World Bank Country Studies
68 items available
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Country Studies are published with approval of the subject government to communicate the results of the Bank's work on the economic and related conditions of member countries to governments and to the development community. This series as been superseded by the World Bank Studies series.
Items in this collection
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Publication
Decentralization, Democracy, and Development : Recent Experience from Sierra Leone
(World Bank, 2009-06-01)In 2004, the government of Sierra Leone opted for a rethink of its national governance arrangement by embarking on the resuscitation of democratically elected local government after 32 years experimenting with central government appointed district and municipal governments. The decision by the government and the people of Sierra Leone was driven by a primary consideration to address the country's seeming nonperformance in the areas of citizens' participation in governance and responding to the needs of citizens as it relates to attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as ensuring poverty reduction in the country. This book is a retrospective of the decentralization reform process in Sierra Leone from 2003-07. During this period, the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) reestablished elected district and urban councils across the country, transferred certain responsibilities for primary services and local investment and some financial resources to the new councils, and invested heavily in building the administrative infrastructure and capacity of the local councils. The author is partners who were intimately involved in the reform. Through recording various aspects of the process and reflecting on the observations and learning during that time, the author hope to contribute to the debates on the merits and risks of decentralization in general and its desirability and viability in post-conflict countries. -
Publication
Haiti : Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accountability Review
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)Haiti made good progress over the past three years but major challenges remain to accelerating growth and reducing poverty. After the lost decade 1994-2004, marked by political instability and economic decline, Haiti reformed significantly and revived growth, especially in the past three years. Macroeconomic policies implemented since mid-2004 helped restart economic growth, reestablish fiscal discipline, reduce inflation and increase international reserves. Financial sector stability has been maintained though weaknesses have emerged. Significant progress was also achieved in the implementation of economic governance measures, mainly in the area of legal framework, core public institutions and financial management processes and procedures. Notably, basic budget procedures were restored, the public procurement system strengthened, and anti-corruption efforts stepped up. Efforts were also made to improve efficiency and transparency in the management of public enterprises. This wave of reforms led to renewed confidence and translated into higher growth. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 2.3 percent in FY2006, implying an increase of about 0.6 percent in per capita GDP, compared to -0.2 percent in FY2005. The successful implementation of its stabilization program helped Haiti benefit from a three year International Monetary Fund (IMF) - Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) supported program. In addition, in November 2006, Haiti qualified for debt relief under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative by reaching the decision point under the initiative. -
Publication
Decentralization in Madagascar
(Washington, DC, 2004-06)This paper takes stock of Madagascar's first 10 years of decentralization. As it happened in many other developing countries, particularly in Africa, Madagascar's decentralization process has seen reversals, uncertainties and lack of clarity all along. This explains why Madagascar, despite the experience with decentralization, remains a highly centralized country with only about 3-4 percent of expenditures spent below the center and with very few prerogatives decentralized to the local level. Notwithstanding the structural impediments to decentralization in poor countries, many positive lessons can be drawn from the Madagascar case, which point to the potentials of the decentralization process. This study provides a detailed analysis of local government finances and develops a methodology for measuring local financing needs (local fiscal gap methodology). Based on this analysis, the study argues that a lot can be gained from simplifying administrative arrangements and fiscal relationships. Instead of a full-blown and ambitious decentralization strategy, this book suggests a number of reforms, which would go a long way by making the current structure work better. These reforms include: (1) a full transfer of the (limited) local competencies to commune, particularly local revenue collection; (2) increasing transfers to rural communes so that per capita allocations would be the same across communes-rural and urban; and (3) assigning revenues to one level of government only, except for some very specific types of taxes (such as on natural resources). -
Publication
Slovak Republic--Joining the EU : A Development Policy Review
(Washington, DC, 2003-06)The Slovak Republic's external current account and fiscal deficits (net of privatization receipts) are unsustainably high (at about 8 percent of GDP in 2002), despite some recent declines. With a capital account surplus of perhaps 20 percent of GDP this year, the Slovak Republic may not find it particularly difficult to finance these deficits, but this favorable situation will not last. Furthermore, through its impact on the real exchange rate, this policy mix is undermining the employability of large segments of the population (particularly those with low skill levels) and will ultimately choke growth (projected at 4 percent for 2002). While much policy attention has gone to stimulating investment, future growth will also depend on raising the employment rate, currently one of the lowest among the Central and East European Countries (CEECs). This report lays out the broad thrust of a policy strategy to bolster the recovery and bring the economy towards convergence with the EU. This strategy consists of three key elements: (a) Continued trade, finance, and enterprise reform to complete the structural transformation of the economy and align it with the EU framework (b) Fiscal consolidation, focusing on cutting back expenditure and stabilizing revenues, while redirecting revenue and expenditure policies to become more fully supportive of growth and employment objectives (c) Labor market reform, directed at enhancing labor market flexibility by relaxing legal provisions on working arrangements (such as part-time work, self-employment, and fixed term contracts), by decentralizing collective bargaining, and discarding the minimum wage as an instrument of incomes policy, and by reforming the social assistance system. The ultimate success of the policy reforms outlined in this report will depend to a great extent on the government's capacity to strengthen the institutional framework in which those policies are conceived, decided upon, and executed. Three priorities have been highlighted: (i) the reform of public expenditure management systems and practices needed to support a growth-oriented fiscal strategy; (ii) the consolidation of the recent decentralization moves as a prerequisite for further devolution, and (iii) a much overdue overhaul of the judiciary system. -
