Perspectives 2019 2020 Public Sector

That seems certain to change rapidly. Many governments are now focused on technology infrastructure as a core strategy to drive economic development. This is evident from the growing number of dedicated ICT ministries at cabinet level and ever-larger diplomatic missions in San Francisco to manage relations with Silicon Valley. Several governments are seeking to leverage the technologies of the fourth Industrial Revolution — artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital identity, big data and robotics. They understand the need to develop policies that enable this technology to be embedded in every aspect of society to drive transparent, sustainable and equitable economic growth. The automation of many finance, treasury and procurement processes promises to deliver higher levels of productivity, lower error rates and create a safer operating environment with less room for fraud. Digitization can also help the public sector contend with increasingly agile global trade flows by tackling the laborious, paper- based routines. Innovations, such as optical character recognition (deployed by Citi to digitize 25 million trade-related pages of data), cut processing time, effort and errors. Of course, technology will not provide solutions to all our challenges. Sometimes real progress is made by applying time- tested knowledge and best practices to new problems. We believe this is the case with recent Latin American corruption scandals, in response to which Citi has shaped the New Transparency Principles for Infrastructure based on our observation of analogous, successful industry initiatives. Similarly, this edition features several articles that draw on our global experience and networks to provide insights into sovereign debt management, risk mitigation, revenue generation and cash optimization. While the innovations and trends in these articles might not be technological, they are no less powerful and important. The wide-ranging thought leadership showcased in this 2019-20 edition of Citi Perspectives for the Public Sector reflects the breadth of expertise in our public sector banking team. Around the globe, we work to understand your challenges and opportunities and to help you exceed expectations. As always, we would be happy to discuss any of the issues raised in this edition and welcome feedback or suggestions for future content. Citi Perspectives 3 Julie Monaco Global Head for Public Sector, Corporate and Investment Banking, Citi