Publication: Bulgaria : Public Expenditures for Growth and Competitiveness
Loading...
Published
2012-03
ISSN
Date
2013-02-21
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Bulgaria's economy performed relatively well during the crisis and the economy is reviving. In comparison with other Tenth European Union (EU10) countries, for Bulgaria the drop in Gross Domestic Product, or GDP growth was below the median, fiscal performance deteriorated less, and public debt stayed among the lowest in the entire EU. In late January 2011 the EC concluded that in 2010 Bulgaria had made significant progress in deficit reduction and is on track to exit the excessive deficit procedure in 2011. The large macroeconomic imbalances observed in 2005-08 had been corrected by 2010 with relatively little negative impact on growth relative to other EU10 countries. Since late 2010 Bulgaria's recovery has been driven by net exports; investment and consumption are recovering more slowly. As long as the economic environment remains favorable and structural reforms are implemented as planned, the economy should reach and even exceed its pre-crisis level in 2012. This report is intended to inform policy makers, the international community, and civil society about Bulgaria's recent economic performance and its options for reforming public spending to enhance competitiveness and growth. It first reviews Bulgaria's growth strategy and its fiscal adjustment over the last several years and the medium-term challenges it confronts. The report then analyzes Bulgaria's export performance to identify comparative advantages and outline policy options to enhance competitiveness in the medium term. Reforms should focus on improving the productivity of the public sector to enhance service delivery, improve the business environment, and upgrade infrastructure. The report identifies two general areas for reform: (i) the wage bill and public employment; and (ii) management of public investment.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2012. Bulgaria : Public Expenditures for Growth and Competitiveness. Public expenditure review (PER);. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12451 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Uganda - A Public Expenditure Review 2008 : With a Focus on Affordability of Pay Reform and Health Sector(World Bank, 2009-05-30)This report is a further response to the call from Uganda's leaders for 'value for money' in public spending. The report is the second in a series of three sector-oriented public expenditure reviews (PER) for the Government of Uganda (GOU) prepared by the World Bank as input into the Government of Uganda's budget reform initiatives. The focus of this report is efficiency and efficacy of spending by the Government of Uganda with a specific focus on the health sector. The first report in the series was 'Uganda fiscal policy for growth', published in 2007, with a focus on the education sector. This report comes in two volumes. Volume one is the main report with conclusions and policy recommendations which analyses composition of overall spending and budget implementation, budgetary consequences of ongoing pay reforms, and efficiency and effectiveness of spending in Uganda's health sector. Volume two contains a full report on the health sector, and includes the background papers prepared.Publication Morocco - Public Financial Management Performance Report (PEFA) : Assessment of Public Financial Management Systems, Procedures, and Institutions(World Bank, 2009-05-01)This Public Financial Management Performance Report (PFM-PR) assesses the current performance of financial management in Morocco's public sector. The Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) framework applied for this review uses an assessment tool based on a set of high-level indicators that provide reliable information on the performance of PFM systems, processes and institutions. The purpose of using this tool is to measure performance for five PFM areas in Morocco as compared to international standards. The Kingdom of Morocco is a medium-income country with a population of 31 million and per capita income of European Union (EU) 2,300 (2007). Average life expectancy has significantly improved to 72.4 years in 2007, reflecting a progressive improvement in living standards. Nonetheless, major social challenges remain, in particular the economic insecurity of a large segment of its residents. Despite a considerable improvement in poverty indicators during this century (the incidence of poverty fell from 15.3 percent in 2001 to 9 percent in 2007), more than a quarter of the population in 2007 remained economically vulnerable. The report covers public expenditure at the central government level, including central government's financial relationships with local and regional governments and with public enterprises (PE). Morocco has a relatively large public sector that accounts for 53 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) (2007), comparable to that for other Magreb countries.Publication Bhutan Country Economic Update : Accelerating Growth and Poverty Reduction(Washington, DC, 2007-09-22)This report was prepared to help the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) meet its felt need for more economic analysis and policy advice. It also seeks to provide information to a wider audience of development partners and interested parties. Over the past 25 years, Bhutan has been developing rapidly, pursuing sound economic