Publication: The World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment — An Evaluation
Loading...
Published
2009-06
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) assess the conduciveness of a country's policy and institutional framework to poverty reduction, sustainable growth, and the effective use of development assistance. It plays an important role in the country performance ratings that have been used for allocating resources from the International Development Association (IDA) to eligible countries since 1980. This evaluation takes the premise that beyond informing IDA allocation, the CPIA is useful as a broad indicator of development effectiveness. It assesses the relevance of the content of the CPIA through a review of the economics literature. It also assesses the reliability of CPIA ratings in two ways-through comparing CPIA ratings with similar indicators, and through reviewing the CPIA ratings generation process. Based on these assessments, the evaluation derives recommendations for enhancing the CPIA.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2009. The World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment — An Evaluation. IEG Fast Track Brief. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10537 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment : An IEG Evaluation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010-09)The World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) assess the conduciveness of a country's policy and institutional framework to poverty reduction, sustainable growth, and the effective use of development assistance. The CPIA enters the calculation of country performance ratings that, since 1980, have been used to allocate International Development Association (IDA) resources to eligible client countries. This evaluation was undertaken at the request of Board members to assess the appropriateness of the CPIA as a broad indicator of development effectiveness and as a determinant of the allocation of IDA funds. As indicated in the approach paper, this evaluation reviews the effects of the CPIA ratings on IDA allocations but does not review the IDA allocation formula itself. The evaluation finds that the CPIA content broadly reflects the determinants of economic growth and poverty reduction identified in the economics literature, but some criteria need to be revised (such as the trade criterion that places much greater emphasis on imports than exports) and streamlined, and one criterion (assessment of disadvantaged socioeconomic categories other than gender) added. The CPIA ratings also correlate well with ratings of similar indicators, and more so for International Bank for Reconstruction and Development than for IDA countries. In part, this could be caused by the CPIA exercise's practice over the past several years of taking into account a country's stage of development, which also means that the CPIA is no longer an index in the true sense of the word. It is difficult to establish an empirical link between the CPIA and economic growth outcomes, although CPIA ratings are found to be positively associated with aid effectiveness in the narrower sense-specifically, the performance of Bank loans. The report lays out four recommendations: disclose International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ratings; discontinue the "stage of development" adjustment to the ratings; review and revise the content and clustering of the criteria; and discontinue the current aggregation of the criteria into an overall index.Publication Doing Business, An Independent Evaluation : Taking the Measure of the World Bank-IFC Doing Business Indicators(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)Doing Business (DB), the annual World Bank- International Finance Corporation (IFC) benchmarking exercise launched in 2004, is one of the Bank Group's flagship knowledge products. It aims to measure the costs to firms of business regulations in 178 countries and ranks the countries along 10 dimensions. It also aims to advance the World Bank Group's private sector development agenda by motivating and informing the design of regulatory reforms, enriching international initiatives on development effectiveness, and informing theory. By ranking countries and spotlighting both leaders and laggards, DB has attracted the interest of senior policy makers and is claimed to have inspired reforms on business climate issues. DB's lively communications style has helped give the DB indicators an international profile. The report has five sections: the first chapter reviews the intellectual underpinnings of the DB indicators. The second chapter reports on how DB collects and assembles data. The chapters third and fourth discuss the relevance of the dimensions measured by the exercise and their use inside and outside the Bank. And finally, chapter fifth presents findings and recommendations.Publication Growth Diagnostics for a Resource-Rich Transition Economy : The Case of Mongolia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-11)This paper uses a growth diagnostics approach à la Hausmann, Rodrik, and Velasco (HRV) to identify the most 'binding' constraints to private sector growth in Mongolia - a small, low-income, mineral-rich, transition economy. The approach of applying the HRV methodology is useful in those cases where a lack of data prevents us from estimating shadow prices to identify the most 'binding' constraint to growth. We find that although Mongolia is not liquidity constrained and has grown rapidly in recent years, economic growth has been narrowly based. Investment has flowed mainly into a small number of firms operating in mining and construction. The low level of private investment in sectors outside mining and construction has been due to low returns - a result of costly and unreliable transportation services; lengthy and complex transit procedures, including customs and trade rules; distortionary taxes; coordination failures, at both domestic and international levels; and growing corruption. Poor financial intermediation is also a problem that has kept the cost of finance high, although lower than in previous years. Alleviating these binding constraints will ensure that Mongolia maintains the path towards sustained, broad-based growth.Publication Constraints on Productivity and Investment in Indonesia's Manufacturing Sector(World Bank, Jakarta, 2012-09)Well-functioning markets, adequate infrastructure and simple and clearly defined regulations are some of the characteristics of a growth-enhancing business climate. In Indonesia, some of these elements are missing, which challenges firms' operations. This note discusses the main constraints that Indonesia's manufacturing firms face, shows that these differ depending on the nature of the firm and examines the effect of these constraints on firms' productivity and decisions to invest. It concludes that the poor business climate has substantial costs in terms of firms' productivity and growth. Some broad policy recommendations emerge, and are related to improving credit information, providing microfinance for productive start-ups, improving infrastructure particularly electricity and logistics, incentivizing training, increasing collective action on sharing knowledge, improving tax administration including shortening the time for Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds and duty drawbacks, as well as strengthening law enforcement on business contracts. Addressing these constraints is not merely a task for the Government of Indonesia, but also one for the private sector. It is the Government's responsibility to set clear business regulations, as well as improve the business environment, but it is the private sector's responsibility to take action on sharing knowledge and developing its clusters.Publication Republic of Tajikistan - Country Economic Memorandum : Tajikistan’s Quest for Growth: Stimulating Private Investment(World Bank, 2011-01-01)The Tajik government in its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for 2010-12 set an ambitious target of doubling Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in a decade. Tajikistan clearly has the potential to grow at more than seven percent a year as it has done in the recent past, but it is not going to be easy. The potential for 'catch-up' growth from the depths of the recession of the 1990s is largely exhausted, the external environment is now less favorable than it was in the 2000s, and some drivers of past growth are unlikely to be sustained. Nevertheless, efforts by the government to create better conditions for higher private investment, exports, and employment, as well as strong support from the Tajik business community and development partners, could make this target a reality. In the 2000s, the Tajik economy recovered from the severe transition-related recession and civil conflict of the 1990s. Macroeconomic performance improved: inflation fell from 30-40 percent in the late 1990s to six-seven percent in the mid-2000s, fiscal deficits were lower, and the current account deficit and external debt moved to more manageable levels. Real GDP growth averaged nearly eight percent a year in 2000-08. The poverty headcount fell sharply, from 72 percent in 2003 to 54 percent in 2007, with more than a million people moving out of poverty; during the same period, the share of the extremely poor population fell from 42 percent to 17 percent. Key social indicators (for example, primary and secondary school enrollment rates, infant mortality, maternal mortality, and child malnutrition) also improved.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
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 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 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 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 The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.