The Effects of Fiscal Policy on Inequality and Poverty in The Gambia

Publication:
The Effects of Fiscal Policy on Inequality and Poverty in The Gambia

dc.contributor.author	Carrasco Nunez, Haydeeliz
dc.contributor.author	Jawara, Hamidou
dc.contributor.author	Meyer, Moritz
dc.date.accessioned	2022-03-22T18:21:45Z
dc.date.available	2022-03-22T18:21:45Z
dc.date.issued	2022-01
dc.description.abstract	The overall objective of this study is to assess the impact of the fiscal system on poverty and inequality in The Gambia as of 2015. The study presents the first empirical evidence on the distributional impacts of taxes and social spending on households in The Gambia. Furthermore, it also evaluated the distributional effects of recent fiscal policy reforms in The Gambia. The assessment was based on the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Methodology with data from the Integrated Household Survey of 2015 and fiscal administrative data from various government ministries, departments, and agencies. The analyses show that while the fiscal system in The Gambia reduces inequality by 1.2 Gini points, it increases the national poverty headcount by 5.3 percentage points as all households (including the poor) are net payers into the fiscal system. Most of the inequality reduction is due to primary education benefits, with a marginal contribution of 0.44 Gini points, and most of the poverty increase is due to custom duties and VAT with marginal contributions of -2.63 percentage points and -2.07 percentage points, respectively. Simulating the effect of changes in the structure of personal income tax (PIT) and the government’s ongoing absorption of the School Feeding Program indicate that these changes reduce inequality but do not offset the impoverishing effect of the fiscal system. Hence, more cashable transfer programs targeted to the poor are needed to offset the impoverishing effect of indirect taxes and make the fiscal system more pro-poor.	en
dc.identifier	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099605003102232996/P16447401a6bc80b0afaa0a627a3b0fa38
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/37187
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/37187
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
dc.rights	CC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subject	FISCAL POLICY
dc.subject	SOCIAL SPENDING
dc.subject	TAXES
dc.subject	FISCAL INCIDENCE
dc.subject	INEQUALITY
dc.subject	COMMITTMENT TO EQUITY
dc.subject	POVERTY
dc.title	The Effects of Fiscal Policy on Inequality and Poverty in The Gambia	en
dc.type	Working Paper	en
dc.type	Document de travail	fr
dc.type	Documento de trabajo	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.crossref.title	The Effects of Fiscal Policy on Inequality and Poverty in The Gambia
okr.date.disclosure	2022-03-10
okr.date.doiregistration	2025-05-07T12:06:00.216716Z
okr.date.lastmodified	2022-03-10T00:00:00Z	en
okr.doctype	Report
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.docurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099605003102232996/P16447401a6bc80b0afaa0a627a3b0fa38
okr.guid	099000001242212785
okr.guid	099605003102232996
okr.identifier.externaldocumentum	33755346
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum	33755346
okr.identifier.report	169112
okr.imported	true	en
okr.language.supported	en
okr.pdfurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099605003102232996/pdf/P16447401a6bc80b0afaa0a627a3b0fa38.pdf	en
okr.region.administrative	Africa Western and Central (AFW)
okr.region.administrative	Africa
okr.region.country	Gambia, The
okr.region.geographical	West Africa
okr.topic	Poverty Reduction::Pro-Poor Growth
okr.topic	Poverty Reduction::Equity and Development
okr.topic	Poverty Reduction::Poverty Impact Evaluation
okr.topic	Social Development::Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
okr.topic	Macroeconomics and Economic Growth::Fiscal & Monetary Policy
okr.unit	EFI-AFR2-POV-Poverty and Equity (EAWPV)