In parts of Asia, South Caucasus, and the Balkans, son preference is strong enough to trigger significant levels of sex selection, result in the excess mortality of girls, and skew child sex ratios in favor of boys.
... See More + Every year, 1.8 million girls under the age of five go “missing” because of the widespread use of sex selective practices in these regions. The pervasive use of such practices is reflective of the striking inequities girls face today, and it also has negative implications for efforts to improve women's status in the long term. Consequently, governments of countries in these regions have employed direct measures, such as banning the use of prenatal sex selection technology and providing financial incentives to families that have girls. This paper takes stock of the direct measures used across countries grappling with skewed child sex ratios and compares the efficacy of direct measures with measures that indirectly raise the value of daughters. The stocktaking suggests that there is no conclusive evidence that direct approaches reduce the higher mortality risk for girls. Bans on the use of sex selection technology may inadvertently worsen the status of the very individuals they intend to protect, and financial incentives to families with girls offer short-term benefits at most. Alternatively, indirect measures, such as legal reform to promote gender equity and advocacy efforts, offer more promise by bringing about permanent shifts in the relative value of daughters. The stocktaking also underscores the paucity of causal studies in this literature.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8635 NOV 01, 2018
Sixteenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2019 covers 11 areas of business regulation.
... See More + Ten of these areas - starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency - are included in the ease of doing business score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in these two measures. Doing Business provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. This economy profile presents indicators for Bulgaria; for 2019 Bulgaria ranks 59.
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Many innovative start-ups and small and medium-size enterprises have good ideas, but do not have these ideas fine-tuned to the stage where they can attract outside funding.
... See More + Investment readiness programs attempt to help firms to become ready to attract and accept outside equity funding through a combination of training, mentoring, master classes, and networking. This study conducted a five-country randomized experiment in the Western Balkans that worked with 346 firms and delivered an investment readiness program to half of the firms, with the control group receiving an inexpensive online program instead. A pitch event was then held for these firms to pitch their ideas to independent judges. The investment readiness program resulted in a 0.3 standard deviation increase in the investment readiness score, with this increase occurring throughout the distribution. Two follow-up surveys show that the judges' scores predicted investment readiness and investment outcomes over the subsequent two years. Treated firms attained significantly more media attention and were 5 percentage points more likely to have made a deal with an outside investor, although this increase is not statistically significant (95 confidence interval of -4.7 to +14.7 percentage points).
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8541 AUG 06, 2018
In 2016, the Government of Bulgaria (GoB) decided to initiate spending reviews to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its spending in the context of a moderate fiscal consolidation process.
... See More + Though Bulgaria has one of the lowest overall spending in the European Union (EU), spending outcomes lag those of other EU member states. In the case of public order and safety, Bulgaria spends the most among comparable EU countries but outcomes are not satisfactory. Surveys show that citizens have low confidence on the effectiveness of police. Police and firefighters in turn, have said that their effectiveness is constrained by the condition of equipment, excessive time spent on paperwork, additional responsibilities imposed in the frequently changed legislation, and by curtailed staff benefits. To help address these challenges the Ministry of Finance (MoF) requested analytical and advisory support from the World Bank. Such support was intended to identify spending pressures and potential efficiency and effectiveness gains in policing and firefighting. In contrast to most spending reviews, where saving targets are identified upfront and the primary objective is to find ways of reducing the budget, the primary objective of this review is to increase performance and use any savings derived from efficiency gains for additional priority spending on policing and firefighting.
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In 2016, the Government of Bulgaria (GoB) decided to initiate spending reviews to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its spending in the context of a moderate fiscal consolidation process.