policies, exploiting hydropower, and enjoying strong support from external development partners. Solid growth continues to raise per capita income and support improvements in social indicators. Through the prism of these four elements, this report seeks to contribute to the policy discussion by providing an integrative analysis and update of the Bhutanese economy, as well as developing a set of key recommendations and issues that warrant consideration or further study. Section two describes ongoing governance reforms, outlines the objectives articulated in Bhutan's Vision 2020 document and the Ninth Five-Year Plan (Ninth Plan), discusses the poverty reduction strategy, and notes progress towards meeting the millennium development goals. Section three examines recent economic developments, including growth, the balance of payments, and external debt. Section four analyzes macroeconomic policy, highlighting the challenge of fiscal volatility and the need to manage expectations surrounding the coming on-stream of the giant hydropower project Tala. Section five discusses several structural aspects of public resource management, including ongoing fiscal and financial management reforms, the importance of avoiding the 'natural resource curse,' and the treatment of state owned enterprises. Section six investigates the role of strengthening the investment climate for facilitating private sector development. Section seven comments on the prospects for accelerating growth, looking at the development of additional hydropower resources, construction, tourism, and agribusiness, emphasizing that while hydropower will continue to drive economic growth, tourism and value added activities in agriculture will be central to boosting growth and generating broad-based employment. Section eight concludes with medium term development prospects and challenges.Publication Lao PDR Economic Monitor, November 2006(Vientiane, 2006-11)Lao PDR economic performance has continued to improve during 2006. Real GDP grew at 7.0 percent in 2005 and is now expected to be slightly higher at 7.3 percent in 2006. This growth is in large part due to foreign investment inflows in mining and hydro-power and growing mineral exports, but the share of non-mining contributions has increased this year, reaching 4.9 out of 7.3 percent. Agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors are expected to sustain growth, due to rising FDI in agriculture, manufacturing, and increasing trend in services (especially tourism). Inflation (of Consumer Price Index) has continued to remain in single digits: after rising early this year it has dropped remarkably during the last few months, to 5.5 percent in September and 3.7 percent in October 2006. This paper includes the following headings: introduction; part 1 recent economic developments -- the macroeconomic situation, elaboration and implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy; part 2 structural reforms -- public expenditure policy and management, reform of state-owned enterprises, financial sector reform, trade reform, and private sector development; and part 3 donor assistance to the reform agenda -- public sector governance; reform of state owned enterprises & financial sector; trade reform; and private sector, tourism development, and land reform.Publication Republic of Tajikistan : Evaluation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Process and Arrangements Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility(Washington, DC, 2004-07-06)The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process in 1999 to strengthen the poverty alleviation focus of their assistance to low-income countries. This report reviews Tajikistan s experience with the PRSP process, focusing on the effectiveness of IMF and World Bank support to the process and the extent to which the two institutions lending and non-lending activities in the country are aligned to the objectives of the PRSP approach. The rest of the report is organized as follows. Part two provides brief background accounts of political and economic developments since independence in 1991, including poverty incidence in the late 1990s. The relevance of the PRSP approach, application of the underlying principles, and preliminary evidence on results, are examined in part three. Part four considers the effectiveness of World Bank support, including alignment of that support to the objectives of the PRSP approach. The effectiveness of IMF support, including alignment of programs supported under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) and its predecessor, the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF), to PRSP objectives, is assessed in part five. Part six reviews IMF-World Bank collaboration, include the Joint Staff Assessments (JSA) of the PRSP and of collaboration on country operations. Part seven presents main conclusions and lessons.