Publication
Bangladesh : Financial Accountability for Good Governance
(Washington, DC, 2002-05)This document assesses the quality of financial accountability and transparency in Bangladesh, and makes recommendations for improvement. With respect to public funds, it compares the financial management standards, and practices of agencies using such funds against and international, or "best practice" standard, and also the standards, and practices of the external "oversight" agencies - nine Audit Directorates of the Comptroller and Auditor General's Office, parliamentary committees concerned with public expenditure, donor agencies, and the media. It assesses what it would take to qualify the country for programmatic, or sector lending in replacement of all individual project lending. With respect to private funds in the hands of companies, commercial banks, insurance companies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), it examines the regulatory activities of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the two Stock Exchanges, Bangladesh Bank, NGO Affairs Bureau, and the accounting and auditing profession that serves both public, and private sectors. -
Publication
Regaining Fiscal Sustainability and Enhancing Effectiveness in Croatia : A Public Expenditure and Institutional Review
(Washington, DC, 2002-03)The report presents the macroeconomic setting, and fiscal developments in the 1990s in Croatia, a country facing an unparalleled opportunity towards sustainable growth, and integration into the European Union. Nonetheless, the country needs to sustain macroeconomic stabilization, and improve the investment climate. To this effect, public sector reform needs to be oriented to diminish the size of the state, and reduce the fiscal deficit to sustain macroeconomic stability in the medium term. Yet, the scope for reducing the deficit through revenue increases is limited, even though a decrease in the tax burden would be highly desirable. This means that most of the adjustment will need to be made in public expenditures, particularly by identifying, and implementing policies that will reduce the level of expenditures, while improving their effectiveness; thus, budgetary management improvement will be critical to this effort. The report analysis indicates that the current budget in Croatia is not a comprehensive measure of all fiscal activity, namely that five extra-budgetary funds are not included in the budget; that off-budget revenues, outside of the extra-budgetary funds, still exist; that the cash budgeting system leads to the accumulation of arrears that do not appear in budget presentations; and, that laws outside of the budget law, lead to mandatory spending that falls outside of the budget process. -
Publication
Czech Republic : Enhancing the Prospects for Growth with Fiscal Stability
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001-09)The Czech government is confronted with a worsening fiscal situation. The structural deficit ballooned in 2000, and it is expected to widen further in 2001. The report suggests that, at this stage of the recovery, fiscal retrenchment instead should be in order, both to make room for private demand to expand, without putting undue pressure on interest rates, and/or on the external current account, and, to set the country on track towards adhering to Stability and Growth Path when in the European Union (EU). The report sees a stronger case, and greater scope for adjustment on the expenditure, than on the revenue side. Expenditures have shot up in the last three years, to a level which exceeds those observed in comparable countries. Worse, most existing expenditure programs, seem locked in upward trajectories, and fresh spending pressures (arising from EU accession, contingent liabilities, or decentralization) are building up. The report illustrates, for selected sectors (bank restructuring, social protection, health, education, transport, and housing), the challenges involved in correcting expenditure trajectories. A key message is that, to succeed, the process of expenditure reform will need to be firmly grounded in the development of analytic capacities, in both core and line agencies, linked with enhancements in the country's institutions, and procedures for fiscal management. -
Publication
Brazil : Critical Issues in Social Security
(Washington, DC, 2001-05)Social security is the single most important fiscal issue facing the Brazilian government today. This report summarizes the state, and potential policy implications, of the Brazilian Social security system. It also discusses policy recommendations for: social security and pensions, the national social security system, government pensions and funds, and the complementary pension systems. An overview of the social security challenge reviews the system components, revealing unsustainable fiscal imbalances and administrative weaknesses in both the unreformed General Regime for Social Security (RGPS), and the Pension Regime for Government Workers (RJU), with large tax-related distortions, and labor market inefficiency. Thus the goals of Brazil's reforms are to reduce fiscal deficits, lower actuarial imbalances, increase equity and redistribution, reduce collateral inefficiencies, and facilitate growth of funded pensions. The study implies there is no recourse for the country, but to lower the high, uniform replacement rates (experience suggests that rates higher than 40-70 percent, cannot be sustained). The key to effective reform of social security is widening the debate to include potential winners from these changes, particularly the private sector, the young, and the poor. Policy recommendations suggest that the adverse equity effects of RGPS reforms should be widely publicized to generate political support for deeper RJU reform. -
Publication
Bulgaria : The Dual Challenge of Transition and Accession
(Washington, DC, 2001-05)The study assesses Bulgaria's progress in its transition to a market economy, and in its preparation for accession to the European Union (EU), through an analysis of economic developments during the 1990s, with special emphasis on the 1997-1999 period. It identifies the major challenges the country faces in sustaining macroeconomic stability, and accelerating growth. To maintain fiscal stability and ensure adequate public investment to gradually reduce the public debt will require building strong fiscal risk, debt management skills. The public investment required to meet the dual challenge of completing the transition, and joining the EU, is significant. The Government's remarkable reform program of the last three years, has radically transformed the economy, with conditions established for high, and sustained growth. Yet, unemployment is growing, and by and large, the standards of living have significantly declined, meaning further reforms will be needed to boost private investment, and establish the supportive institutional foundations required for a market economy. The reform agenda focuses on ensuring a public-private interface through macroeconomic stabilization, eliminating state direct interventions, and building the public-private legal framework, as well as capacity, and credibility.