... See More + Though Bulgaria has one of the lowest overall spending in the European Union (EU), spending outcomes lag those of other EU member states. In the case of public order and safety, Bulgaria spends the most among comparable EU countries but outcomes are not satisfactory. Surveys show that citizens have low confidence on the effectiveness of police. Police and firefighters in turn, have said that their effectiveness is constrained by the condition of equipment, excessive time spent on paperwork, additional responsibilities imposed in the frequently changed legislation, and by curtailed staff benefits. To help address these challenges the Ministry of Finance (MoF) requested analytical and advisory support from the World Bank. Such support was intended to identify spending pressures and potential efficiency and effectiveness gains in policing and firefighting. In contrast to most spending reviews, where saving targets are identified upfront and the primary objective is to find ways of reducing the budget, the primary objective of this review is to increase performance and use any savings derived from efficiency gains for additional priority spending on policing and firefighting.
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Giving children access to quality early education can help prepare them for primary school by strengthening their physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development.
... See More + But many children, especially those from poor and otherwise disadvantaged families, don't have the opportunity to attend preschool. Their families may not be able to afford to send them, may not recognize the importance of early education or may not have access to a quality program. To help all children have the same opportunity to benefit from early education, some programs try to improve children's enrollment in preschool. But what's the most cost-effective way to do this and will all children benefit from earlier access to early childhood education programs?
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Bulgaria has a concentrated but growing HIV epidemic, in which HIV prevalence increased among all population groups over the past decade. This increasing trend in HIV prevalence is particularly marked among men who have sex with men (MSM).
... See More + For men and women who inject drugs, assuming stable behaviors and program coverage, HIV prevalence is expected to remain above 8 percent and 5 percent respectively. There is an urgent need to shift additional domestic resources towards HIV. Bulgaria was already financing 67 percent of its HIV/AIDS response in 2014 with domestic funding. However, there is an urgent need to fill resource gaps in the overall HIV budget envelope with increased domestic financing. Current annual spending will not, according to this analysis, be sufficient to realise the proposed National Strategic Plan and international targets. The budget will need to be increased to achieve these targets and the increase will need to be larger if technical and allocative efficiency gains are not made. Bulgaria's HIV response requires a shared, long-term vision for sustainable HIV financing that harnesses wider health sector reforms and emerging financing models.
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Doing Business 2018 is the 15th in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
... See More + This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for Bulgaria. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulation and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies; for 2018 Bulgaria ranks 50. Doing Business measures aspects of regulation affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking. Data in Doing Business 2018 are current as of June 1, 2017. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where, and why.
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Bulgaria’s housing sector provides a window into the broader issues of the country’s social, political, and economic transformation in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region over the last 25 years.
... See More + The country’s transition has been difficult, and the Government of Bulgaria (GOB) has played an active role in reforming the housing sector – starting in 2004 with a Housing Strategy, to more recent large scale initiatives to improve energy efficiency in residential buildings. Still, many challenges remain, and while these challenges are not unique to the region, they appear to be more acute in Bulgaria. Bulgaria consolidated its transition after most other transition economies, with the result that, unlike other reformers, sustained economic growth took hold almost a decade later than it did elsewhere. Indeed, it took 14 years for real per capita income to return to pre-transition levels. The country suffered through hyperinflation, a financial crisis, and considerable political turmoil, falling increasingly behind other reformers such as Hungary or Poland. Until the end of the century, Bulgaria remained locked in a lower income status, and its economic performance diverged from other reformers and its European Union (EU) neighbors. For example, if it had been able to stabilize in, say, 5 years rather than the 11 it took (1989-2000), and grow at the average rate, its per capita income would be 40 percent higher than it is now.One of the main reasons Bulgaria weathered the downturn badly was the bursting of its housing bubble; it is still experiencing one of the deepest and longest persisting housing downturns among transition countries. This downturn has been one of the main contributors to the increase in poverty that occurred post-2008 as construction employment – one of the largest employers of low-skilled workers – plummeted. Moreover, unlike the usual underlying causes of housing bubbles, in Bulgaria the bubble was not caused by too much mortgage credit; the country continues to have the lowest share of mortgage debt among transition countries. Instead, as this report will show, more fundamental housing market obstacles are at play. Sectoral distortions slow the sector, increase costs, reduce employment, and contribute to the country’s inability to close the income gap with the EU-28.
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Bulgaria’s housing sector provides a window into the broader issues of the country’s social, political, and economic transformation in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region over the last 25 years.
