Publication: Bangladesh - Public Expenditure and Institutional Review : Towards a Better Quality of Public Expenditure - Main Report
Loading...
Published
2010-06-01
ISSN
Date
2012-03-19
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Bangladesh has recorded many impressive achievements in economic and social development in the last decade and a half. It has achieved steady economic growth of over 5.5 percent annually (over 6 percent on average since 2004), maintained relatively low inflation and stable levels of domestic debt. More remarkable have been its achievements in reducing income poverty and improving social indicators, such as life expectancy, fertility control, child mortality, literacy and enrollment rates, which, in many cases, exceed other countries in the region and outside. In addition to standard expenditure policy analysis typically associated with Public Expenditure Reviews (PERs), this study combines an assessment of key institutional elements that are likely to affect budget outcomes with political economy analysis of the budget institutions, in order to discover the underlying reasons behind the existing equilibrium. While the Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (PEIR) does not include a description of the technical aspects of Public Financial Management (PFM) institutions, it makes use of the numerous studies that exist in this area to illustrate their effect on incentives. This approach is motivated by Bangladesh's long journey of 14 years towards reforming PFM systems, which is yet to result in a fundamental break with past practices of input-oriented incremental budgeting and relatively weak expenditure controls, especially at the sector-specific level. This requires different thinking and an approach aimed at addressing the incentive structure of those who can influence more fundamental reforms in PFM.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2010. Bangladesh - Public Expenditure and Institutional Review : Towards a Better Quality of Public Expenditure - Main Report. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2875 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 Bangladesh - Public Expenditure and Institutional Review : Towards a Better Quality of Public Expenditure - Sectoral Analysis(World Bank, 2010-06-01)Bangladesh has recorded many impressive achievements in economic and social development in the last decade and a half. It has achieved steady economic growth of over 5.5 percent annually (over 6 percent on average since 2004), maintained relatively low inflation and stable levels of domestic debt. More remarkable have been its achievements in reducing income poverty and improving social indicators, such as life expectancy, fertility control, child mortality, literacy and enrollment rates, which, in many cases, exceed other countries in the region and outside. In addition to standard expenditure policy analysis typically associated with Public Expenditure Reviews (PERs), this study combines an assessment of key institutional elements that are likely to affect budget outcomes with political economy analysis of the budget institutions, in order to discover the underlying reasons behind the existing equilibrium. While the Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (PEIR) does not include a description of the technical aspects of Public Financial Management (PFM) institutions, it makes use of the numerous studies that exist in this area to illustrate their effect on incentives. This approach is motivated by Bangladesh's long journey of 14 years towards reforming PFM systems, which is yet to result in a fundamental break with past practices of input-oriented incremental budgeting and relatively weak expenditure controls, especially at the sector-specific level. This requires different thinking and an approach aimed at addressing the incentive structure of those who can influence more fundamental reforms in PFM.Publication Honduras : Public Expenditure Review, Volume 1. Executive Summary and Main Report(Washington, DC, 2007-11-19)Macroeconomic developments in Honduras over the last four years have been generally favorable, largely reflecting a benign external environment. Honduras' medium-term macroeconomic outlook, however, is clouded by several significant fiscal challenges. These challenges include: (a) rising operating losses of the public enterprises; (b) rising public wages; and (c) popular pressures to increase subsidies in transport, fuel, and electricity, as well as to freeze gasoline and energy prices, in the wake of international oil price hikes. To satisfy the rapidly rising demand for education in Honduras, the educational wage bill will have to rise by approximately 41 percent in real terms over the next 10 years. Even without any further adjustments in 2010, due to the agreement reached with the teachers union in August 2006 (PASCE) salary increases are coupled with projected enrollment demand the educational wage bill stands to increase by 141 percent over the next 10 years.Publication Romania : Public Expenditure and Institutional Review : Main Report(World Bank, 2010-02-17)The government has embarked upon a comprehensive and difficult medium term program for reforming the public sector aimed at rebalancing the relation between revenue and spending and enhancing the efficiency and efficacy of service delivery. The Romanian economy has been hit hard by the global economic downturn. Latest estimates suggest that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) may have contracted by around 7 percent in 2009, before modestly recovering in 2010. The severe decline in output has had a significant adverse effect on consolidated budget revenues, which fell substantially below the initial target in 2009. To prevent a further deterioration of the already large fiscal deficit, the shortfall in revenue has led to adjustments in spending. Consolidation of expenditure needs however continue in order to put public finances on a sustainable trajectory over the medium term. The report is structured in two volumes. The first volume synthesizes the menu of options suggested to reduce the short term gap between budget expenditure and revenues. It also highlights the key challenges and recommendations for improving efficiency and efficacy of spending in the sectors investigated. Volume two consists of the background analyses, with individual chapters dedicated to the fiscal framework; public pay; pensions; education; health; and agriculture. The report makes the case that, in the current crisis environment and consistent with experience worldwide, the gap between expenditure and revenue should be done primarily by reducing the level of current spending.Publication Gabon Public Expenditure Review : Better Management of Public Finance to Achieve Millennium Development Goals(Washington, DC, 2012-03)Although Gabon has witnessed a significant decline in oil production over the last fifteen years, it still generates significant oil revenue which, due to its small population enables the country to have a per capita gross national income that is among the highest in Africa (8643 USD in 2010) and to be classified as an upper-middle income country. Despite this high level of wealth, the country is ranked 106th out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index of the United Nations (0.674 in 2011). Consequently, the major challenge for Gabon remains the effective use of its oil resources to diversify its economy, improve its basic social services and infrastructure, while accumulating financial savings that will enable the country to avoid sudden and sharp cuts in public spending once the oil resources have been used up. The Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (GPRSP) that covered the period from 2006 to 2008 targeted the reversal of the downward trend of the main development indicators and a significant improvement in the living conditions of the population. It was prepared using