Publication: Uganda - Fiscal Policy for Growth : Public Expenditure Review 2007, Volume 1. Executive Summary
Loading...
Published
2007-06-24
ISSN
Date
2012-06-11
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
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).
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2007. Uganda - Fiscal Policy for Growth : Public Expenditure Review 2007, Volume 1. Executive Summary. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7726 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 Lao PDR : Public Expenditure Review Integrated Fiduciary Assessment(Washington, DC, 2007-05-15)The key challenge of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is to make full use of both physical and human assets to accelerate growth and improve the living standards of the population. To achieve the country's development goals, laid out in the sixth National Socioeconomic Development Plan (NSEDP) and the National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy (NGPES), improvements in public financial management and public expenditure policy aimed at increased efficiency, equity, and accountability - will be critical. This report assesses the current situation and provides a way forward. The report looks at public expenditure in the agriculture, roads, education, health, and environment sectors.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 Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe : Country Integrated Fiduciary Assessment, Volume 2. Public Expenditure Review(Washington, DC, 2007-06)This Integrated Fiduciary Assessment is the first of its kind for Sao Tome and Principe. It combines the analysis and policy recommendations from a public expenditure review (PER), a country financial accountability assessment (CFAA), and a country procurement assessment review (CPAR). The goal of the report is to identify the major challenges facing the country in the prepetroleum era (the next three to five years) in public finance management (including public enterprises) as it attempts to implement its National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) with a tight resource envelope. This executive summary presents recent economic developments and fiscal sustainability analysis that takes into account petroleum and no-petroleum scenarios, with corresponding analysis on which of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are reachable. The summary reports on revenue and expenditure performance since 2000-01, issues related to the implementation of the public investment program (PIP) and its coordination with the NPRS, and the budget process, including findings from the Health PER, which highlights a lack of allocative efficiency. The summary reports on the financial fragility of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the possible fiscal consequences for the central budget, especially regarding the implicit subsidies and tax breaks to (and the hypothetical tariff increases of) the electricity and water company. The summary of reports on the status of the public finance management system (budget preparation, execution, control, governance, and human resources) and the reform process that may address many of the concerns it rises. Finally, the summary presents the findings related to the procurement process, including the legislative and regulatory framework, institutional framework and management capacity, procurement operations and market practices, and integrity and transparency of the system.Publication Afghanistan : Building an Effective State, Priorities for Public Administration Reform(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-01-23)This report looks at the implications for public administration reform over the next 5-10 years, and proposes a priority agenda for action by the Government of Afghanistan (GOA) and the donor community. The report reviews the prospects and priorities for public administration reform in three key areas: building an effective civil service, improving local governance and service delivery, and making government accountable to the people. This report has made the case that public administration reform in Afghanistan is both very important and very difficult: very important because it will provide the Government o f Afghanistan with the capacity to respond to popular demands for good governance and improved service delivery; very difficult, because of the inherent challenges o f institutional change, especially in the current political and security situation in Afghanistan. Public Administration Reform (PAR) is a long-term task -This will require persistent effort over time, as well as innovative approaches to improve service delivery in the short and medium terms. Afghanistan's experience over the past five years, as well as lessons from other fragile states, provide some clues about how to go about public administration reform.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
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 Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Fall 2024: Better Education for Stronger Growth(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-17)Economic growth in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is likely to moderate from 3.5 percent in 2023 to 3.3 percent this year. This is significantly weaker than the 4.1 percent average growth in 2000-19. Growth this year is driven by expansionary fiscal policies and strong private consumption. External demand is less favorable because of weak economic expansion in major trading partners, like the European Union. Growth is likely to slow further in 2025, mostly because of the easing of expansion in the Russian Federation and Turkiye. This Europe and Central Asia Economic Update calls for a major overhaul of education systems across the region, particularly higher education, to unleash the talent needed to reinvigorate growth and boost convergence with high-income countries. Universities in the region suffer from poor management, outdated curricula, and inadequate funding and infrastructure. A mismatch between graduates' skills and the skills employers are seeking leads to wasted potential and contributes to the region's brain drain. Reversing the decline in the quality of education will require prioritizing improvements in teacher training, updated curricula, and investment in educational infrastructure. In higher education, reforms are needed to consolidate university systems, integrate them with research centers, and provide reskilling opportunities for adult workers.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 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.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.