Publication: Malawi - Public Expenditures : Issues and Options
Loading...
Date
2001-09
ISSN
Published
2001-09
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report argues that public expenditure outcomes in Malawi, can be improved in the next few years, provided 1) additional spending on priority items is balanced by expenditure cut-backs in low priority areas, so that public expenditures remain within fiscal parameters to restore macroeconomic stability; 2) incentives for improving the budget process are strengthened; 3) intra-sectoral allocations in key sectors, i.e., education, health, agriculture, and roads, focus on key public goods, and, measures to improve spending are enforced; and, 4) areas such as pensions, and parastatals are restructured, so as to reduce future fiscal burden. Balancing additional spending on priority areas within a macroeconomic framework, will require expenditure restructuring, by limiting non-essential spending, to reduce the country's overall deficit, achieve its macro targets, and attain the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief finance, which should allow additional spending on priority items. Recommendations suggest a shift in expenditures towards social sectors, HIV/AIDS control and prevention, roads management improvement, and, governance to strengthen the budgetary process. And, savings could be generated by reducing ad-hoc expenditures (e.g., maize price interventions), reducing State Officials allocations (e.g., residences, foreign travel, etc.), and, curbing fraud and corruption.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2001. Malawi - Public Expenditures : Issues and Options. Public expenditure review (PER);. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15480 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 Zambia - Public Expenditure Review : Public Expenditure, Growth and Poverty - A Synthesis(Washington, DC, 2001-12)At the heart of the growth problem, the persistence of poverty, and issues of policy reform in Zambia is the public sector reform program. The best practice in public sector reform identifies three areas in which governments can improve their performance and their impact on the economy and poor: 1) macroeconomic discipline (the satabilization problem); 2) strategic priority setting (the allocation problem); and 3) efficient public-service delivery (the execution problem). Zambia's problem appears to be in all three areas. In particular, the aggregate performance, allocation, and execution of the budget are vital to the success of Zambia's public sector reform program. All three areas, particularly the allocation and execution issues, as they apply to public expenditure are the subject matter of the present public expenditure review (PER).Publication Tanzania - Public Expenditure Review (Vol. 2 of 2) : Consolidating the Medium Term Expenditure Framework(Washington, DC, 2001-01)This Public Expenditure Review (PER) for FY00, provided support to the Government of Tanzania in the preparation of its budget, and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), and performed as well an external evaluation of the country's budget performance. The report contains two volumes, the Main Report (v. I) first describes the main features of the PER process, to then present the main findings emerging from a review of fiscal performance, and public expenditure management in Tanzania. A discussion of systemic fiscal issues, critical to enhancing the effectiveness of public expenditure follows, to reach a series of updated sectoral expenditure reviews, prioritizing on education, health, water, agriculture, works, land and justice. Volume II, presents the Government's MTEF for FY-01/03, in which the macroeconomic context is described, providing a cross sectoral MTEF within the priority sectors. In addition, a detailed discussion of the public sector reform program is presented, including discussions on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, identified as a key challenge to development efforts, requiring a multi-sectoral approach to contain its spread. Despite progress in consolidating the budget process, and macroeconomic policy, the transitional status of the country's economy, makes macroeconomic management particularly difficult. The report suggests rethinking the MTEF's contingency plans, within a flexible framework to further improve the linkages between prioritization, and the budgetary process.Publication Governance of State Owned Enterprises and Public Agencies in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania(Washington, DC, 2013-06)This study analyzes the governance framework of the business portfolio of Mauritanian institutions and government agencies and offers avenues for reform. The report begins with an overview of the scope of work and performance of the portfolio mentioned using the term Para-Statal sector and identifies the main challenges represented by this sector. It then analyzes the governance framework of Para-statal sector of Mauritania through comparative references from the guidelines of the OECD. The diagnosis includes an analysis of the legal framework, the supervisory function, risk monitoring budget and performance in terms of delivery of services, advice to administration, transparency and dissemination of information. The report closes with a detailed and sequenced action plan compiled from observations in the diagnosis and offers a series of suggestions for appropriate reforms to the institutional context of Mauritania. The action plan focuses primarily on strengthening the monitoring of risk of the budget and proposes ways of sequenced reforms taking into account both international examples and the Mauritanian context.Publication Tanzania - Public Expenditure Review (Vol. 1 of 2) : Main Report(Washington, DC, 2001-01)This Public Expenditure Review (PER) for FY00, provided support to the Government of Tanzania in the preparation of its budget, and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), and performed as well an external evaluation of the country's budget performance. The report contains two volumes, the Main Report (v. I) first describes the main features of the PER process, to then present the main findings emerging from a review of fiscal performance, and public expenditure management in Tanzania. A discussion of systemic fiscal issues, critical to enhancing the effectiveness of public expenditure follows, to reach a series of updated sectoral expenditure reviews, prioritizing on education, health, water, agriculture, works, land and justice. Volume II, presents the Government's MTEF for FY-01/03, in which the macroeconomic context is described, providing a cross sectoral MTEF within the priority sectors. In addition, a detailed discussion of the public sector reform program is presented, including discussions on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, identified as a key challenge to development efforts, requiring a multi-sectoral approach to contain its spread. Despite progress in consolidating the budget process, and macroeconomic policy, the transitional status of the country's economy, makes macroeconomic management particularly difficult. The report suggests rethinking the MTEF's contingency plans, within a flexible framework to further improve the linkages between prioritization, and the budgetary process.Publication United Republic of Tanzania - Public Expenditure Review FY02 : Report on Fiscal Developments and Public Expenditure Management Issues(Washington, DC, 2002-05)This Public Expenditure Review (PER) examines the overall fiscal discipline, which after targeting, and achieving recurrent surpluses by FY99, the targets for FY01 were set to provide scope for financing