Publication: Asking the Right Questions : Johannesburg Completes a Groundbreaking Municipal Bond Issue
Loading...
Published
2008-05
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
In 2004 the city of Johannesburg sold two municipal bond issues, among the very few such issues in Africa. The bond issues marked the city's recovery from near bankruptcy in the mid-1990s. They have been followed by several more as well as an even more ambitious capital financing program. Preparing for a first-time bond issuance is complicated and time consuming. Johannesburg navigated its way with remarkable success by asking the right questions and insisting on credible answers. Its path offers guidance and insights to other local governments considering the use of municipal bonds to finance infrastructure.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Ngobeni, Jason. 2008. Asking the Right Questions : Johannesburg Completes a Groundbreaking Municipal Bond Issue. Gridlines; No. 33. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10609 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 Recent trends in Risk Mitigation Instruments for Infrastructure Finance : Innovations by Providers Opening New Possibilities(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-05)Using risk mitigation instruments to support infrastructure finance has attracted growing interest among developing country governments, the donor community and the private sector. Official development agencies and private insurers are exploring new applications, opening new possibilities in raising finance for infrastructure projects. The importance of infrastructure for economic growth and poverty reduction is well established. However, raising debt and equity capital for infrastructure development and service provision remains a challenge for developing countries.Publication Financing Mechanisms for Addressing Remediation of Site Contamination(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-10)Industrial and commercial facilities provide great economic benefit to communities throughout the world. Unfortunately, many industries use or have used practices and materials which have proven toxic to the environment and to those who live and work near contaminated sites. The definition and degree of contamination varies at national and regional levels of government, but leaders throughout the world now recognize the hazard that contaminated industrial and service sites present to the wellbeing of their communities and seek innovative ways to finance the remediation of these challenging sites. Industrial contamination can have a severe, direct impact on adjacent communities. The cleanup and redevelopment of a so-called brownfield can improve a community s economy, provide an opportunity for habitat restoration, and create public space. Cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields can be an effective economic development strategy, with benefits seen in two timeframes. First, there is an immediate and one-time capital expenditure for cleanup activities, infrastructure, and construction. The initial investment generates tax revenues, temporary family-wage jobs, and indirect economic benefits within the community. Secondly, there is a long-term economic impact from remediation projects in the form of higher property values, long-term tax revenues, and the attraction of external capital to the community by tenants of the revitalized property. The economic benefit of contaminated site redevelopment is perhaps most clearly illustrated by permanent job creation from the restored properties. The deleterious effects of industrial contamination across all facets of a community typically provide a strong incentive for leaders to seek financing mechanisms that make site remediation possible.Publication Review of Risk Mitigation Instruments for Infrastructure Financing and Recent Trends and Developments(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)The objective of the Review of Risk Mitigation Instruments for Infrastructure Financing and Recent Trends and Developments is to provide a concise yet comprehensive guide as well as reference information for practitioners of infrastructure financing, including private sector financiers and developing country officials. The work is also intended as a reference for institutions offering (or developing) risk mitigation instruments, allowing them to learn from each other's recent practices. The book is organized into five chapters with the following objectives: Chapter 1 Type of Risk Mitigation Instruments: increases awareness of the different types and nature of risk mitigation instruments currently available for private financiers. Chapter 2 Recent Trends in Risk Mitigation: highlights areas in risk mitigation for developing country infrastructure financing receiving recent attention. Chapter 3 Characteristics of Providers and Compatibility: summarizes the characteristics of multilateral, bilateral, and private providers of risk mitigation instruments and the compatibility of those instruments. Chapter 4 Innovative Application of Risk Mitigation Instruments: presents recent developments and innovative applications of risk mitigation instruments through case transactions. Chapter 5 Challenges Ahead: summarizes areas that pose challenges to the use of risk mitigation instruments as catalysts of infrastructure development. The focus of this book is on the multilateral development banks and agencies (that is, The World Bank Group and regional development banks and affiliates) and bilateral development agencies and export credit and investment agencies of major developed countries that have supported the compilation of this information.Publication IFC Annual Report 2006 : Increasing Impact, Volume 1(Washington, DC, 2006)The International Finance Corporation (IFC), in its 50th year, is the largest provider of multilateral financing for private sector projects in the developing world. In fiscal 2006, it committed $6.7 billion in funds from its own account and mobilized an additional $1.6 billion through syndications and $1.3 billion through structured finance. Based on the total costs of the private sector projects it helped finance this year, each $1 in IFC commitments for its own account resulted in an additional $2.88 in funding from other sources. Altogether, IFC supported 284 investment projects in 66 countries. This year nearly a quarter of IFC commitments were in low-income or high-risk countries, demonstrating the viability of private enterprise even in difficult environments. IFC's investment commitments to firms operating in the Middle East and North Africa more than doubled in fiscal 2006, and commitments for private sector projects in Sub-Saharan Africa increased nearly 60 percent. IFC introduced a new development outcome tracking system for investment operations to measure and track results throughout the life of a project; a similar system was implemented to monitor the development impact of all active technical assistance and advisory projects.Publication Assessment of the Viability of PPPs and Sub-national Lending in Ghana(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-03)In 2011 the Ghanaian government issued a policy establishing Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for the purpose of implementing infrastructure projects and improving the capacity of services provision. A World Bank Mission visited Ghana early in 2012 to assess the legal and practical feasibility of participation in PPPs at the sub-national level of the Government and the possibility that private commercial banks can provide non-sovereign financing to such PPPs. This report will present a summary of the available information on local governments and financial markets in Ghana, and identify potential infrastructure investments that could later be supported directly or indirectly by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) sub-national window, such as with bank guarantees, non sovereign loans, equity or other means. This report also discusses the legal framework for financial operations of SOEs.
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 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 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 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 Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03)Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.