World Bank Country Studies

68 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10986/4392

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 This series as been superseded by the World Bank Studies series.

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

Public Expenditure Review for Armenia
(Washington, DC, 2003-08) World Bank
This is the first full-scale World Bank Public Expenditure Review for Armenia, which reviews the main fiscal trends in the country for the period 1997-2001, and develops recommendations with respect to further fiscal adjustment, expenditure prioritization, and budget consolidation. The analysis focuses on core issues, i.e., sustainability of fiscal adjustment, fiscal transparency, expenditure priorities, and short-term expenditure management, given the existing economy-wide institutional constraints. The study covers extra-budgetary funds, in-kind external grants, subsidies provided by the state-owned companies in the energy, and utility sectors, and operations of the Social Insurance Fund, as well as regular spending. It suggests a medium-term action plan to address identified weaknesses. Sectoral chapters review health, education, and social protection and insurance. The study also analyzes budget support for core public infrastructure, and the country's public investment program.
Bulgaria Public Expenditure Issues and Directions for Reform
(Washington, DC, 2003-08) World Bank
The study is the first-ever Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (PEIR) on Bulgaria by the World Bank. It outlines public expenditure issues, and policy directions to improve the efficiency, and effectiveness of public expenditures in the country. To this end, it assesses fiscal sustainability, and analyzes the public expenditures, and their institutional framework. Bulgaria has made substantial progress toward long-term macroeconomic stability, but important challenges remain in the five sectors analyzed - education, health, social protection, the state railways, and energy sectors. It also analyses the institutional challenges in public expenditure management.
Slovak Republic--Joining the EU : A Development Policy Review
(Washington, DC, 2003-06) World Bank
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.
Restoring Fiscal Discipline for Poverty Reduction in Peru : A Public Expenditure Review
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2003-06) World Bank; Inter-American Development Bank
This public expenditure review is produced jointly by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, and focuses on social sectors spending and leaves aside infrastructure and other sectors. This report, finalized in June 2002 and discussed with Authorities in mid-August 2002, does not take into account policy developments occurring after this time. The report is organized as follows: Chapter 1 presents a synthesis of Peru's public expenditure reform agenda from the Bank's perspective. It is based on, and distills, the thematic chapters that make up this report. Chapters 2-4 examine the core functions of public expenditure management: macro fiscal aggregates, resource allocations to strategic sectors, and microeconomic efficiency of public spending. Chapters 5-8 explore selected themes, such as the decentralization of public administration and the social sectors; civil service reform; governance and corruption; and mining fiscal and environmental issues. These chapters are, in turn, supported by fifteen topic-specific background papers, including an innovative public expenditure tracking survey on municipal transfers. Other topics focus on public sector employment; decentralization of health and education; an empirical diagnostic study on governance, rule of law, and corruption; and a comparison of the Peruvian tax system with mining tax systems in other nations.
Caribbean Youth Development : Issues and Policy Directions
(Washington, DC, 2003-05) World Bank
This report examines youth development in the Caribbean today. The objectives of the report are threefold, it aims to 1) identify the risk and protective factor and determinats of youth behaviors and development, 2) demonstrate that the negative behaviors of youth are costly, not only to the youth themselves but to society as a whole, and 3) identifies key intervention points for youth development, taking into account identified risk and protective factors for the Caribbean. For the purpose of the study, youth is defined as spanning the adolescent period from 10 to 24 years of age. Youth or adolescent development thus refers to the physical, social, and emotional processes of maturation from childhood to adulthood, with biological processes riving the initiation of adolescence and social factors largely determining the initiation of adulthood. The study uses an "ecological" framework to demonstrate the linkages between a) the under-lying risk and protective factors of youth behaviors, b) youth outcomes, and c) subsequent adult outcomes. It is termed "ecological" because the framework shows the relationship between the individual adolescent and his or her environment. Risk factors are those factors that increase the likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes. Protective factors counterbalance the risk factors.
Financial Accountability in Nepal : A Country Assessment
(Washington, DC, 2003-03) World Bank
This document assesses the quality of financial accountability and transparency in Nepal and makes recommendations for improvement. The findings and recommendations were widely discussed with various government agencies, non-government agencies, private sector, oversight agencies, and donor partners. The review concluded that the lack of compliance and poor implementation of the regulations is the single most important problem that affects public sector financial accountability of Nepal. With respect to public funds, the report reviews the government's budgeting, financial planning, cash flow management, accounting and financial reporting, at the central and local government level. It assesses what it would take to qualify the country for programmatic lending or budgetary support in replacement of individual project lending. With respect to the private sector, the report examines accounting and auditing standards and practices, the development of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Nepal, the demand for, and the supply and training of accountants and auditors. The report also assesses the framework for corporate governance and reviews the activities of the Registrar of Companies, the Securities Exchange Board, and the Stock Exchange. With respect to non-governmental sector, it examines the financial accountability aspect of non-governmental organizations.