Publication: Kosovo : Operational Financial Accountability Review
Loading...
Date
2005-05
ISSN
Published
2005-05
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The main objective of the Operational Financial Accountability Review (0FAR) has been to identify an agenda for addressing key challenges in the Public Financial Management (PFM) operational framework, and point to areas where additional donor support may be needed. The audience of the OFAR is both the Kosovar authorities and the donor community. The OFAR is not an audit; it is not intended to, and does not, provide assurance on the specific uses to which Bank funds have been, or may be applied. The OFAR focuses on PFM arrangements in the PISG (Provisional Institutions of self Government), rather than in the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) administration, as the OFAR is intended to be used as a tool for strengthening local administration, particularly in a context where the PISG are anticipated to gain increased authority over their own resources, and UN (and, indeed, donor) support might progressively dwindle. The scope of the proposed OFAR is less than that of a full-scope CFAA. The reduced scope of the OFAR has been determined on the basis of: 1) a preliminary assessment of areas of most significant need in terms of capacity and institutional building; 2) a review of existing analyses and support by the Bank (including project financial management) and other development organizations, with the aim of eliminating or limiting overlaps; and, 3) discussions with the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MFE) and with members of the Bank's Kosovo team, with a view to identify priority areas for analysis. The legal framework for financial accountability and public financial management, as set out in the Law on Public Financial Management and Accountability (LPFMA), reflects good international practices, but appears to be too demanding for the PISG, and does not prevent the perception of double standards in its implementation. Furthermore, carry-over practices, and weaknesses in capacity, organization and coordination hamper budget preparation, and undermine the credibility of the budget as a policy management instrument. Financial accountability arrangements for municipalities highlight central control over budget execution, matching severe capacity limitations in the municipalities.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2005. Kosovo : Operational Financial Accountability Review. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8697 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 Republic of South Sudan Public Finance Management Assessment : Western Equatoria State(Washington, DC, 2012-05-31)The purpose of the assessment is to assess the public finance management (PFM) system performance of the Government of Western Equatoria State. The effort is one of a number of Public Expenditure Financial Accountability, or PEFA assessments being conducted in South Sudan: the others focus on Government of Republic of South Sudan (GRSS), Unity State, Jonglei State and Northern Bahr el Ghazal State. These assessments will later feed into a Country Integrated Fiduciary Assessment (CIFA) along with a country procurement assessment report being prepared by another World Bank team on the procurement systems of GRSS and the same state governments. The assessment team received a lot of support and cooperation from state officials. The DG of taxation had attended the PEFA orientation and introduction workshop in April 2011 in Juba. The team appreciated this support, and without it the extent of its work would have been very limited given the short time the team was in the state. Prior reconnaissance by the assessment team with key state officials proved to be a key success factor in this assessment.Publication Capacity Constraints and Public Financial Management in Small Pacific Island Countries(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-12)Drawing on Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability assessment scores from 118 countries, this paper provides the first comparative analysis of public financial management performance in small Pacific Island Countries (PICs). It applies a Tobit regression model across the full cross-country sample of Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability scores and country variables to identify potential causes for the observed underperformance of Pacific Island countries relative to other countries of similar income. First, the analysis finds small population size to be negatively correlated with Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability scores, with the "population penalty" faced by small Pacific Island countries sufficient to explain observed underperformance. Second, through application of a new capacity index of Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability dimensions, it finds strong evidence in support of the hypothesis that small population size impacts scores through the imposition of capacity constraints: with a limited pool of human capital, small countries face severe and permanent challenges in accessing an adequate range and depth of technical skills to fulfill all functions assessed through the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability framework. These findings suggest that approaches to strengthening public financial management in small Pacific Island countries should involve: i) careful prioritization of public financial management capacity toward areas that represent binding constraints to development; ii) adoption of public financial management systems that can function within inherent and binding capacity constraints, rather than wholesale adoption of "best practice" imported systems; and iii) consideration of options for accessing external capacity to support public financial management systems on a long-term basis, from regional agencies, the private sector, or donors.Publication Province of Santa Fe, Republic of Argentina : Public Financial Management Assessment(CC BY 3.0 Unported, 2012-07)The assessment for the Province of Santa Fe was prepared jointly by the Ministry of Finance of the Province of Santa Fe and the World Bank (WB) on the basis of findings from missions. It seeks to: (i) provide the provincial government with a reference tool for dialogue and action to strengthen their public financial management systems; (ii) assess the province's PFM systems and identify and address their main fiduciary issues, as well as their impact on the implementation of World Bank operations; and (iii) contribute in a broader sense to the dialogue between the Bank and Argentina's national and provincial authorities regarding fiduciary portfolio management and reliance on the country's systems. The assessment is not a fully fledged PFM performance report using all PEFA performance indicators. As agreed with the provincial government and the World Bank s Country Management Unit, the team selected and used 19 PFM performance indicators (PI 1, PI 4, PI 5-7, PI 9-12, PI 16-18, and PI 20-26) to review the status of PFM in the province. The report was prepared based on the findings of the missions that visited Argentina in the first semester of 2009 and refers to the 2006-2008 fiscal years. The report was completed in June 2012 and highlights the progress and improvement in some PFM areas since 2009 whenever provided by the Province (in footnotes wherever appropriate).Publication Georgia - Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) : Joint World Bank-European Commission Public Financial Management Assessment, Programmatic Public Finance Policy Review(Washington, DC, 2008-11)This Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment provides an updated and systematic diagnostic of the Public Financial Management (PFM) system in Georgia and provides mid-2007 as a base line for complementing the Government's efforts to monitor progress in the PFM reforms going forward. This summary presents: (i) an assessment of Georgia's PFM performance in applying the PEFA Performance Measurement Framework structured across six dimensions; (ii) an assessment of the impact of PFM weaknesses; and (iii) an assessment of the institutional framework underpinning the prospects for PFM reform. There are, however, areas in the existing internal and external control system, personnel and payroll, public procurement, and reporting of high quality consolidated financial statements that are in need of continued reform to further enhance the effectiveness of the PFM. It is envisaged that this assessment will contribute to the government reform agenda by highlighting the areas in which reform has succeeded and those in which weaknesses remain. The assessment will also serve the donor community in directing its assistance programs in those areas of public financial management where the Government's PFM strategy can be further strengthened.Publication Montenegro : Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment(Washington, DC, 2009-07)The purpose of the assessment is to provide the Montenegrin authorities with an internationally-recognized benchmark evaluation of the performance of the Montenegrin Public Financial Management (PFM) systems in order that they may thereafter consider the systems' strengths and weaknesses and develop strategies to strengthen them. The assessment comes at a critical juncture. After double-digit growth in 2007, economic growth has slowed considerably. On the fiscal side, the boom contributed to fiscal surpluses which cannot be sustained in the current economic climate and additional challenges in fiscal management have emerged. The potential to contain recurrent expenditure and implement institutional reforms on the integration path will require increasing efficiency in public administration. The management of the surge in tax and other revenues represented a special challenge for the government particularly given the significant revenues realized from the-one-off foreign investment in privatized state-owned enterprises. The level of public debt, which had steadily decreased over the past few years will be more difficult to contain, particularly in view of the highly pro-cyclical nature of economic policies. The PEFA assessment focuses primarily on the national level of a country's PFM system. PFM improvements now under consideration could contribute substantially in responding to those challenges.
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.