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05)Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time. The digital sector has become a powerhouse of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Value added in the IT services sector grew at 8 percent annually during 2000–22, nearly twice as fast as the global economy. Employment growth in IT services reached 7 percent annually, six times higher than total employment growth. The diffusion and adoption of digital technologies are just as critical as their invention. Digital uptake has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1.5 billion new internet users added from 2018 to 2022. The share of firms investing in digital solutions around the world has more than doubled from 2020 to 2022. Low-income countries, vulnerable populations, and small firms, however, have been falling behind, while transformative digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) have been accelerating in higher-income countries. Although more than 90 percent of the population in high-income countries was online in 2022, only one in four people in low-income countries used the internet, and the speed of their connection was typically only a small fraction of that in wealthier countries. As businesses in technologically advanced countries integrate generative AI into their products and services, less than half of the businesses in many low- and middle-income countries have an internet connection. The growing digital divide is exacerbating the poverty and productivity gaps between richer and poorer economies. The Digital Progress and Trends Report series will track global digitalization progress and highlight policy trends, debates, and implications for low- and middle-income countries. The series adds to the global efforts to study the progress and trends of digitalization in two main ways: · By compiling, curating, and analyzing data from diverse sources to present a comprehensive picture of digitalization in low- and middle-income countries, including in-depth analyses on understudied topics. · By developing insights on policy opportunities, challenges, and debates and reflecting the perspectives of various stakeholders and the World Bank’s operational experiences. This report, the first in the series, aims to inform evidence-based policy making and motivate action among internal and external audiences and stakeholders. The report will bring global attention to high-performing countries that have valuable experience to share as well as to areas where efforts will need to be redoubled.Publication Empowerment in Practice : From Analysis to Implementation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006)This book represents an effort to present an easily accessible framework to readers, especially those for whom empowerment remains a puzzling development concern, conceptually and in application. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 explains how the empowerment framework can be used for understanding, measuring, monitoring, and operationalizing empowerment policy and practice. Part 2 presents summaries of each of the five country studies, using them to discuss how the empowerment framework can be applied in very different country and sector contexts and what lessons can be learned from these test cases. While this book can offer only a limited empirical basis for the positive association between empowerment and development outcomes, it does add to the body of work supporting the existence of such a relationship. Perhaps more importantly, it also provides a framework for future research to test the association and to prioritize practical interventions seeking to empower individuals and groups.Publication Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-03-01)This primer responds to central banks’ growing demand for knowledge on social, governance, and environmental considerations (ESG) in the investment process. This area has gained traction in the last two decades. More recently, central banks’ interest in ESG has increased, but much of the information available is aimed at investors with different investment objectives and broadly diversified portfolios. The authors fill that information gap by reviewing the definitions of ESG and the main ESG investment approaches, including their applicability to asset classes. The authors then examine how foreign reserve managers can apply ESG investing in their reserve management operations. The authors find limited scope for implementing ESG strategies in reserve management, given that most central banks still invest primarily in sovereign bonds of major economies. Yet, the authors also identify opportunities and critical considerations for central banks interested in implementing ESG investing in their reserve management operations.Publication Economics of Climate-Smart Agriculture(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06-27)Climate change poses a major threat to food systems and livelihoods all over the world. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) addresses these challenges. CSA stands for including climate change into the planning and implementation of sustainable agricultural strategies. More specifically, CSA has three objectives to achieve these overarching goals: (1) sustainably increasing agricultural productivity to support equitable increases in incomes and food security; (2) adapting and building resilience to climate change from the farm to national levels; and (3) developing opportunities to reduce GHG emissions from agriculture (FAO 2013). The report is structured as follows: the report starts with a brief overview of the framework for economic and financial analyses in section two; section three, provides an overview of benefit and cost categories that are relevant for CSA; section four, provides descriptions of 10 salient features of CSA as may be relevant for EFAs; section five, presents findings of the review of 10 EFAs of agriculture lending projects; section six, provides a brief overview of techniques or tools that could support the presentation of CSA in EFAs; and section seven concludes.