. The MEF presents this approach as a means of improving public investment programming by taking greater account of local development needs. Indeed, the challenge is not simply to multiply projects or lengthen the list of infrastructure to finance. For the Minister of Economy and Finance, Dr Herinjatovo Aimé Ramiarison, budget decentralization must be inseparable from good governance and better quality of public spending.

Imperative Results

The minister's message thus emphasizes investments capable of generating genuine momentum for the economy. Public resources must primarily go to sectors that promote production, create jobs, and directly improve the living conditions of the population. Economic infrastructure and energy are, in this regard, among the priorities, due to their role in regional development and in improving the business environment. This change in approach is important. Behind the question of investment volume now appears the more decisive question of their relevance. A poorly prepared project, poorly sized, or not responding to genuine territorial priorities risks mobilizing significant resources without producing expected results. It is in this context that the MEF is also participating in preparatory work on the National Public Investment Policy (PNIP), initiated by the Prime Minister's Office. The stated objective is notably to establish a diagnosis of public investments, define the approaches and timeline for developing this policy, and ultimately better secure investments over the long term.

Better Preparation Before Financing

Several cases followed by the ministry over the past week illustrate this willingness to strengthen upstream analysis. The MEF notably worked on the legal structure of an integrated port energy hub project, analyzed the financial model of a hospital center project, and continued studying several projects in the energy and telecommunications sectors. The ministry is also pursuing procedures related to the public-private partnership bill, which is intended to better regulate the use of private financing for certain investments. The reflection thus extends from the identification of needs to the financial and legal structuring of projects. In other words, it is no longer simply a matter of knowing how much to invest, but also where to invest, why, and with what expected results. This requirement is, however, accompanied by increased accountability of territorial authorities. The minister called on Regions and Communes to develop their own resources more rather than depend exclusively on state transfers. Local tax mobilization thus becomes one of the elements of this new dynamic of territorial development.