Other Public Sector Study
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Publication
Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Europe and Central Asia: A Survey
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12-01)The Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Europe and Central Asia Survey analyzes the transparency and control environment governing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in selected countries of the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECA), with an emphasis on financial reporting, auditing, and transparency requirements. The survey builds on and complements several studies on SOE governance that World Bank teams have carried out around the ECA Region. The purpose of this survey is to provide the countries with an easy-to-follow benchmarking comparison of SOE practices in accountability requirements across the ECA Region. The survey will also inform ongoing and future World Bank assistance to partner countries in the areas of SOE financial accountability, controls, and transparency. The survey aims to assist governments and SOE ownership entities in carrying out reforms and implementing effective SOE monitoring mechanisms and corporate governance practices. -
Publication
Return on Investment of Public Support to SMEs and Innovation in Poland
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12-31)A Smarter Europe is a top priority of the European Union (EU), the core of which is innovation, economic transformation, and more competitive small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These themes account for a huge part of EU spending in the past, present, and future programming periods. Despite high expenditures, impacts on the economy often appear modest or are not well understood. EU, national, and regional policymakers want to know where and how to invest to get the highest return on investment (ROI). Poland was selected as the pilot country, since it is the largest recipient of EU funding, and has a rich set of support measures and implementing bodies. The remainder of the document is organized as follows. Section 2 summarizes the assessment of the needs of the Polish ecosystem, along with the portfolio mapping and policy mix analysis. Section 3 summarizes the functional analysis methodology and findings. Section 4 describes the ROI/effectiveness methodology and findings. And Section 5 offers conclusions and recommendations based on the combined analyses. -
Publication
Promoting Tax Compliance in Kosovo with Behavioral Insights
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-03-01)As in many countries, tax collection is a development challenge in Kosovo. Kosovo is one of the poorest and youngest countries in Europe in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and both demographics and statehood. The lack of an independent monetary policy — given that Kosovo has adopted the euro as the national currency — means that ensuring the sustainability of fiscal policy is critical. However, limited tax revenues hamper the government's ability to address economic cycles. Between 2011 and 2017, total government revenue amounted to about 14 percent of GDP, below the average of 19 percent among countries in Europe and Central Asia. Unlike other countries, Kosovar government relies on taxes for more than 85 percent of its revenues. Mobilizing tax revenues is therefore critical. The Tax Administration of Kosovo (TAK) requested assistance from the World Bank and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to address this challenge using an evidence-based approach. To this end, the World Bank and GIZ applied behavioral insights to promote tax compliance among specific groups of taxpayers. Three experiments were designed, implemented, and evaluated in 2018 that involved sending behaviorally informed reminders using letters, e-mails, and short messaging service (SMS) messages to various groups of taxpayers to induce timely and honest declarations and payments. The short-term objective of these trials was to increase the number and timeliness of tax declarations. Simple, behaviorally designed messages were effective in inducing tax declaration. Messages helped raise the tax declaration rate by an average of around 3 percentage points during a period of between four and six weeks. Among personal income tax (PIT) declarations, this represents a 59 percent increase in compliance, equivalent to over 200 more annual tax declarations among participants. The likelihood of payment rose in many instances, and no significant difference was found in the amounts of taxes paid. Lessons from the tax experiments in Kosovo highlight the benefits of rigorous impact evaluation and the need to establish processes that help integrate tax collection functions and data systems. -
Publication
Time to Quit: The Tobacco Tax Increase and Household Welfare in Bosnia and Herzegovina
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-01)This paper uses an extended cost-benefit analysis to estimate the distributional effect of tobacco tax increases in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis considers the effect on household income of an increase in tobacco prices, changes in medical expenses, and the prolongation of working years under various scenarios, based on data in three waves of the national Household Budget Survey. One critical contribution is a quantification of the impacts by allowing price elasticities to vary across consumption deciles. The results indicate that a rise in tobacco prices generates positive income variations across the lowest income groups in the population (the bottom 20 percent). At the same time, tobacco price increases have negative income effects among middle-income and upper-income groups. These effects are larger, the higher the income level. If benefits through lower medical expenses and an expansion in working years are considered, the positive effect is acerbated among the lowest income groups. The middle of the distribution sees the income effect turn from negative to positive, and the top 40 percent, although continuing to experience a negative effect, see the magnitude of this effect diminish. Altogether, these effects mean that increases in tobacco prices have a pro-poor, progressive effect in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These results also hold within entities and across urban and rural areas. -
Publication
Disaster Risk Finance Country Note: Uzbekistan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-12-01)This disaster risk finance country note was prepared within the Uzbekistan strengthening disaster resilience technical assistance. It aims at: (a) raising awareness about fiscal impacts of disasters in Uzbekistan; (b) providing an overview of the way the Government of Uzbekistan (GoU) currently finances disaster losses; and (c) identifying potential measures to strengthen financial protection against disasters. The GoU has a number of regulations that govern post-disaster financing. They include provision that the first line of defense against natural disasters lies with the local level, while resources of a national reserve fund of the cabinet of ministers are drawn only when the local resources are exhausted. Therefore, the GoU can consider the following major steps to strengthen post-disaster financing in Uzbekistan: (a) improving collection of information related to disasters and accounting for fiscal risks; (b) developing a financial protection strategy against natural disasters; (c) improving disaster insurance; better understanding disaster insurance market in the country is an important first step; and (d) improving effectiveness and targeting of the resources available. -
Publication
Stimulating Business Angels in the Czech Republic
