Development Policy Review

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    Indonesia : Avoiding the Trap
    (Jakarta, 2014-05) World Bank
    Within the next two decades Indonesia aspires to generate prosperity, avoid a middle-income trap and leave no one behind as it tries to catch up with high-income economies. These are ambitious goals. Realizing them requires sustained high growth and job creation, as well as reduced inequality. Can Indonesia achieve them? This report argues that the country has the potential to rise and become more prosperous and equitable. But the risk of 'floating in the middle' is real. Which pathway the economy will take depends on: (i) the adoption of a growth strategy that unleashes the productivity potential of the economy; and (ii) consistent implementation of a few, long-standing, high-priority structural reforms to boost growth and share prosperity more widely. Indonesia is fortunate to have options in financing these reforms without threatening its long-term fiscal outlook. The difficulties lie in getting the reforms implemented in a complex institutional and decentralized framework. But Indonesia cannot afford hard to not try harder. The costs of complacency, and the rewards for action, are too high.
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    Indonesia - Avoiding the Trap : Development Policy Review 2014
    (Washington, DC, 2014-03) World Bank
    Within the next two decades Indonesia aspires to generate prosperity, avoid a middle-income trap, and leave no one behind as it tries to catch up with high-income economies. Can Indonesia achieve them? This report argues that the country has the potential to rise and become more prosperous and equitable. But the risk of floating in the middle is real. Which pathway the economy will take depends on: (i) the adoption of a growth strategy that unleashes the productivity potential of the economy; and (ii) consistent implementation of a few, long-standing, high-priority structural reforms to boost growth and share prosperity more widely. Indonesia is fortunate to have options in financing these reforms without threatening its long-term fiscal outlook. The difficulties lie in getting the reforms implemented in a complex institutional and decentralized framework. The report identifies the reforms of institutions and processes that govern the functioning of the state as critical for unleashing the country's development potential. The report provides an analytical underpinning for the Bank's country partnership strategy 2009-14 and shapes the Bank's support to the government's rencana pembangunan jangka menengah nasional (RPJMN) 2010-2014.
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    Botswana Development Policy Review: An Agenda for Competitiveness and Diversification
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-09) World Bank
    Botswana has been one of the most successful countries in the developing world over the last 40 years by many measures. Incomes have grown at a sustained pace, poverty has fallen, and the citizenry has become more educated. To be sure, poverty and income inequalities remain a problem, but rising standards of living have meant a better life for this generation of Batswana than any before it. The question facing the country leadership is whether this commendable performance can be sustained into the next generation. There are clouds on the horizon that cannot be ignored. Diamond earnings, the life blood of decades of prosperity, have flattened out. In per capita terms they are falling. Moreover, because revenues from diamonds going to the public sector have been falling for more than a decade, a growth model predicated upon an ever expanding state presence is not viable. Diamond earnings accruing to the state for subsequent redistribution have peaked. Employment and wages in the public sector have reached their natural limits as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP); recycling revenues from mining into the private sector, either directly or through the financial sector, has been inefficient with low social returns; and redistributive mechanisms to support social safety nets are also likely be approaching their limits. The country confronts the challenge of looking for new sources of growth outside of government.
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    Development and Climate Change : A Strategic Framework for the World Bank Group
    (Washington, DC, 2012-06) World Bank
    The framework provided a road map for climate action for the World Bank Group (WBG) over fiscal years 2009-11, setting out the WBG's objectives, principles, areas of focus, and major initiatives in the field of climate change. The framework was organized around six action areas: 1) supporting climate actions in country-led development processes; 2) mobilizing additional concessional and innovative finance; 3) facilitating the development of market-based financing mechanisms; 4) leveraging private sector resources; 5) supporting accelerated development and deployment of new technologies; and 6) stepping up policy research, knowledge, and capacity building. Climate change is one of the multiple stressors that affect the environment and impact on income and welfare. Further, its impact is worsened by other environmental damages. Looking ahead, strategies to combat climate change have to account for the continued need for rapid growth in developing countries. In this context, the World Bank is now looking at climate change in a holistic manner, bringing together climate change efforts with work on growth and broader management of natural resources and pollution. The WBG has successfully worked with clients and partners to mainstream climate considerations into the WBG's core business and strategies to reach impact on the ground. Yet this remains a make-or-break decade for climate action despite escalating levels of engagement within and outside the WBG.