... See More + The country’s transition has been difficult, and the Government of Bulgaria (GOB) has played an active role in reforming the housing sector – starting in 2004 with a Housing Strategy, to more recent large scale initiatives to improve energy efficiency in residential buildings. Still, many challenges remain, and while these challenges are not unique to the region, they appear to be more acute in Bulgaria. Bulgaria consolidated its transition after most other transition economies, with the result that, unlike other reformers, sustained economic growth took hold almost a decade later than it did elsewhere. Indeed, it took 14 years for real per capita income to return to pre-transition levels. The country suffered through hyperinflation, a financial crisis, and considerable political turmoil, falling increasingly behind other reformers such as Hungary or Poland. Until the end of the century, Bulgaria remained locked in a lower income status, and its economic performance diverged from other reformers and its European Union (EU) neighbors. For example, if it had been able to stabilize in, say, 5 years rather than the 11 it took (1989-2000), and grow at the average rate, its per capita income would be 40 percent higher than it is now.One of the main reasons Bulgaria weathered the downturn badly was the bursting of its housing bubble; it is still experiencing one of the deepest and longest persisting housing downturns among transition countries. This downturn has been one of the main contributors to the increase in poverty that occurred post-2008 as construction employment – one of the largest employers of low-skilled workers – plummeted. Moreover, unlike the usual underlying causes of housing bubbles, in Bulgaria the bubble was not caused by too much mortgage credit; the country continues to have the lowest share of mortgage debt among transition countries. Instead, as this report will show, more fundamental housing market obstacles are at play. Sectoral distortions slow the sector, increase costs, reduce employment, and contribute to the country’s inability to close the income gap with the EU-28.
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Bulgaria’s housing sector provides a window into the broader issues of the country’s social, and economic transformation. This process has been difficult, and, as was the case in many transition countries, one of the main problem areas has been the housing sector.
... See More + While the government has played an active role in reforming the housing sector since 2004, and continued with initiatives to improve energy efficiency in residential buildings, new sectoral problems have emerged. Vacancy rates are extremely high, affordability concerns have intensified, and household mobility is one of the lowest among transition countries. As a result, the government is about to embark on a housing strategy, one that seeks to address the emerging issues with a particular emphasis on how this sector’s functioning interacts with and affects the broader economy. This rapid assessment of Bulgaria’s housing sector attempts to inform the country’s forthcoming strategy. It brings together information on how the sector has performed, and relies upon the international experience, and particularly the experience of other transition economies, to set the stage for the prospective Strategy’s deeper probe. Bulgaria followed a Soviet style planning approach that created one of the world’s most over industrialized economies. In following this approach, it expanded many cities to service what are now bankrupt heavy industries. The result is that today the employment prospects in many locations remain dim, particularly where state-owned factories of the old regime have closed. This has resulted in massive population shifts, with some villages and towns facing complete abandonment. The country has a large ageing population, and is also experiencing one of the world’s sharpest reductions in population. Population has declined by almost 20 percent since 1989, and this trend is likely to intensify over the next two decades.
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Working Paper 116518 JUN 19, 2017
000022813:Delphine Alberta Hamilton:dhamilto; orldbank.org;BulgarianDisclosed
Bulgaria’s housing sector provides a window into the broader issues of the country’s social, and economic transformation. This process has been difficult, and, as was the case in many transition countries, one of the main problem areas has been the housing sector.
... See More + While the government has played an active role in reforming the housing sector since 2004, and continued with initiatives to improve energy efficiency in residential buildings, new sectoral problems have emerged. Vacancy rates are extremely high, affordability concerns have intensified, and household mobility is one of the lowest among transition countries. As a result, the government is about to embark on a housing strategy, one that seeks to address the emerging issues with a particular emphasis on how this sector’s functioning interacts with and affects the broader economy. This rapid assessment of Bulgaria’s housing sector attempts to inform the country’s forthcoming strategy. It brings together information on how the sector has performed, and relies upon the international experience, and particularly the experience of other transition economies, to set the stage for the prospective Strategy’s deeper probe. Bulgaria followed a Soviet style planning approach that created one of the world’s most over industrialized economies. In following this approach, it expanded many cities to service what are now bankrupt heavy industries. The result is that today the employment prospects in many locations remain dim, particularly where state-owned factories of the old regime have closed. This has resulted in massive population shifts, with some villages and towns facing complete abandonment. The country has a large ageing population, and is also experiencing one of the world’s sharpest reductions in population. Population has declined by almost 20 percent since 1989, and this trend is likely to intensify over the next two decades.
