Publication: Armenia Public Expenditure Review: Improving Spending Efficiency
Loading...
Files in English
910 downloads
187 downloads
71 downloads
Other Files
120 downloads
Published
2023-11-02
ISSN
Date
2023-11-02
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Armenia’s fiscal performance has improved during the past two decades, supported by reforms. Revenue collection has converged with income and regional peers, overall spending levels have remained prudent, and debt levels remain sustainable. Fiscal policy has been counter-cyclical and progressive but has had a limited impact on economic growth. Spending efficiency is a key area of concern. Expenditure efficiency in areas such as infrastructure, road transport, health, and education are significantly behind the global efficiency frontier. The fiscal implications associated with the policy proposals in the 2021-2026 government program are significant. How can fiscal policy support the implementation of the government’s key policy proposals while ensuring the sustainability of public finances This is the main question for this Public Expenditure Review (PER). To answer it, this PER will (i) analyze past fiscal performance; (ii) assess the medium-term fiscal impacts of selected policy proposals that are currently being considered such as increase in pensions, changes to social assistance, increased health expenditures, and increased capital expenditure; and (iii) propose options to improve spending efficiency in select areas to provide options for the government to use the available fiscal space to effectively implement these policy proposals.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2023. Armenia Public Expenditure Review: Improving Spending Efficiency. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40563 License: CC BY-NC 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 Armenia Public Expenditure Review : Expanding the Fiscal Envelope(Washington, DC, 2014-05)Armenia's small revenue and spending envelopes limit the government's ability to influence the economy, even while its influence through laws, rules, and regulations is significant. The government has an important role to play to reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity, and needs fiscal space. This public expenditure review (PER) analyzes and provides recommendations for the different dimensions of expanding the fiscal envelope. There are three ways of creating fiscal space: the first is higher tax revenue mobilization (through better administration and enforcement of existing taxes, higher tax rates, or new taxes on previously untaxed goods and services or incomes), second, lower spending on less productive programs, and third, an increase in the effectiveness of spending, that is, a higher output of the things the government wants (efficient administration, human capital, services for the population) for a given level of spending. The report highlights Armeniaapos;s limited fiscal envelope, and points out that key areas, such as education, health, and road transport, had been consistently underfunded. It suggests that revenue needs to be significantly improved, and the government will have to revisit its expenditure priorities to create the spending headroom needed to at least maintain the spending level in these areas. The structure of the report is presented as follows: section one gives executive summary. Section two focuses on quantifying fiscal activities. Section three analyzes a number of tax exemptions and loopholes. Section four analyzes ways to improve the impact out of every Armenian dram raised and spent. Section five evaluates in detail the social protection system's performance. Section six accompanies the reforms of Armenia's public service remuneration system.Publication Liberia Public Expenditure Review : Options for Fiscal Space Enlargement(Washington, DC, 2013-05)Liberia's post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation has been successful. Peace, stability and security gradually returned and provided an enabling environment for the rebuilding of this war-torn country. Over the next five years (2013-2017), the Bank will focus on building infrastructure (energy and transport), increasing youth employment opportunities, strengthening human development and sustaining peace and security. This note considers how to increase Liberia s fiscal space by examining four options: 1) improving the efficiency of public expenditure, 2) increasing external grants, 3) increasing domestic revenue, and 4) increasing borrowing (domestic and/or external). While any increase in fiscal space gained from the first two options will not impose a burden in terms of debt or tax on the economy, the latter two will impose such burdens. In its examination of public expenditure by economic classification, this note finds that fiscal space in Liberia can be created by further improving the technical efficiency of current expenditure (wages and salaries, goods and services and transfers to state owned enterprises). However, the size of the fiscal space gained from these measures is difficult to pinpoint.Publication Armenia : Public Expenditure Review(Washington, DC, 2003-04-28)This is the first full scale World Bank Public Expenditure Review (PER) for Armenia. The primary objective of the Report was to review the main fiscal trends in Armenia for the period of 1997-2001 and develop recommendations with respect to further fiscal adjustment, expenditure prioritization, and budget consolidation. The report has the following structure. Chapter 1 reviews the main features of the Government's