Other Public Sector Study
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Publication
e-Gov Assessment in Republika Srpska: Rapid Assessment Results
(Washington, DC, 2023-11-13)This report, which is funded by the EU under the Support to Public Sector Management Reform Project in BiH, presents an assessment of e-services and key enablers that underpin an efficient and user-centric digital government in the RS, including recommendations for further development. The assessment was conducted at the request of and in close collaboration with the RS Ministry of Scientific and Technological Development, Higher Education and Information Society (MNRVOID). The report is meant to inform the RS Government’s future reform plans in the area of digitization. -
Publication
GovTech for Armenia: A Whole of Government Approach as a Key Foundation for the Digital Economy in Armenia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-10)This note presents main findings of the GovTech snapshot assessment for Armenia forming part of a larger World Bank global engagement on GovTech and Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA) in the South Caucasus on transforming government services through digital innovations. The objective of the note is to conduct an initial GovTech stock-taking using the GovTech conceptual framework within the broader digital economy context. Starting with a first analytic phase in 2021 and to be continued through a second phase of implementation support in 2022, the assessment focuses on key thematic areas in line with client’s interest to help identify entry-points and reform options. It applies a simplified and customized version of the Digital Government Readiness Assessment Methodology (DGRA), assessing key thematic dimensions and developing a menu of reform options in line with client priorities. The note is structured in four sections. The first section presents the GovTech and Digital Economy conceptual framework. Section two includes key findings of the snapshot assessment for all nine dimensions of the DGRA. Section three propose potential reform opportunities based on entry-points identified in the assessment and customized to client priorities. These are presented below as a preliminary menu of reform options and as a basis for further discussion with Armenian counterparts. Finally, Section 4 presents different GovTech engagement options to deepen collaboration between the government of Armenia and the World Bank. -
Publication
GovTech for Azerbaijan: A Whole of Government Approach as a Key Foundation for the Digital Economy in Azerbaijan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-10)This note presents main findings of the GovTech Snapshot Assessment for Azerbaijan, forming part of a larger World Bank global engagement on GovTech and Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA) in the South Caucasus focusing on transforming government services through digital innovations. The objective of the note is to conduct an initial GovTech stock-taking, using the GovTech conceptual framework within the broader Digital Economy context. Starting with a first analytical phase in 2021 and to be continued through a second phase of implementation support in 2022, the assessment focuses on key thematic areas in line with client interest to help identify entry-points and reform options. It applies a simplified and customized version of the Digital Government Readiness Assessment Methodology (DGRA), assessing key thematic dimensions and developing a menu of reform options in line with client priorities. The note is structured in four sections. The first section presents the GovTech and Digital Economy conceptual framework. Section two includes key findings of the snapshot assessment for all nine dimensions of the DGRA. Section three propose potential reform opportunities, based on entry-points identified in the assessment and customized to client priorities. Finally, Section 4 presents different engagement options to deepen collaboration between the government of Azerbaijan and the World Bank on GovTech. -
Publication
GovTech for Georgia: A Whole of Government Approach as a Key Foundation for the Digital Economy in Georgia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-10)This note presents main findings of the GovTech Snapshot Assessment for Georgia, forming part of a larger World Bank global engagement on GovTech and Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA) in the South Caucasus on Transforming Government Services through Digital Innovations. The objective of the note is to conduct an initial GovTech stock-taking, using the GovTech conceptual framework within the broader Digital Economy context. Starting with a first analytical phase in 2021 and to be continued through a second phase of implementation support in 2022, the assessment focuses on key thematic areas in line with client interest to help identify entry-points and reform options. It applies a simplified and customized version of the Digital Government Readiness Assessment Methodology (DGRA), assessing key thematic dimensions and developing a menu of reform options in line with client priorities. -
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
Moldova Mobile ID Case Study
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-12)The Republic of Moldova was among the first countries in the world to implement Mobile eID, whichhas been implemented through the innovative Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. In recognitionof Moldova embracing mobile technologies as an opportunity to tap the potential of mobile phones toimprove government initiatives, the government of Moldova was awarded the Best mGovernment Awardby the GSMA during the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The concept of Mobile eID, also known as mobile signature, works as an ID in the virtual world, allowing users to authenticate themselves in cyberspace, with the aim to prove their identity with the help of a cell phone or electronically sign a legally-binding transaction or document. For the regular users, the advantage of mobile eID lies in its simplicity, since no separate card reader or drivers areneeded, as the phone itself already performs these functions. Implementation of Mobile eID in Moldova was part of a larger digital transformation initiative supported by a 20 million US Dollars World Bank–funded loan as part of Governance eTransformation Project (GeT), and assuch, it benefited from increased political support. Moreover, the approval by the government of Moldova of the strategic e-Transformation program further paved the way for eID implementation, by expressly stating that mobile electronic identity is "a means to ensure data integrity and security in eservice delivery and financial transactions." -
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.