PREM Notes

176 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9424

This note series is intended to summarize good practices and key policy findings on poverty reduction and economic management (PREM) topics.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 19

Public Participation in the Budget Process in the Republic of Korea

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06) Kang, Young Kyu ; Min, Saw Young

In January 2013, the International Budget Partnership (IBP) released the latest Open Budget Survey (OBS) with a new section on public participation. The survey results are not encouraging. For the 100 surveyed countries, the average score for public participation in the budget process is 19 out of 100. However, one country stands out. With a score of 92, Korea emerges as the only country ‘that provides extensive opportunities for public engagement’ (IBP 2012, 33). What makes Korea an exception? This note investigates the different public participation mechanisms in Korea and illustrates how public inputs are reflected in the country’s budget process and fiscal policies.
Using M&E to Support Performance Based Planning and Budgeting in Indonesia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-11) Ahern, Mark ; Beard, Victoria A. ; Gueorguieva, Anna I. ; Sri Handini, Retno

Since 2000, there has been growing interest in reforming Indonesia s budgeting systems to promote a more performance-orientated process. Indonesia is in the initial stages of this reform. A major challenge is determining the information needs of the central coordinating ministries. To date, these ministries have taken separate paths, developing their own monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, which are not linked to the planning and budgeting system, and creating new regulations and institutions to manage them. The result has been underused information and a high reporting burden at all levels. Furthermore, the current system places a greater emphasis on monitoring rather than evaluation. In 2011, representatives from the coordinating ministries participated in a series of high-level round table discussions to identify the steps needed to rationalize and coordinate M&E practices across institutions and to strengthen the links among data collection, evaluation, planning and budgeting. The round table process has confirmed that, while coordination is needed, establishing incentives for the demand and use of M&E information is critical to making the systems effective. This note identifies priority areas for future action building on this finding.
Performance, Monitoring, and Evaluation in China

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-09) Wong, Christine

Amidst all the hoopla about China's rise, it is useful to remember that China is a developing country whose transition to a market economy is not yet complete, with institution building still underway. The uneven pace of progress is reflected in the state of its public sector, but in some respects, China s public sector looks formidable. Most often mentioned is the government s treasure chest of US$3 trillion in foreign reserves. Even more enviable, government revenues have grown at annual rates of over 20 percent for a decade (China statistics 2011), fuelling a steep fiscal expansion at a time when so many countries are being forced to undergo painful consolidations. The government s reputation was further burnished in the post-Lehman global financial crisis, when, after a brief, though sharp, downturn in 2008, China became the first major economy to return to robust growth, propelled by a stimulus program that was, in relative terms, by far the biggest in the world. The bold stimulus and quick economic recovery seemed to show off an effective public sector able to implement national policies swiftly.
The Australian Goverrnment's M&E System

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-03) Mackay, Keith

Countries from all over the world have shown an interest in Australia's experience in creating a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system that supports evidence-based decision making and performance-based budgeting. The Australian M and E system in existence from 1987-97 was generally considered to be one of the most successful and was driven by the federal Department of Finance (DoF). This note discusses the genesis, characteristics, and success of this particular system and briefly considers the Australian government's approach to M and E after the system was abolished. The contrast between these two periods provides many valuable insights into success factors and challenges facing successful M and E systems, and into implementing evidence-based decision making more broadly.
Estimating Economic Benefits for Revenue Administration Reform Projects

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-03) Minh Le, Tuan ; Pham, Duc Minh ; De Wulf, Luc

The World Bank relies in part on economic benefit estimates to evaluate the merits of investment projects. Recent lending operations for revenue administrations in Vietnam have led to some rethinking of these calculations. This Note shares their findings and it also provides some pointers that may be useful in estimating the economic benefits of revenue reform projects. Earlier estimates and their shortcomings are closely looked at, as well as customs administration and tax administration. This guidance can also assist in preparation of the technical annex of the financial and economic analysis of individual projects as required by World Bank guidelines.
Reducing Poverty on a Global Scale