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    Jordan - Policies for High and Sustained Growth for Job Creation : Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 2012 Development Policy Review (Vol. 1 of 2) : Synthesis
    (Washington, DC, 2012-06) World Bank
    Jordan's quest for long-term, inclusive and sustainable growth has remained largely elusive. By the Growth and Development Commission's measure of success, namely, an average growth rate of 7 percent over 30 years, Jordan's growth record cannot be dubbed 'successful'. This Development Policy Review (DPR) shows that sustaining growth and reducing unemployment is possible: Jordan has a strong human capital base, a large endowment in engineers, doctors, accountants, Information Technology (IT) specialists and a substantial highly-skilled diaspora (500,000 educated Jordanians abroad, 8 percent of the population). Furthermore, the market-oriented reforms of the early 2000s have made Jordan one of the most open economies in the Middle East and North Africa Region and have led to the emergence of dynamic non-traditional sectors (e.g., information and communication technologies, health tourism and business services). What is missing are: (i) an adequate and stable institutional framework for policymaking and long-term business development; (ii) good fiscal policies to manage shocks and maintain macroeconomic stability; good institutions and macroeconomic stability were identified by the growth commission as two of the five common characteristics of successful growth experiences; and (iii) further growth-enhancing structural reforms.
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    Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - Development Policy Review : Improving Institutions, Fiscal Policies and Structural Reforms for Greater Growth Resilience and Sustained Job Creation (Vol. 1 of 2)
    (Washington, DC, 2012-06) World Bank
    Jordan's quest for long-term, inclusive and sustainable growth has remained largely elusive. By the Growth and Development Commission's measure of success, namely, an average growth rate of 7 percent over 30 years, Jordan's growth record cannot be dubbed 'successful'. This Development Policy Review (DPR) shows that sustaining growth and reducing unemployment is possible: Jordan has a strong human capital base, a large endowment in engineers, doctors, accountants, Information Technology (IT) specialists and a substantial highly-skilled diaspora (500,000 educated Jordanians abroad, 8 percent of the population). Furthermore, the market-oriented reforms of the early 2000s have made Jordan one of the most open economies in the Middle East and North Africa Region and have led to the emergence of dynamic non-traditional sectors (e.g., information and communication technologies, health tourism and business services). What is missing are: (i) an adequate and stable institutional framework for policymaking and long-term business development; (ii) good fiscal policies to manage shocks and maintain macroeconomic stability; good institutions and macroeconomic stability were identified by the growth commission as two of the five common characteristics of successful growth experiences; and (iii) further growth-enhancing structural reforms.
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    Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - Development Policy Review : Improving Institutions, Fiscal Policies and Structural Reforms for Greater Growth Resilience and Sustained Job Creation (Vol. 2 of 2)
    (Washington, DC, 2012-06) World Bank
    Jordan's quest for long-term, inclusive and sustainable growth has remained largely elusive. By the Growth and Development Commission's measure of success, namely, an average growth rate of 7 percent over 30 years, Jordan's growth record cannot be dubbed 'successful'. This Development Policy Review (DPR) shows that sustaining growth and reducing unemployment is possible: Jordan has a strong human capital base, a large endowment in engineers, doctors, accountants, Information Technology (IT) specialists and a substantial highly-skilled diaspora (500,000 educated Jordanians abroad, 8 percent of the population). Furthermore, the market-oriented reforms of the early 2000s have made Jordan one of the most open economies in the Middle East and North Africa Region and have led to the emergence of dynamic non-traditional sectors (e.g., information and communication technologies, health tourism and business services). What is missing are: (i) an adequate and stable institutional framework for policymaking and long-term business development; (ii) good fiscal policies to manage shocks and maintain macroeconomic stability; good institutions and macroeconomic stability were identified by the growth commission as two of the five common characteristics of successful growth experiences; and (iii) further growth-enhancing structural reforms.