of priority sector activities under the Poverty Reduction Strategy, and accommodate increased foreign inflows in the form of program grants. However, recurrent deficits in FY01, and, the target for FY02, delivered a recurrent deficit of 2.5 percent of GDP. Nonetheless, these deficits are within the sustainability thresholds indicated by recent analyses of fiscal, and debt sustainability, and remain compatible with continued macroeconomic stability. The report also looks at the introduction of cash flow planning, and the innovation introduced with the public finance act, to then analyze the government resources, and expenditures, which overall, expenditures on the key priority areas increased, exceeding the additional debt relief available through the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The report subsequently focuses on two main sources of fiscal risks, namely, on public enterprise debts and retrenchment costs associated with privatization; and, on extra-budgetary commitments related to procurement. Containment of fiscal risks, and further work should be extended to quantify, and validate parastatal debts covering other resources of fiscal risks, including commitments to privatization. Recommendations include a review of the existing tracking systems to identify information gaps, and recommend how systems can be streamlined, how information flows can be improved, and to clarify roles, and responsibilities of key institutions in this process. Moreover, attention should be paid to both financial reporting, and service delivery, including ways of integrating the two, in addition to identifying links to the poverty monitoring process.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Media and Messages for Nutrition and Health(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06)The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has experienced rapid and significant economic growth over the past decade. However, poor nutritional outcomes remain a concern. Rates of childhood undernutrition are particularly high in remote, rural, and upland areas. Media have the potential to play an important role in shaping health and nutrition–related behaviors and practices as well as in promoting sociocultural and economic development that might contribute to improved nutritional outcomes. This report presents the results of a media audit (MA) that was conducted to inform the development and production of mass media advocacy and communication strategies and materials with a focus on maternal and child health and nutrition that would reach the most people from the poorest communities in northern Lao PDR. Making more people aware of useful information, essential services and products and influencing them to use these effectively is the ultimate goal of mass media campaigns, and the MA measures the potential effectiveness of media efforts to reach this goal. The effectiveness of communication channels to deliver health and nutrition messages to target beneficiaries to ensure maximum reach and uptake can be viewed in terms of preferences, satisfaction, and trust. Overall, the four most accessed media channels for receiving information among communities in the study areas were village announcements, mobile phones, television, and out-of-home (OOH) media. Of the accessed media channels, the top three most preferred channels were village announcements (40 percent), television (26 percent), and mobile phones (19 percent). In terms of trust, village announcements were the most trusted source of information (64 percent), followed by mobile phones (14 percent) and television (11 percent). Hence of all the media channels, village announcements are the most preferred, have the most satisfied users, and are the most trusted source of information in study communities from four provinces in Lao PDR with some of the highest burden of childhood undernutrition.Publication Remarks at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-12)World Bank Group President David Malpass discussed biodiversity and climate change being closely interlinked, with terrestrial and marine ecosystems serving as critically important carbon sinks. At the same time climate change acts as a direct driver of biodiversity and ecosystem services loss. The World Bank has financed biodiversity conservation around the world, including over 116 million hectares of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas, 10 million hectares of Terrestrial Protected Areas, and over 300 protected habitats, biological buffer zones and reserves. The COVID pandemic, biodiversity loss, climate change are all reminders of how connected we are. The recovery from this pandemic is an opportunity to put in place more effective policies, institutions, and resources to address biodiversity loss.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.Publication South Asia Development Update, April 2024: Jobs for Resilience(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-04-02)South Asia is expected to continue to be the fastest-growing emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) region over the next two years. This is largely thanks to robust growth in India, but growth is also expected to pick up in most other South Asian economies. However, growth in the near-term is more reliant on the public sector than elsewhere, whereas private investment, in particular, continues to be weak. Efforts to rein in elevated debt, borrowing costs, and fiscal deficits may eventually weigh on growth and limit governments' ability to respond to increasingly frequent climate shocks. Yet, the provision of public goods is among the most effective strategies for climate adaptation. This is especially the case for households and farms, which tend to rely on shifting their efforts to non-agricultural jobs. These strategies are less effective forms of climate adaptation, in part because opportunities to move out of agriculture are limited by the region’s below-average employment ratios in the non-agricultural sector and for women. Because employment growth is falling short of working-age population growth, the region fails to fully capitalize on its demographic dividend. Vibrant, competitive firms are key to unlocking the demographic dividend, robust private investment, and workers’ ability to move out of agriculture. A range of policies could spur firm growth, including improved business climates and institutions, the removal of financial sector restrictions, and greater openness to trade and capital flows.Publication Economic Recovery(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-06)World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke about the world facing major challenges, including COVID, climate change, rising poverty and inequality and growing fragility and violence in many countries. He highlighted vaccines, working closely with Gavi, WHO, and UNICEF, the World Bank has conducted over one hundred capacity assessments, many even more before vaccines were available. The World Bank Group worked to achieve a debt service suspension initiative and increased transparency in debt contracts at developing countries. The World Bank Group is finalizing a new climate change action plan, which includes a big step up in financing, building on their record climate financing over the past two years. He noted big challenges to bring all together to achieve GRID: green, resilient, and inclusive development. Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, mentioned focusing on vulnerable people during the pandemic. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, focused on giving everyone a fair shot during a sustainable recovery. All three commented on the importance of tackling climate change.