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-08) Moreno-Dodson, Blanca

Development practitioners have been working for half a century to help pull millions of people out of poverty, disease, and fear. However, the challenge of poverty remains enormous. The disparity in levels of income, health, and education across countries grows greater, even as levels of absolute poverty decline. Many countries have made great achievements, but the lack of capacity to collect their experiences, learn from them, and extract lessons to emulate have kept their stories from being sufficiently explored. Such great work could be adopted and adapted to make remarkable change in other poor people's lives.
Decentralizing Infrastructure Services : Lessons from the East Asia Experience

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-06) Muzzini, Elisa

This document specifies, most east asian countries have increasingly shifted responsibilities for infrastructure services to subnational tiers of governments. Infrastructure service provision involves a broad set of functions, including setting investment priorities, building and operating infrastructure facilities, and financing capital and operation and maintenance requirements. The extent to which each of these functions is transferred to subnational agencies defines a country's decentralization approach for infrastructure services. Subnational governments also have significant leeway in deciding how to mobilize funds for infrastructure projects. The infrastructure projects focused in three countries China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In China, the central government plays a prominent role in setting investment priorities across infrastructure sectors. Indonesia and the Philippines have adopted a big bang approach to infrastructure decentralization. The report concludes, despite the heterogeneous environments in which decentralization has been implemented in the three countries, important lessons can be learned by comparing how each has fared in promoting regional coordination and building accountability for infrastructure services in a decentralized environment.
Korea's Move to e-Procurement

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-07) Cho, Junghun ; Byeon, Hee Seok

In 1997 the Korean government began reforming its notoriously complicated, nontransparent, corrupt public procurement system, introducing e-procurement to exploit the country's well-developed information and communications infrastructure. Through extensive business process reengineering and information strategy planning, the Public Procurement Service-the agency formerly responsible for buying government goods and services-has been transformed into a one-stop information center. E-procurement has generated numerous benefits, including: Enhanced transparency and public trust-by reducing contacts between officials and suppliers and by sharing information between government agencies and the public. Increased managerial efficiency-by achieving economies of scale in procurement, with an estimated $2.5 billion a year in savings from the $26 million investment. This note analyzes how Korea achieved these outcomes, the lessons of its experience, and the challenges that remain for its e-procurement system.
Thailand's Hurdle Approach to Budget Reform

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-08) Dixon, Geoffrey ; Dorotinsky, Bill

The note shows how Thailand's efforts to ease budget controls, can complement efforts to strengthen the capabilities of government agencies. The country's budget reform strategy, while seeking to retain the benefits of tight central control, aims at avoiding its costs, by transferring control over budget details, from the Bureau of the Budget to spending agencies, making them more responsible for managing their budget allocations, and accountable for achieving better results. This approach strengthens agency management, avoids corruption, and provides incentives for agencies to improve their management, rewarded by increased financial autonomy. However, such approach increases the risk of stalled budget reform, if agencies prolong the approach standards, or if agencies are reluctant to agree to an understanding. Although Thailand's budget reform is not yet finalized, lessons indicate the need for stronger political will, since bureaucracy in the country, enjoys far more power relative to the executive, than in many other countries; the complexity of the Thai budget reform approach could have been simplified, by increasing awareness of the need for good financial management, and by a computer-based accounting system that would meet basic financial control, and reporting standards; and, that inputs from international consultants should have been integrated with budget reform efforts.
Currency Crises and Government Finances

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-05) Burnside, Craig

Fiscal policy plays a big role in currency crises - before, and after they occur. Thus policymakers should not underestimate the importance of fiscal policy: a) the realization of large contingent liabilities can quickly, and dramatically alter government finances, leading to a currency crisis; b) the effects of a currency crisis on government finances depend on the structure of government revenue, spending, and debt; c) the fiscal policies adopted in response to a crisis, influence economic outcomes, especially inflation, and depreciation. The note reviews the traditional models of currency crises, explained as a consequence of unsustainable fiscal policy, and how debt is accumulated, how currency crisis then develops, and why does fiscal policy matter. Focusing on bank bailouts, it is argued that traditional models of currency crises are applicable to emerging markets, suggesting that deficits after the East Asia financial crises could have been anticipated given the region's deteriorating banking systems, but that economic outcomes largely depend on the mix of financing.