a consultative approach, based on the broad participation of civil society, and results-oriented, with the ultimate goal of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It was structured around four strategy areas: (i) promoting strong, sustainable, high quality and pro-poor economic growth, (ii) significantly improving access of the entire population to basic social services, (iii) improving infrastructure, and (iv) promoting good governance. The analysis of budgetary expenditure in the priority sectors during the period 2006-08, shows that this expenditure was far below the envisaged envelopes. The achievement rates for road programs fluctuate between 0 percent and 55 percent. This may partly explain the slow progress towards achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs).Publication Niger : Second Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accountability Review, Volume 1. Main Report(Washington, DC, 2011-01)The second public expenditure management and financial accountability review (PEMFAR II) report provides analysis of the fiscal space outlook, a review of public expenditure management, including of the public investment management system, and assessments of the public financial management and public procurement systems. The review covers the period since the 2004 PEMFAR until 2009 and the detailed analysis of public expenditures focuses on three key sectors (education, health and rural development) which represented about 52 percent of the voted budget in 2007 and 2008 and are the pillars of Niger's second poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP II). The PEMFAR II a comprehensive short and medium term (2010-2012) reform agenda which will assist the Government to prepare and adopt an action plan to improve the effectiveness of public resources management in Niger. This report constitutes the main report (volume one) of the PEMFAR II. Volume two of the PEMFAR II provides the detailed report of the evaluation of the public procurement system. The summary, after the above overview, reflects the underlying themes that emerge from the assessments of fiscal space outlook, public expenditures including public investment management, the public financial system, and the public procurement system. At the end, the summary a set of targeted priority actions aimed at improving the developmental impact of public expenditures.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-01)Evidence of public expenditure on infrastructure is extremely sparse. Little is known about the trends and patterns of infrastructure expenditure, and there is no real basis for assessing the adequacy and efficiency of infrastructure spending. Drawing on the World Bank’s novel BOOST database, this paper provides a first relatively disaggregated picture of infrastructure spending trends and patterns for a large sample of more than 70 developing countries covering 2010–18, drilling down into expenditure by sector for roads as well as electricity, and distinguishing operating from capital expenditure. Complementary sources of data are tapped to allow comparison between expenditure patterns on and off budget. The study finds that on-budget expenditure on infrastructure has been low both in absolute terms (1 percent of gross domestic product) and relative terms (5 percent of total public spending), as well as declining over time. Overall, infrastructure spending declined by about one-third over 2010–18 (with the road sector bearing the brunt of the decrease), and now lies well below estimates of the required levels, except in a handful of cases. There is evidence that low-income countries, despite lower spending envelopes, attach greater priority to public investment and infrastructure spending than their middle-income counterparts. Econometric analysis suggests that infrastructure spending in low- and middle-income countries has been historically procyclical, although to a lesser degree than total expenditure. In the transport sector, road funds are shown to play a substantial role in funding road maintenance, appearing to improve the adequacy of funding, while attenuating pronounced capital biases in road sector spending, but there is little evidence of efficiency improvements over time.Publication Taxes, Spending, and Equity: International Patterns and Lessons for Developing Countries(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-17)Taxes and public spending underpin the basic administration of government and finance the human capital and infrastructure investments needed for economic growth. They can also have a significant and immediate impact on poverty and inequality. The question of how public finance can support longer-term growth objectives while promoting equity has become even more important in recent years, given the high fiscal deficits and debt levels most countries emerged with in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included the increasing cost of debt and the need to restart environmentally sustainable growth while helping households address the learning losses and other social scars caused by the pandemic. This paper examines the global evidence on which households pay which taxes and who benefits from what spending, and critically, the net effect on different households across the income distribution. The aim is to identify the patterns and lessons that emerge for designing progressive fiscal policies. A global dataset of 96 countries is assembled, spanning all regions of the world and all national income levels, grounded in the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) approach to fiscal incidence.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 Kyrgyz Republic Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-03)This Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) on the Kyrgyz Republic aims to support the country’s development goals amid a changing climate. The CCDR considers two policy scenarios up to 2050: the business-as-usual (BAU) and high-growth scenarios. As it quantifies the likely impacts of climate change on the Kyrgyz economy between now and 2050, the report highlights key government actions to best prepare for and adapt to climate impacts (referred to as “with adaptation” measures), with a particular focus on the time horizon up to 2030. The CCDR also outlines a path to net zero emissions by 2050 (referred to as “with mitigation” measures, “decarbonization,” or, simply, “net zero 2050”), highlighting associated development co-benefits.Publication Direct and Indirect Impacts of Transport Mobility on Access to Jobs: Evidence from South Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-12)Access to jobs is essential for economic growth. In Africa, unemployment rates are notably high. This paper reexamines the relationship between transport mobility and labor market outcomes, with a particular focus on the direct and indirect effects of transport connectivity. As predicted by theory, wages are influenced by the level of commuting deterrence. Generally, higher earnings are associated with longer commute times and/or higher commuting costs. Local accessibility is also important, especially for individuals with time constraints. Both direct and indirect impacts are found to be significant in South Africa, where job accessibility has been challenging since the end of apartheid. For the direct impact, the wage elasticity associated with commuting costs is significant. Returns on commute are particularly high for women. Local accessibility to socioeconomic facilities, such as shops and health services, is also found to have a significant impact, consistent with the concept of mobility of care. To enhance employment, therefore, it is crucial to connect people not only to job locations but also to various socioeconomic points of interest, such as markets and hospitals, in an integrated manner. This integration will enable individuals to spend more time working and commuting longer distances.