Publication: Strengthening Public Finances for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development
Loading...
Published
2023-04-20
ISSN
Date
2023-04-20
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Republic of Congo is the third–largest crude oil producer in Sub–Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Angola and is heavily dependent on oil production and oil exports. With a population of 5.5 million, Congo is a lower middle-income economy, endowed with abundant natural resources. The economy is heavily dependent on oil production, which accounted for 45 percent of GDP, 75 percent of government revenue, and 95 percent of exports of goods during the height of oil prices (2010-14). Besides crude oil, Congo is endowed with a wealth of mineral resources, including reserves of potash, phosphate, iron, and copper, which remain largely untapped. Much of the country is covered with tropical forests of softwoods and hardwoods (over 65 percent of the country’s total surface area), a fragile ecosystem that removes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it, thus helping to slow global warming. This Public Finance Review (PFR) aims to support the implementation of the National Development Plan. This PFR provides analysis and advice to the government on two objectives: (i) to increase expenditure efficiency to support inclusive growth in a sustainable manner, and (ii) to boost mobilization of broad-based revenue to finance the development objectives envisaged in the new National Development Plan. This PFR is performed as part of the World Bank Group’s broader efforts to support the enhancement of fiscal management in Congo. A public finance review rather than a public expenditure review was undertaken because revenue mobilization is critical for Congo to restore fiscal sustainability. The PFR complements recently completed and ongoing analytical pieces on Congo’s fiscal management, including the Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool analysis (2019); Debt Management Performance Assessment (2021); the Republic of Congo Economic Updates (2019 and 2020); the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment (2023, and the Public Expenditure Review on Human Development (2022). This PFR, therefore, focuses on areas that are not addressed by these analytic reports.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2023. Strengthening Public Finances for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/39721 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 Croatia - Restructuring Public Finance to Sustain Growth and Improve Public Services : A Public Finance Review(Washington, DC, 2008-02)The year 2000 was a turning point in Croatian history, marked by closing the chapter of the war and the first phase of transition. With that, the country turned its attention to the "second transition,"the principle goal of which is to place Croatia on a path to the European Union (EU). While opening the economy to global markets through World Trade Organization (WTO) and CEFTA memberships and reestablishing cooperation with its Southeast European neighbors, the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) marked the first firm milestone on Croatia's path to EU. In October 2005, Croatia opened EU accession negotiations, with the screening phase concluded a year after. Benefiting from successful economic transformation and the EU accession negotiations, growth has remained solid, and is roughly on par with the average for the European transition countries. Inflation has been modest despite higher prices for imported oil, and has been kept in check partly due to exchange rate appreciation. In fact, the central bank has intervened to prevent stronger appreciation in the face of robust capital inflows. However, the oil and commodity price increases and the aggregate demand pressures have contributed to a widening of the current account deficit in 2005-2007, despite somewhat tighter fiscal policy. Building on this foundation, the Government has an unparalleled opportunity to place Croatia on a sustainable growth path to achieve better living standards for all and to integrate into EU. To seize this opportunity, Croatia needs to sustain macroeconomic stability and continue creating a better climate for investment. In this context, key priorities for the public sector will include: reducing the size of the state and the fiscal deficit, and thereby helping to increase private sector productivity and competitiveness; and improving public sector efficiency and effectiveness. This report will suggest ways in which these twin priorities may best be addressed.Publication Croatia - Restructuring Public Finance to Sustain Growth and Improve Public Services : A Public Finance Review(2008-02)The year 2000 was a turning point in Croatian history, marked by closing the chapter of the war and the first phase of transition. With that, the country turned its attention to the "second transition,"the principle goal of which is to place Croatia on a path to the European Union (EU). While opening the economy to global markets through World Trade Organization (WTO) and CEFTA memberships and reestablishing cooperation with its Southeast European neighbors, the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) marked the first firm milestone on Croatia's path to EU. In October 2005, Croatia opened EU accession negotiations, with the screening phase concluded a year after. Benefiting from successful economic transformation and the EU accession negotiations, growth has remained solid, and is roughly on par with the average for the European transition countries. Inflation has been modest despite higher prices for imported oil, and has been kept in check partly due to exchange rate appreciation. In fact, the central bank has intervened to prevent stronger appreciation in the face of robust capital inflows. However, the oil and commodity price increases and the aggregate demand pressures have