Institutional and Governance Review

54 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2181

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CPIA Africa, June 2015: Assessing Africa's Policies and Institutions

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06) World Bank Group

The Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) Africa report describes the progress African countries are making on strengthening the quality of their policies and institutions. Some of the results from this report include: The overall quality of policies and institutions in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa was unchanged in 2014, but there was much variation in performance across countries. More than half the countries in the region saw a change in their policy environment: 10 countries experienced an improvement in their overall CPIA score, and an equal number saw a deterioration. There were divergent trends across policy clusters. Economic management weekend on the back of continuing fiscal policy slippage, as the sharp drop in commodity prices underscored weaknesses in the fiscal framework of several of the regions countries. By contrast, there was some strengthening in the governance cluster, with nine countries showing improvements in scores, more than twice the number of countries with declines. The greatest progress in this cluster was in the quality of budgetary and financial management.
CPIA Africa, June 2014: Assessing Africa's Policies and Institutions

(Washington, DC, 2014-06) World Bank Group

This report describes the progress African countries are making on strengthening the quality of policies and institutions that underpin development. It presents Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) scores for the 39 African countries that are eligible for support from the International Development Association (IDA). This year's report expands coverage to include Djibouti and Yemen from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The scores, which are on a scale of 1 to 6 with 6 being the highest, are an indicator of the quality of these countries' policy and institutional framework across 16 dimensions grouped into four clusters: economic management (Cluster A), structural policies (Cluster B), policies for social inclusion and equity (Cluster C), and public sector management and institutions (Cluster D). The overall quality of policies and institutions in Sub-Saharan African countries held steady in 2013, with divergent performance across countries. The average CPIA score for Sub-Saharan Africa held steady at 3.2 in 2013. But beyond the flat regional average, there was considerable divergence in country performance. For the region's IDA borrowers, scores were in a range of 3.9 to 2.0. A broad-based deepening of policy reforms lifted Rwanda's CPIA score in 2013, and the country joined Cabo Verde and Kenya at the top of the score range. Other top performers include Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Tanzania (all with scores of 3.8). South Sudan and Eritrea remained at the low-end of the score range (2.1 and 2,0, respectively), weighed down by deep policy and governance challenges. The quality of policies and institutions in MENA countries lags behind the average for middle income countries in all CPIA categories with scores lower relative to the Sub-Saharan African IDA country average. Since 2005, neither Yemen nor Djibouti has improved its overall rating; indeed, Yemen's overall policy and institutional score actually declined. The average CPIA score for countries in MENA was 3.0 in 2013, unchanged from 2012. Both Djibouti and Yemen had unchanged scores, indicating that despite unsettled conditions in the region and lingering challenges in global economic conditions, these countries generally opted to maintain their existing policy framework. Djibouti's CPIA score (3.1) was slightly higher than the average while Yemen's was on par with the average.
Jamaica : Parliamentary Oversight of Public Finances--An Institutional Review

(Washington, DC, 2013-06-10) World Bank

Sound legislative oversight of public finances is crucial to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of public spending. All national governments, and particularly those that are accountable to their citizens through free elections and the voice of civil society, are concerned with the efficiency and efficacy of public finances. More broadly, well-functioning parliaments promote good governance; enhance transparency and accountability, including for public expenditures and their results; widen public discourse on national priorities and options; and build better partnerships between officials and representatives and their electorate. In all this, those among the citizenry with the least have the most to gain. This report responds to a request from the Government of Jamaica to review the structure and capacity of the Parliament of Jamaica to undertake its constitutional role with respect to oversight of the nation's public finances. Jamaica's Parliament is the country's supreme legislative body, consisting of an elected House of Representatives and an appointed Senate (Upper House), as well as the Queen or her representative, as the ceremonial head, and the Governor General. The Government of Jamaica has amended various legislations to adopt a Fiscal Responsibility Framework (FRF). The FRF includes specific fiscal targets as well as provisions to include the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and public service control over expenditures and lending.
CPIA Africa, June 2013: Assessing Africa's Policies and Institutions

(Washington, DC, 2013-06) World Bank

This report is the second in a series of annual reports describing the progress African countries are making on strengthening the quality of policies and institutions that underpin development. It presents Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) scores for the 39 African countries that are eligible for support from the International Development Association (IDA). The development literature identifies the components of the CPIA as being broadly relevant for sustaining growth and reducing poverty. The data provide some support for this association. All country groups exhibit similar patterns across the four CPIA clusters. The gap in scores between the macroeconomic management cluster and the governance cluster is just as pronounced for fragile as for non-fragile states. In contrast, the gap between the economic management cluster and the social policies and structural policies clusters is small. Overall, the macroeconomic policy stance in Sub-Saharan Africa was supportive of growth, with monetary policy focused on managing inflation and fiscal policy focused on pro-poor spending and infrastructure development. Inflation declined in 2012, thanks to a moderation in food and fuel prices and prudent monetary policy. However, an expansive fiscal policy translated into a weakening of fiscal balances. Debt levels also edged up, although they remained moderate. As the policy areas in this cluster are closely related, there tends to be co-movement in the scores for monetary and fiscal policy.
“Governance in the Protection of Immovable Property Rights in Albania: A Continuing Challenge” : A World Bank Issue Brief - Second Edition