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    Uruguay - Policy Options for Improving the Efficiency of Uruguay’s Railway Sector : Consolidated Report
    (World Bank, 2010-01-01) World Bank
    The aim of this paper is to review the state of the productive infrastructure of Uruguay and the development policies that govern it and to propose policy options for the long term contribution to achieving a higher level of economic and sustainable development, based on the premise that there is a link between the development of a country's infrastructure and its economic growth. The study analyzes the institutions and pertinent regulations. The study examines in greater depth the factors related to infrastructure production that affect the country in a quantum leap in economic growth. The first study concludes that while no one can assert that the sectors of Uruguay's electricity and transportation are inefficient, there are potential sectoral gains. The policy options have been framed by strategic pillars for each sector and can be summarized as follows: Increase the capacity of transport infrastructure and land ports. Maximize efficiency in providing service transport. Strengthen efficient allocation of resources through a multimodal vision. Improve efficiency and regulation. Position as a logistics center in Uruguay the MERCOSLJR. Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the policies in the areas of Uruguay's productive infrastucture that can have a major impact on the productive structure of the country and hence on economic growth, and hence propose elements and policy options for sectors in the long term.
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    Vietnam Development Report 2010 : Modern Institutions
    (World Bank, 2009-12-04) World Bank
    Institutions are not buildings or organizations, they are the rules by which citizens, firms, and the state interact. The photographs that grace the cover of this Vietnam Development Report (VDR) 2010 epitomize modern institutions. The settings may not appear modern, but the activities they represent are cutting edge, and are transforming Vietnam. Local level planning with the active engagement of citizens. Monitoring of public works by citizens groups. Efficient administrative services with the citizen as the client. Legal advice being provided to citizens. Professional media coverage of important events. These are the roots which feed the growth of a modern, open, and high-performing society. This VDR focuses on devolution and accountability, two aspects of modern institutions that are the essence of Vietnam's experience in the past two decades. At the risk of over-simplifying, this VDR distinguishes between two types of accountability, upward accountability focusing on compliance with rules, dictates, and instructions coming from within the hierarchy, and downward accountability focusing on the results that the person or body is entrusted to deliver. A person or body concerned with upward accountability emphasizes adherence to rules. Those concerned with downward accountability serve their clients. Both forms of accountability are needed. Vietnam's devolution has shown many positive results. Competition among the provinces is driving them to improve their business environments. Eased entry for non-state providers of services and greater autonomy for the management of state facilities are supporting innovation and increasing the variety of services.
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    China : Mid-Term Evaluation of China's Eleventh Five-Year
    (World Bank, 2009-01-01) World Bank
    This mid-term review has been undertaken to assess progress in the implementation of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (11th 5YP) during its first two years and a half, draw preliminary lessons, and make recommendations for policy adjustments. The review examines the following strategic objectives: ensuring the stable operation of the macro economy and improving living standards; optimizing and upgrading of industrial structure; increasing energy efficiency; coordinating urban and rural development; improving basic public services; and enhancing sustainable development. Domestically, natural disasters-the severe storms, winter and the massive earthquake in Sichuan-took a heavy toll. Externally, global demand has slowed owing to the slump in the United States (U.S.) housing market and the related credit crisis and increased risk aversion. International oil, food, and other commodity prices have soared. These developments pose new challenges. But they also reinforce the appropriateness of the policy priorities of the 11th 5YP to increase the economy's resilience and ensure sustainable growth. The objectives and tasks set out in the 5YP are consistent with China's development challenges and government priorities Moreover, the quantitative indicators generally accord well with the overall guiding principles, orientations, and objectives, suggesting that these have been successfully put into operation.