contributed to a widening of the current account deficit in 2005-2007, despite somewhat tighter fiscal policy. Building on this foundation, the Government has an unparalleled opportunity to place Croatia on a sustainable growth path to achieve better living standards for all and to integrate into EU. To seize this opportunity, Croatia needs to sustain macroeconomic stability and continue creating a better climate for investment. In this context, key priorities for the public sector will include: reducing the size of the state and the fiscal deficit, and thereby helping to increase private sector productivity and competitiveness; and improving public sector efficiency and effectiveness. This report will suggest ways in which these twin priorities may best be addressed.Publication Guinea : Strengthening Public Expenditure Management for Poverty Reduction and Growth(2004-06-10)Public expenditure management is at the heart of Guinea's strategy for poverty reduction and growth. The impact of public expenditures on the economy and the poor hinges on the government's ability to improve its performance in the three major areas: (1) the restoration of macroeconomic stability through prudent policies and improved revenue mobilization (the stabilization issue); (2) the strategic allocation of resources reflecting priority sectors (the allocation issue); and (3) the efficient execution of expenditures, notably with regard to externally financed expenditures, to enhance delivery of basic public services through the decentralization and the accountability in the management of expenditures, and the implementation of civil service reforms (the execution issue). The Public Expenditure Review addresses these three key issues--stabilization, allocation, and execution - as well as the effectiveness of expenditures in the three priority sectors of education, health and rural development in terms of outputs and outcomes.Publication Moldova Public Expenditure Review : Capital Expenditures - Making Public Investment Work for Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth in Moldova(Washington, DC, 2013-06)This public expenditure review (PER) for Moldova is the result of a body of programmatic fiscal work. This PER focuses on capital expenditure. It supports the first pillar of the country partnership strategy (improving economic competitiveness) and complements the 2012 development policy operation. In the context of economic recovery and stabilization, government requested World Bank assistance in improving its capital allocation mechanism, as its fiscal consolidation program attempted to create space for critical infrastructure whilst gradually reducing the state's footprint in the economy. This report recommends ways to strengthen public investment processes, institutions, and sector policies to achieve better outcomes for public capital expenditures in Moldova. This report suggests reforms in public investment management and sector policies to raise cost-effectiveness and allocative efficiency of capital expenditures. Three key areas of reform are: (i) raise the quality of new projects by improving preliminary screening and project appraisal mechanisms; (ii) improve selection of new projects and ensure continuity of funding for ongoing projects through better prioritization and budgeting processes; and (iii) strengthen monitoring of project implementation for cost efficiency and timely delivery of public services. The report has four chapters. The first chapter presents the macroeconomic outlook and its implications for fiscal policy, particularly with respect to the capital budget. The second chapter presents the structure and classification of the capital budget as well as recent trends in capital expenditure levels and execution, and reviews the adequacy of resource allocations and utilization across sectors, given investment needs, national priorities and implementation capacity. The third chapter reviews public investment management processes and presents recommendations to improve the efficiency of public capital expenditure in Moldova. The fourth chapter discusses specific sector challenges and offers recommendations for improving capital expenditure outcomes.Publication Albania Public Finance Review : Part 1. Toward a Sustainable Fiscal Policy for Growth(Washington, DC, 2014-01)Albania's rapid growth in the decade up to the 2008 global financial crisis propelled it to middle-income status and helped to reduce poverty. The global financial crisis in 2008 slammed the brakes on Albania's largely domestic-demand-driven growth. The government has accumulated sizable arrears in payments for public works and value-added tax (VAT) refunds. In a baseline scenario of no policy reforms, Albania's public debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is projected to reach 73.5 percent in 2015 and stay above 72 percent over the medium term. Empirical evidence confirms that high public debt depresses economic activity and significantly increases the probability of default. This report examines closely the opportunities for fiscal consolidation on both the revenue and expenditure sides. Combined effect of structural reforms will reduce Albania's public debt to GDP ratio significantly over the medium term. It can in parallel rebalance its capital spending, particularly in transport, toward maintenance to support growth. Albania needs to strengthen its institutions to reinforce financial discipline and strengthen fiscal policy. Institutional reforms are particularly needed with regard to public financial management (PFM) and introducing a fiscal rule to anchor policy over the medium term.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
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 World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.Publication Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28)Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.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.