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This paper presents findings from a large scale multi-arm randomized control trial implemented in 2014-2015 across 236 poor settlements across Bulgaria with the aim to improve full-day kindergarten participation of poor children, especially Roma and Turkish.
... See More + It finds that removing the costs of kindergarten reduced the share of children aged 3-6 not registered in kindergarten by half – while also significantly increasing attendance by about 20 percent. Additional financial incentives of either BGN7 or BGN20 monthly conditional on attendance had no clear impact on registration and attendance. Organizing community meetings to provide information about the importance of kindergarten also did not impact participation in kindergarten, although it slightly improved parental perceptions of the benefit of kindergarten and raised parental aspirations for their children – especially girls. Overall, removing kindergarten costs was thus the most cost-effective strategy to increase kindergarten participation. However, the effect on short-term child development – emergent literacy, numeracy, motor and socio-emotional skills – is mixed: slightly positive for Bulgarian children, while negative for Roma and Turkish children. These results suggest that all children may not immediately benefit from kindergarten, especially minority children who may need additional support to successfully transition to, and benefit from, kindergarten.
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This paper presents findings from a large scale multi-arm randomized control trial implemented in 2014-2015 across 236 poor settlements across Bulgaria with the aim to improve full-day kindergarten participation of poor children, especially Roma and Turkish.
... See More + It finds that removing the costs of kindergarten reduced the share of children aged 3-6 not registered in kindergarten by half – while also significantly increasing attendance by about 20 percent. Additional financial incentives of either BGN7 or BGN20 monthly conditional on attendance had no clear impact on registration and attendance. Organizing community meetings to provide information about the importance of kindergarten also did not impact participation in kindergarten, although it slightly improved parental perceptions of the benefit of kindergarten and raised parental aspirations for their children – especially girls. Overall, removing kindergarten costs was thus the most cost-effective strategy to increase kindergarten participation. However, the effect on short-term child development – emergent literacy, numeracy, motor and socio-emotional skills – is mixed: slightly positive for Bulgarian children, while negative for Roma and Turkish children. These results suggest that all children may not immediately benefit from kindergarten, especially minority children who may need additional support to successfully transition to, and benefit from, kindergarten.
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This Technical Note (TN) examines the current state of NPLs in Bulgaria and makes recommendations for a strategy to substantially reduce NPLs. These strategy recommendations were developed based on an assessment of the relevant regulatory and supervisory framework and bank practices, including relevant standards and practices for accounting treatments, early warning systems, NPL market development, and collateral valuation.
... See More + The TN sets forth macroprudential approaches and other components of a sound strategy for NPL reduction, including improvements to loan loss provisioning, income recognition on NPLs, loan write-downs, early warning systems, collateral valuation, risk information for investors, and the NPL market. The NPL management process involves many stakeholders, and their mutual cooperation is important for success. The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), in its capacity as bank supervisor and regulator and as macroprudential authority for banks, will be in the lead position on the implementation of key aspects of the NPL reduction strategy that can achieve progress in the near term. Broader policies to enhance NPL resolution entail other stakeholders, including the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) that would need to engage in the areas of insolvency and collateral enforcement regimes.
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The authorities have actively pursued restoring credibility in the financial system following the collapse of the system’s fourth largest bank in 2014.