fiscal adjustment effort, initiated in the mid 90-s. It is focused on the analysis of aggregated indicators of fiscal performance such as deficit, public debt, budget arrears, and tax revenues. Chapter 2 looks at the main expenditure trends in the Armenia consolidated budget for 1997-2001 and makes an assessment of the quality and depth of expenditure restructuring undertaken in this period. Chapter 3 looks at the public sector's activities that remain non-reflected in the regular Government budget, which includes extra- budgetary funds, in-kind external grants, subsidies provided by the state-owned companies in the energy and utility sectors, and operations of the Social Insurance Fund. Chapter 4 presents in-depth analysis of progress made to date in the area of expenditure management and suggests a draft medium-term action plan to address identified weaknesses in budget preparation, presentation, execution, and reporting. Annexes 1 and 2 reflect more specific recommendations with respect to upgrading budget management procedures and the regulatory framework. Chapters 5-7 review expenditure policies in the main social sectors (health, education, social protection and insurance) and provide recommendations on: (i) how current expenditures could be made more efficient; (ii) what should be the main direction for intra-sectoral expenditure reallocation; and (iii) what should be medium-term targets for an increase in public expenditures in these sectors. Chapter 8 estimates a minimum level of budget support in core public infrastructure, which would stop deterioration of existing core assets in respective sectors and prevent the further accumulation of arrears. Sectoral Chapters 5-8 also provide recommendations for policy changes that would facilitate a return of these sectors to fiscal sustainability . Chapter 9 presents an analysis of Armenia's public investment program.Publication A Public Expenditure Review for Paraguay : Supplementary Volume with Selected Background Papers(Washington, DC, 2013-11-25)This supplementary volume of the Paraguay’s Public Expenditure Review provides a number of background papers and material that was prepared as part of this PER. The topics are closely linked with the overarching storyling presented in the first volume of this Public Expenditure Review.Publication Public Expenditure Review for Armenia(Washington, DC, 2003-08)This is the first full-scale World Bank Public Expenditure Review for Armenia, which reviews the main fiscal trends in the country for the period 1997-2001, and develops recommendations with respect to further fiscal adjustment, expenditure prioritization, and budget consolidation. The analysis focuses on core issues, i.e., sustainability of fiscal adjustment, fiscal transparency, expenditure priorities, and short-term expenditure management, given the existing economy-wide institutional constraints. The study covers extra-budgetary funds, in-kind external grants, subsidies provided by the state-owned companies in the energy, and utility sectors, and operations of the Social Insurance Fund, as well as regular spending. It suggests a medium-term action plan to address identified weaknesses. Sectoral chapters review health, education, and social protection and insurance. The study also analyzes budget support for core public infrastructure, and the country's public investment program.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
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 Armenia Public Finance Review: Enhancing Fiscal Policy Efficiency(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-05)Armenia has made significant progress in its development journey by improving its macro-fiscal management towards becoming an upper-middle income country in 2018. With its prudent and disciplined macro-fiscal policy management, Armenia also demonstrated its ability to withstand shocks in recent years. Despite this, Armenia needs to address key constraints to support more inclusive and sustainable growth, by improving its spending efficiency and meantime to withstand with the spending pressures due to government ambitious reforms plans and the recent refugee crisis. This Public Finance Review (PFR) seeks to address the critical questions associated with these challenges. As a landlocked country with limited natural resources, improving fiscal performance, enhancing human capital, and boosting productivity are crucial for Armenia’s future prosperity. The recent refugee crisis has further underscored the importance of mobilizing resources and optimizing the use of public resources. Some of the questions that this PFR seeks to address include: How can public finances simultaneously increase its spending efficiency while improving human capital? Is Armenia's education system equipped to provide the necessary skills for the future generation in an equitable way? How can the country mobilize additional resources to achieve these goals without impeding growth or exacerbating inequity?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.Publication Armenia Country Gender Assessment(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-13)Armenia has made important advances in promoting gender equality in recent years. Yet the country stands to benefit from the narrowing of persistent gaps in human endowment, economic opportunity, and voice and agency. This assessment offers new insights on what remains to be accomplished to bolster gender equality, maximize opportunities, and raise the returns to human capital among women and men in the country.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.