World Bank2013-08-272013-08-272002-08-31https://hdl.handle.net/10986/15373A long period of economic mismanagement and political instability in the early 1990s, delayed Bulgaria's transition from planned, to market economy by nearly a decade, leading to the collapse of Bulgaria's economy in 1996-97. The introduction of a Currency Board Arrangement (CBA) in July 1997 and the subsequent implementation of sound macroeconomic and structural policies succeeded in restoring growth, abating inflation and improving public and investors confidence. The CBA has been underpinned by a conservative fiscal policy and a sharp acceleration of structural reforms. Budgetary institutions and processes were overhauled to enhance transparency and ensure fiscal discipline. The wide-ranging structural reforms program encompassed liberalization in agriculture, energy, privatization in the enterprise sector, as well as reform of the social sector. First generation reforms, including price and trade liberalization, have largely been implemented and the privatization/liquidation program has to a large extent eliminated the value-subtracting activities. Dominating the country's reform agenda are now the second-generation reforms, to complete the transition from planned, to market, in particular reforms to establish the institutional foundations. Part I reviews overall public expenditure level, and discusses the sustainability of fiscal policy taking into account revenues and expenditure prospects, debt and growth targets. A fiscal sustainability analysis was performed with the participation of Bulgarian counterparts, to integrate fiscal sustainability simulations into the standard macro-economic analysis underpinning annual budgets. Functional and economic analysis of expenditure highlights issues of trade-offs, and priorities across expenditure categories. Building on the previous section, Part II assesses the fiscal impact of structural reforms in health, education, social protection, energy and transport, and, deepens the dialogue on policy reforms, highlighting the fiscal implications of alternative options as well as their social impact. Assessment of poverty within public expenditures is based on the results of the poverty update.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESSION COUNTRIESACCOUNTINGAUTHORITYBALANCE OF PAYMENTSBENEFIT INCIDENCEBORROWINGBUDGET EXECUTIONBUDGET FORMULATIONBUSINESS ENVIRONMENTCIVIL SOCIETYCORPORATE INCOME TAXCOUNCIL OF MINISTERSCURRENCY UNITDEBTDECISION MAKERSDECISION MAKINGDEFICITSDEPENDENCY RATIODEVELOPMENT PARTNERSECONOMIC ANALYSESECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC MANAGEMENTECONOMIC MEMORANDUMEDUCATIONEDUCATION LEVELELECTRICITYETHNIC GROUPSEXECUTIONEXPENDITURE REFORMEXTERNAL SHOCKSFINANCIAL CONTROLFINANCIAL DISCIPLINEFINANCIAL MANAGEMENTFINANCIAL PERFORMANCEFISCALFISCAL BURDENFISCAL DECENTRALIZATIONFISCAL DEFICITFISCAL DISCIPLINEFISCAL MANAGEMENTFISCAL POLICYFISCAL STANCEFISCAL SUSTAINABILITYFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTFOREIGN EXCHANGEFOREIGN INVESTMENTGOVERNMENT OFFICIALSGOVERNMENT REVENUESGOVERNMENT SPENDINGGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROWTH RATEHEALTHHEALTH CAREHEALTH INDICATORSHEALTH INSURANCEHEALTH STATUSHOSPITALSHOUSEHOLD SURVEYIMMUNIZATIONINCOMEINFLATIONINTERNATIONAL COMPARISONSINVESTMENT CLIMATELABOR MARKETLIVING STANDARDSLOCAL AUTHORITIESLOCAL GOVERNMENTMACROECONOMIC MANAGEMENTMACROECONOMIC STABILITYMANAGERSMIGRATIONMINISTRY OF FINANCEMUNICIPALITIESOVERALL EXPENDITUREPHYSICIANSPOLICY DIRECTIONSPOLICY MAKERSPOLIOPOPULATION GROWTHPOPULATION SIZEPOVERTY ASSESSMENTPOVERTY GAPPOVERTY LEVELSPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY STATUSPOVERTY TRENDSPRIVATE SECTORPROFESSIONAL TRAININGPUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONPUBLIC EDUCATIONPUBLIC EXPENDITUREPUBLIC EXPENDITURE MANAGEMENTPUBLIC EXPENDITURESPUBLIC HEALTHPUBLIC HEALTH EXPENDITURESPUBLIC INFRASTRUCTUREPUBLIC INVESTMENTPUBLIC SERVICEPUBLIC SERVICE OBLIGATIONPUBLIC WORKSPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYQUALITY CONTROLRATIONALIZATIONREAL TERMSREFORM PROGRAMSREPRESENTATIVESREVENUE PERFORMANCERURAL AREASSAVINGSSCHOOLSSOCIAL ASSISTANCESOCIAL INSURANCESOCIAL POLICYSOCIAL PROTECTIONSOCIAL PROTECTION PROGRAMSSOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMSOCIAL SECTORSSOCIAL SECURITYSOFT BUDGET CONSTRAINTSSTATE AGENCIESSTATE-OWNED ENTERPRISESSTRUCTURAL REFORMSTRUCTURAL REFORMSSTRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENTTASK TEAM LEADERTAX REFORMTAXATIONTREASURYUNEMPLOYMENTUNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITSUNEMPLOYMENT RATEURBAN AREAS PUBLIC EXPENDITURESTRANSITION ECONOMIESPOLITICAL CONSTRAINTSCURRENCY BOARDSMACROECONOMIC POLICYSTRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTFISCAL POLICYREFORM POLICYFISCAL SUSTAINABILITYBUDGETARY PROCESSSOCIAL IMPACTPOVERTY UPDATESWorld Bank10.1596/15373