(Washington, DC, 2012-04) World Bank

Despite several attempts at reform, immovable property rights in Albania are not adequately secure and represent an important governance challenge. Problems have resulted from incomplete first title registration, the lack of accurate cadastral records, and, in many cases, the absence of reliable evidence of ownership. Although Albania has adopted legislation calling for restitution or compensation for owners whose property was expropriated under communism, implementation is incomplete. In Albania, rapid internal migration has resulted in informal occupation of land and unauthorized construction on a mass scale, thus compounding the problems associated with the incomplete transfer of property. During the 1990s, as much as one-third of the population of some northern and mountainous regions migrated to urban, peri-urban, and coastal areas in search of income generation opportunities, despite the lack of adequate housing infrastructure or public service provision. Internal migration continues, albeit at a slower pace. Gaps in territorial planning legislation and administrative failures in the issuance of construction permits have made it difficult to obtain an appropriate construction permit, even when occupiers have legal title to the land. State authorities have largely failed to prevent new illegal occupation of land and illegal construction, and it is estimated that up to one-third of all buildings in Albania are illegal due to the occupier's lack of clear title and/or appropriate construction permit. This review of immovable property rights in Albania draws primarily upon this definition, which takes into account the popular legitimacy of state institutions and respect for the law among citizens and government institutions the softer aspects of governance that are essential to understanding how policies are made and implemented in practice and how public resources are used.
Regulatory Capacity Review: East African Community

(Washington, DC, 2011) International Finance Corporation

The regulatory capacity review of the East African Community (EAC) focuses on the capacities of the EAC institutional framework to develop, implement, and sustain the efficient, transparent, and market-based regulatory system that is needed to achieve the economic benefits of the EAC common market. This report argues that the EAC institutions will be successful in implementing the common market only if they safeguard the quality of regulatory practices. This is a highly pragmatic and operational agenda. Quality principles can be applied only if they are defined and institutionalized into the machinery of policy making. The idea is that, just as fiscal management can increase social welfare by better allocating resources, so can regulatory governance.
Mauritania : Anti-Corruption Study

(Washington, DC, 2008-09) World Bank

This report provides analytic support to the National Anti-corruption Strategy (NACS) formulation, offers lessons from international experience on governance and anti-corruption (GAC) policy, and generally supports the Government and its development partners to better understand the phenomenon of corruption in Mauritania. The report is structured as follows: Chapter 2 focuses on the definition and measurement of corruption and the Mauritanian political economy. Chapter 3 focuses on corruption in public procurement. Chapter 4 concentrates on corruption in the courts of law. Chapter 5 deals with the extractive industries. Chapter 6 focuses on corruption from the perspective of the private sector, based on the results of the recent Investment Climate Assessment (ICA). On the basis of the analysis conducted in this report, the single most important message concerns the need for maintaining momentum and pressing ahead with the finalization of ongoing anti-corruption strategic thinking and legislation, and the implementation of already approved GAC laws and measures. Looking forward, the emphasis should shift from passing laws and rules to concrete implementation of procedures on a broader agenda of greater political accountability. Priority areas include: (1) independence of the media, (2) monitoring procedures (such as a governance diagnostic survey) and (3) the establishment of an effective mechanism through which the voice of citizens and users of public services can be heard.
Republic of Belarus : Corruption Vulnerability Scan

(Washington, DC, 2007-05-23) World Bank

The Corruption Vulnerability Scan (CVS) is an internal Bank document aimed at providing a better understanding on the Bank's vulnerability in extending assistance to Belarus, and making suggestions as to how to reduce risks in the use of Bank funds, while improving results on the ground. The CVS team visited Belarus in March 2007. Its main conclusion is that the vulnerability to corruption of Bank funds and activities funded from loan proceeds in Belarus is low, as long as Bank fiduciary procedures are used and implementation is closely supervised. The report is in three parts: Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Belarus, Public Finance Management and the Bank Portfolio.
Republic of Paraguay Institutional and Governance Review Breaking with Tradition : Overcoming Institutional Impediments to Improve Public Sector Performance

(Washington, DC, 2005-06) World Bank

The present study uses examples from all three branches of Government - the Ministry of Finance, the ordinary courts, and the Congress in its budgetary role - to examine the institutional obstacles to their improved performance and the opportunities for targeted changes. It builds on recent analytic work done by Paraguayan academics and others, highlighting the historical and persisting impact of the traditional political practices. The arguments emphasize that the particularistic use of public resources has been and remains key to obtaining and holding political power in Paraguay. The study's goals were eminently practical to provide Paraguay's reformers with insights as to how they can escape a series of vicious circles. As they understand the basics quite well, the emphasis here was on their more detailed application at the organizational and sub-organizational levels.
From Patronage to a Professional State : Bolivia Institutional and Governance Review, Volume 2. Annexes

(Washington, DC, 2000-08-25) World Bank

The study, an institutional, and governance review of Bolivia, describes the transformation of the country's political economy as of the 1980s, the aim for consistent macroeconomic stability, and, the consolidation of the democratic political regime. However, despite a number of bold reforms to develop market-oriented systems, and in contrast with government efforts, the quality of public services remained low. Namely, because public sector reforms were not implemented, and because of symptomatic institutional weaknesses; for although assistance was provided to modernize the civil service, and improve public administration, the lack of government commitment to a changing program focus, precluded noticeable results. The current reform agenda has identified the need for state modernization, governance and accountability, and judicial reform, addressed within the National Integrity Plan, to combat corruption, and other symptoms of public sector dysfunction. The study presents a blunt vision of Bolivian public administration, through the absence of a functioning bureaucracy, reviewing the legal framework and organizational structure, with an emphasis on the "informality" of public administration, - a challenge for institutional development. But the deeper causes of poor public sector performance, lie on the patrimonial dynamics of party politics. Recommendations include parallel advances between public, and market sector reforms, reliable external controls, and strengthened capacity of the public sector.