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10)This report provides a systematic assessment of business angel activities, and the ecosystem surrounding innovation finance, in the Czech Republic. Based on literature reviews, published data sources and local stakeholder interviews, the report distills findings related to the demand for and supply of risk investments, and offers policy recommendations for stimulating business angels. The report characterizes the Angel ecosystem as emerging with potential for growth. It is small both in terms of the number of investors and the amount invested. There appears to be a general lack of syndication of investments and concentration of investments in the capital (Prague) and in the information, communication, and technology (ICT) sector. On the demand side, a credible deal flow does exist, although it falls short of constituting a critical mass needed to support the development of the market. While issues in the local environment may affect the flow of angel investments, these are not insurmountable, based on the country’s competitive ranking on relevant global and European indicators. Finally, the report proposes a number of policy recommendations for enhancing business angel awareness and investments, including data collection and mapping of early stage market activities (short-term), creation of Czech National Angel Association (medium-term), and implementation of incentivization measures such as co-investment funds and tax incentives (long-term). -
Publication
Reducing Tobacco Use Through Taxation in the Russian Federation: A Modelled Assessment of Two Policy Options
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10-01)This report presents results of the modelling exercise in terms of excise tax increases for the period 2018–2021, including average excise tax and revenue mobilization options; it also compares the tobacco excise tax already included in the country's current tax code with that necessary to achieve proposed EU minimum rates by 2021 (Minimum EU excise tax rates scenario). -
Publication
Ukraine e-Government Assessment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06)Electronic Government (e-government) is among the main bases for improving public administration and service delivery in Ukraine. To effectively support enhanced developmentoutcomes, it requires a systemic and coordinated approach and parallel advancement of various components of digitalization. The purpose of this assessment is to identify issues and opportunities to consolidate, enhance and accelerate the electronic government reform in Ukraine. It informs and serves as a foundation for the prioritization and development of future areas of engagement of the broader e-government reform.Efforts to advance the implementation of e-government activities have not been properly sequenced and have been uncoordinated.To assess governance e-transformation this report introduces a comprehensive methodology – Electronic Government’s Governance Outline (hereafter Assessment) – that was developed by the team and is used for the first time. This assessment reflects the progress and status against various benchmarks of e-government, grouped in 18 dimensions and spread among 5 areas.The Ukraine assessment is a first attempt at bringing together the technical perspective of digitalization with the treatment of the agency problem underlaying the essence of governance. Recognizing the challenges and complexity of reforms in this area, the report outlines key priorities for future focus by policymakers and implementers in setting up specific strategies for addressing weaknesses and advancing reforms. The assessment, which was performed through desk review of policy and regulatory framework, interviews and structured surveys of key stakeholders, reveals a pattern of disproportional development of the system. The report discusses three foresight scenarios as alternatives to the “status quo”.The scenarios reflect different approaches to addressing identified vulnerabilities of e-government in Ukraine. Implementing many of the good practices will be a challenge in the short-term. Next steps should ideally focus on reforms that prioritize consolidation of datacenters. Implementing a centralized policy for ICT procurement requires strong political will and high-level support. The first manifestation of such political support could be clear definition of the stakeholder roles and, most importantly, separation of implementation from policymaking. -
Publication
Assessment of Tax Compliance Costs for Businesses in the Kyrgyz Republic
(World Bank, Bishkek, 2017-12)The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institute focused on supporting the private sector in emerging economies. Through its work with more than 2,000 companies worldwide, IFC mobilizes capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities for developing countries. The objective of the IFC Central Asia Tax Project is to improve compliance with mandatory requirements of tax legislation through increased transparency and simplification of tax administration procedures. Simplification of tax accounting procedures will reduce costs of tax compliance, lessen the administrative burden on small and medium businesses, reduce barriers to entry into the formal economy, and serve as a driver for economic growth in the Kyrgyz Republic. The key element of reforms is an immediate assessment of their efficiency and possibility for adjustments based on assessment results. With this view, IFC, through its technical assistance tax reforms projects, has conducted a series of studies, which help monitor the tax system reforming processes in the Kyrgyz Republic. The main goal of the studies was a periodic assessment of time and costs to taxpayers in the Kyrgyz Republic in complying with the mandatory requirements of the tax legislation. Equitable intervals of measurements allowed an immediate assessment of the impact of implemented tax reforms on the cost of taxpayers to comply with tax legislation. In addition, actual data on the tax system status helped elaborate concise recommendations for the Government with the focus on elimination of identified issues and reduction of the tax administration costs to businesses. This report outlines the results of all three rounds of business environment surveys in the area of tax regulation; it includes the estimates of tax accounting costs of taxpayers in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2012, 2014, and 2016. -
Publication
Assessment of Tax Compliance Costs for Businesses in the Republic of Tajikistan
(Washington, DC, 2017-12)The principal outcome of the tax reform implemented in recent years in the Republic of Tajikistan is the reduction of administrative burden on the private sector associated with compliance with tax legislation through simplified tax procedures and less time required to pass these procedures. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institute, which is focused on support to the private sector in emerging economies. The objective of the IFC Central Asia Tax Project is to improve compliance with mandatory requirements of tax legislation through better transparency and simplification of tax administration procedures. IFC through its technical assistance tax reforms projects, has conducted a series of studies, which allow to monitor the tax system reforming processes in Tajikistan. The main goal of the studies was a periodic assessment of time and costs of taxpayers in Tajikistan to comply with the mandatory requirements of the tax legislation. As part of the study, three rounds of measurements were performed, where the tax administration costs of the Tajik taxpayers were assessed at a regular time span - in 2012, 2014, and 2016. This report presents the results of all three rounds of business environment surveys in the area of tax regulation. It includes the estimates of tax accounting costs of taxpayers in Tajikistan in 2012, 2014, and 2016.