Publication: Republic of Latvia : Public Expenditure Review
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2002-02-15
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2002-02-15
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The purpose of this public expenditure review is 1) to present an overall diagnosis of public expenditure management, which the Government of Latvia can use in their policy reviews and budget oversight and management; and 2) to present a path for reforms in the short and medium term that will help the authorities set a track toward meeting some of the key long-term objectives already endorsed by the Government. The report is organized as follows: After the Introduction, Chapter 2 assesses recent macroeconomic developments and structural reforms in Latvia. The focus is on dynamic of growth, the fiscal stance, and the external accounts. Chapter 3 examines fiscal performance within an aggregate budget constraint. It shows that, in principle, Latvia has had an excellent record in fiscal restraint, as measured by the progressive reduction in the fiscal deficit since 1994. However, this achievement has required expenditure adjustments during the year, which has produced adverse effects on expenditure management. Chapter 4 reviews the budget process, highlighting weak planning, poor policy formulation, incremental budgeting and commitments, and unfunded policy proprosals that all lead to over-commitments and limit performance of programs. Chapter 5 assesses the public expenditure performance based on available evidence and examples from the sector analysis. Chapter 6 examines the rules for improving transparency and accountability. Lastly, Chapter 7 summarizes the report findings.
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“World Bank. 2002. Republic of Latvia : Public Expenditure Review. Public expenditure review (PER);. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14601 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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