... See More + To restore credibility, the authorities - in addition to requesting a Basel Core Principles (BCP) assessment in 2015 and this financial sector assessment program (FSAP) - conducted an asset quality review (AQR) for banks and balance sheet review for non-banks, initiated reforms to Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) supervision and introduced a new bank resolution function. It is important that the authorities continue in their efforts to strengthen the banking sector. The FSAP stress test showed more pronounced effects, though broadly in line with that of the authorities, reflecting differences in approaches. While the financial safety net and crisis management arrangements are based on sound foundations, further effort is needed to fully develop the financial safety net’s components. This includes strengthening the early intervention framework, and defining joint BNB - Ministry of Finance (MoF) strategies for liquidity assistance. A more targeted strategy is needed to address high nonperforming loans (NPLs), which can help reinvigorate the economy. A number of reforms are necessary to support the prudent development of the pension and insurance sector.
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Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) 116053 MAY 01, 2017
This technical note results from the Financial Sector Assessment (FSAP) conducted in the period 17 January 2017 and 1 February 2017. The note covers the activities of the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC), the state of the pension and insurance sectors and the challenges to their development.
... See More + The exercise for insurance did not involve a full assessment against the Insurance Core Principles of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. During the FSAP, meetings were held with the Chairperson, Deputy Chairpersons and senior staff of the FSC and representatives of both the pension and insurance sectors.
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This technical note (TN) provides a stocktaking of the current state of the implementation of the key recommendations made by the IMF and the World Bank in their 2015 assessment report on the observance of Basel Core Principles (BCPs) for effective banking supervision in Bulgaria.
... See More + It provides an overview of the most recent initiatives taken by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) to address the shortcomings found in the domestic supervisory regime. It also reflects the regulatory and supervisory framework in place as of the date of the completion of this review. This note does not provide an exhaustive analysis of each of the 29 BCPs and is not meant to revise the ratings assigned by the BCP assessors in their 2015 report. The focus is on the eight principles that were found to be materially non-compliant in 2015. In addition, there is analysis of the progress achieved on six principles rated as largely compliant in 2015 that have an important bearing on the effectiveness of supervision and where the BNB is working to enhance its supervisory practice.
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The authorities have actively pursued restoring credibility in the financial system following the collapse of the system’s fourth largest bank in 2014.
... See More + To restore credibility, the authorities - in addition to requesting a Basel Core Principles (BCP) assessment in 2015 and this financial sector assessment program (FSAP) - conducted an asset quality review (AQR) for banks and balance sheet review for non-banks, initiated reforms to Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) supervision and introduced a new bank resolution function. It is important that the authorities continue in their efforts to strengthen the banking sector. The FSAP stress test showed more pronounced effects, though broadly in line with that of the authorities, reflecting differences in approaches. While the financial safety net and crisis management arrangements are based on sound foundations, further effort is needed to fully develop the financial safety net’s components. This includes strengthening the early intervention framework, and defining joint BNB - Ministry of Finance (MoF) strategies for liquidity assistance. A more targeted strategy is needed to address high nonperforming loans (NPLs), which can help reinvigorate the economy. A number of reforms are necessary to support the prudent development of the pension and insurance sector.
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Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) 116053 MAY 01, 2017
This Review was prepared at the request of the Bulgaria National Bank (BNB). It presents the setting and the circumstances for the development of governance policies and practices in the Bulgarian banking system and reviews the effect of existing governance policy and practices on the oversight of banking sector related risks and prudential supervision.
... See More + The objective of this Review is to help strengthen the corporate governance practices of banks in Bulgaria. Specifically, itintends to: further legal and regulatory reforms in Bulgaria based on the enclosed recommendations; enable the BNB to increasingly rely on the relevant internal and reportingsystems in those banks that have demonstrated better management and controls, therefore allowing supervisory resources to be directed toward troubled institutions and where needed the most; and promote corporate governance reforms in individual institutions, thereby enhancing the soundness of a specific bank. The Review focuses on the overall banking sector. The scope of the Review includes reviews of the: (i) legal and regulatory framework, (ii) corporate governance practices of banks, and (iii) enforcement framework vis-à-vis a set of benchmarks based on internationally recognized good practices in bank governance; a set of policy recommendations for the BNB on how to improve upon corporate governance in Bulgaria; and an action plan on how to implement theReview’s policy recommendations and effect reforms.
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