Publication: Service Delivery with More Districts in Uganda : Fiscal Challenges and Opportunities for Reforms
Loading...
Published
2013-06
ISSN
Date
2013-10-02
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Ugandan decentralization efforts of the 1990s represented an unusually authentic and powerful local government reform, compared to similar efforts pursued in many other low-income countries. However, over time the changing interests of the central agencies, dissatisfaction with service outcomes, and the overall dynamics of the country's governance resulted in the adoption of a number of re-centralizing policies. The objective of this report is to take stock of the fiscal and institutional arrangements for service delivery by local governments in the context of district proliferation and in view of recent trends in national public finance, as well as to identify policy options that could facilitate improved service delivery. The report finds that, while district proliferation has not had any major effect on public finances so far, it may have serious adverse effects in the future if the institutional structures and funding mechanisms of district governments are not adjusted to the new realities. Its effect on public expenditure has been rather small since an increasing number of positions in district governments remain vacant, and because a recent bout of inflation has eroded their wage bills. Furthermore, at present the average population of a district is roughly equivalent to that of similar jurisdictions in other countries. The report concludes with a number of institutional and fiscal proposals designed to reduce this risk and to improve value-for-money in service delivery more generally. If Uganda manages to use district proliferation as an opportunity to implement these changes, the resulting fiscal savings and improvements in value-for-money would make it much easier to cover the costs of that process.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2013. Service Delivery with More Districts in Uganda : Fiscal Challenges and Opportunities for Reforms. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16012 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 - Fiscal Policy for Growth : Public Expenditure Review 2007, Volume 2. Main Report(Washington, DC, 2007-06-24)Uganda needs to increase infrastructure investments if impressive growth is to continue. But the Budget is showing increasing signs of stress from expenditure pressures and fiscal tightening. Recent increases in employee costs in central Government functions of public administration, justice law and order, defense, prisons and police have deteriorated the composition of the Budget from the perspective of growth. In common with global experience in tight fiscal circumstances, public infrastructure spending is getting squeezed. These expenditure trends suggest a further squeeze on infrastructure and maintenance is inevitable, in which case growth could slow down. This report concerns how should Uganda respond to these fiscal challenges? Whereas there is scope for prudent new concessional borrowing for infrastructure, disbursement rates in infrastructure projects are too low, making it a priority to address constraints to effective spending. As part of a fiscal strategy for growth, Uganda needs in the short to medium-term to rapidly improve revenue performance without taxing key growth sectors, and to shift the composition of spending towards infrastructure. A compositional shift will require deep public sector reforms, early action on postponed reforms to public administration, and a working program to reduce waste and increase the efficiency of public expenditures, including in Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) priority sectors and agencies. A reduction in waste and an increase in public sector efficiency will ultimately require more accountability for the delivery of quality public services than is evident in Uganda today. It will also require a much more systematic effort by spending ministries and agencies: a more structured and a much more strategic approach to public service efficiency from the ministry of finance could be built into budget framework papers as well as preparation of the next Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).Publication Uganda - Fiscal Policy for Growth : Public Expenditure Review 2007, Volume 1. Executive Summary(Washington, DC, 2007-06-24)Uganda needs to increase infrastructure investments if impressive growth is to continue. But the Budget is showing increasing signs of stress from expenditure pressures and fiscal tightening. Recent increases in employee costs in central Government functions of public administration, justice law and order, defense, prisons and police have deteriorated the composition of the Budget from the perspective of growth. In common with global experience in tight fiscal circumstances, public infrastructure spending is getting squeezed. These expenditure trends suggest a further squeeze on infrastructure and maintenance is inevitable, in which case growth could slow down. This report concerns how should Uganda respond to these fiscal challenges? Whereas there is scope for prudent new concessional borrowing for infrastructure, disbursement rates in infrastructure projects are too low, making it a priority to address constraints to effective spending. As part of a fiscal strategy for growth, Uganda needs in the short to medium-term to rapidly improve revenue performance without taxing key growth sectors, and to shift the composition of spending towards infrastructure. A compositional shift will require deep public sector reforms, early action on postponed reforms to public administration, and a working program to reduce waste and increase the efficiency of public expenditures, including in Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) priority sectors and agencies. A reduction in waste and an increase in public sector efficiency will ultimately require more accountability for the delivery of quality public services than is evident in Uganda today. It will also require a much more systematic effort by spending ministries and agencies: a more structured and a much more strategic approach to public service efficiency from the ministry of finance could be built into budget framework papers as well as preparation of the next Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).Publication Guinea-Bissau - Public Expenditure Review Update : Enhancing Growth and Fiscal Adjustment Through Civil Service Reform(World Bank, 2007-05-23)Guinea-Bissau's large public sector wage bill poses a major threat to the country's macroeconomic stability: it hampers growth, limits the government's ability to service the domestic and external debt, and crowds out private investments. For this reason, the government decided in early 2006 to retrench more than 2,800 civil servants in a first phase, and about 1,600 military later. The objectives of this public expenditure review (PER) update are to: (i) review progress in macroeconomic and fiscal management since the previous PER; (ii) analyze the issue of compensation benefits in the context of the ongoing civil service reform; and (ii) update the debt sustainability analysis for Guinea-Bissau. Besides this introduction, the report includes three main chapters on macroeconomic management, improving the fiscal situation, and debt sustainability. The report also gives a final conclusion and discusses the way forward.Publication Policy Note on the Unfinished Fiscal Reform Agenda in Indian States(Washington, DC, 2008-06)Both central and state governments have carried out significant correction of financial imbalances since 2000, through the implementation of fiscal reforms including enactment of fiscal responsibility (FR) acts. However, the improvement in the finances of all states in aggregate hides wide disparities between them. Some state governments are already on a sustainable path while some others are far from it. Some have complied with their Fiscal Responsibility acts both in letter and spirit, while others have accumulated off-budget liabilities to unsustainable levels, circumventing the FR acts, which did not specify caps on such liabilities. Moreover, fiscal correction by an Indian state is only a means to an end. The end that is, achievement of development goals-depends on how fiscal space is used, or how efficiently the money is spent to produce outputs and the desired outcomes. A strong fiscal performance will lead both to an improvement in the overall balance via improved structure of revenue and expenditures, with incentives in place to ensure sustained fiscal improvement, and better outcomes associated with budget outlays. Note one examines progress with overall fiscal correction by Indian states during 2000-06. Note two presents case studies of fiscal adjustment experience in three selected states. Finally, note three illustrates how expenditure efficiency could be measured so as to address the challenge of translating outlays to outcomes.Publication Sustainability of Pension Systems in the New EU member States and Croatia : Coping with Aging Challenges and Fiscal Pressures(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)This report concerns recent pension reforms in Europe. Over the last decade, pension reform has been a major issue on the political agenda across Europe. All European countries are profoundly affected by aging populations resulting from lower fertility and increased life expectancy. In order to make pension systems more sustainable in light of prospective demographic developments, and in some cases to address current financing problems, EU10+1countries have been reforming their pension systems since the mid-1990s. The reforms have combined measures to delay retirement, link benefits more closely to contributions, and diversify risk. Three major forces drive the ageing process: increasing life expectancy, low fertility rates, and finally the baby-boom generation reaching retirement age. All these factors, even in countries where the system is currently fiscally balanced, will produce a major financial challenge for pension systems over the coming decades when the number of pensioners will rapidly increase and the size of the working-age population diminish. This report conclude that some countries (in particular, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Romania) will need to do more to safeguard the long-term viability of their pension systems, and others face ongoing and future challenges in ensuring equitable pension systems and adequate living standards for all elderly people.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.