The development objective of the Assam State Public Finance Institutional Reforms Project for India is to contribute to improvement in predictability and transparency in budget execution and efficiency in tax administration in Assam.
... See More + The project comprises of three components. The first component, strengthening public finance institutional capacity seeks to strengthen the public financial management (PFM) institutional framework and systems, improve institutional and human resource capacity in the areas of cash and debt management, procurement, and public-private partnership (PPP), and build the capacity of the Government of Assam (GoA’s) officials in finance and line departments in various aspects of PFM. It consists of following sub-components: (i) strengthening cash and debt management; (ii) strengthening public procurement framework and scaling up e-procurement; (iii) strengthening public-private partnership framework and institutional capacity; (iv) institutional strengthening of finance department; and (v) training and capacity building to implementing departments. The second component, strengthening expenditure and revenue information systems have two complementary parts - technical assistance (TA) and results-based financing. It consists of following sub-components: (i) design, development, and implementation of financial management information systems (FMIS); (ii) enhancing e-collection and e-payment systems; (iii) designing and upgrading information systems and institutional strengthening in office of the commissioner of taxes; and (iv) design, development, and implementation of workflow-based information system in excise department. The third component, project management, monitoring and evaluation (M and E), and coordination will support effective project management and facilitate implementation, coordination, learning, and quality enhancement activities under the project, including consultancies relating to disbursement-linked indicator (DLI) verification and M and E.
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Organized by the World Bank and co-sponsored by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the ‘e-procurement forum: enhancing public spending’ was conceived to facilitate the sharing of country experiences in public procurement performance measurement.
... See More + It also aimed to develop and agree on a common set of performance indicators and to take action to set a baseline for all countries against the agreed indicators and their annual updates. The specific objectives of the Forum, which is expected to be an ongoing event, are aligned with the World Bank’s strategy: ‘Promoting E-Government Procurement (E-GP) – strategy and role of the World Bank in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Countries,’ published by the Bank in June 2015. The welcoming remarks of the representatives of the Austrian Government, the European Commission, the World Bank, and EBRD set the tone for the working sessions, conveying consistent messages in favor of strengthening knowledge and practice exchange to enable countries to move faster toward adopting E-Procurement (E-GP) and performance-oriented systems. Forum participants were able to learn from the on-the-ground experiences of participating countries, international development partners, and the commercial suppliers of E-GP–related tools and training. In addition, participants succeeded in developing a set of performance indicators deemed most critical to the implementation of procurement performance assessment systems.
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Ratings for the Public Financial Management Reform Project for Vietnam were as follows: outcome was satisfactory, risk to development outcome was moderate, Bank performance was satisfactory, and Borrower performance was satisfactory.
... See More + Some of the lessons learned include: (i) an evolving project level Monitoring and Evaluation( M and E) may be a good substitute for a formal one that is pre-set at appraisal; (ii) outcomes for Public Financial Management (PFM) operations are difficult to measure at closing; (iii) PFM reforms need decades to complete; (iv) the funding of operations may not be commensurate with their impact; and (v) Technical Assistance (TA) operations that are initially focused on a single ministry may have a greater chance of success.
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Project Performance Assessment Report 106635 JUN 29, 2016
The development objective of the Public Expenditures Management Project is to support the Ministry of Finance and other agencies with the Government of the Dominican Republic in their efforts to improve public expenditure management.
... See More + The extension will help support the continuation of the activities included in this Recipient Executed Trust Fund (RETF). These activities include the provision of technical assistance to support the implementation of Public Procurement Civic Oversight Commissions and the e-procurement portal for the Public Procurement Directorate, and the institutionalization of the newly introduced national monitoring and evaluation system for the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development.
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Ethiopia’s remarkable socio-economic transformation over the last decade has been marked by: a reorientation of expenditure from recurrent to capital; a significant devolution of resources from Federal Government to Regions; and a clear prioritization of infrastructure spending, while protecting spending on education at four percent of GDP.
... See More + The Government of Ethiopia has also leveraged external resources to boost spending in pro-poor sectors, particularly health and social protection. As a result, Ethiopia is home to the largest social safety net program in Africa, and has also achieved remarkable health outcomes using cost effective approaches. Recent investments have seen a significant build-up of capital stock, with capital spending at sector level pointing towards increased service capacity. The current public investment-led strategy requires to be complemented by increased budgetary provisions in operations and maintenance so that new investments translate into enhanced service coverage and delivery. As Ethiopia lays the foundation to become a middle income country, and the changing global environment implies declining external assistance, it is imperative that domestic taxation activity support this transition. The current tax-to-GDP ratio is low compared to peer countries, and the tax structure would benefit from increased contributions by direct tax sources. Therefore, there is an immediate need for advancing tax reforms and improve capacity and quality of tax administration. Broadening the tax bases, through review of exemptions, as well as review of tax rates might be venues to consider. Additional revenues will create the much-needed fiscal space to increase funding for operations and maintenance for service delivery, and support fiscal sustainability. As a follow-up to this Public Expenditure Review, the Government of Ethiopia has asked the World Bank to provide further analytical support, with a view to enhance domestic revenue mobilization through simpler and more efficient taxation, while retaining equity priorities in public finances.
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An integrated fiduciary systems assessment has been undertaken that incorporates financial management (FM), procurement, and governance issues of Serbia.
... See More + The assessment suggests that there is reasonable assurance that Serbia’s FM systems for the Program (planning, budgeting, accounting, internal controls, funds flow, financial reporting, and auditing arrangements) and procurement will ensure appropriate use of Program funds and will safeguard Program assets. This note is divided as follows. Part one of this assessment covers FM arrangements; part two covers procurement arrangement; and part three covers governance and anticorruption assessment. The Program will be implemented by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self Government (MPALSG); the Treasury Administration and the Public Procurement Office (PPO). The capacity of these entities in the abovementioned areas was assessed particularly in the scope of a broader assessment of country public FM systems. Combined fiduciary risk after mitigation measures is rated as substantial. The assessment concluded that while the level of corruption remains high, the Institutional and Legal Framework for tackling corruption is progressively improving and existing government commitment to addressing corruption is high. It has been agreed that the State Audit Institution (SAI) will share with the Bank any indications or allegations relating to Fraud and Corruption (F&C) identified during the SAI’s work.
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The present modernization and optimization of public administration program will support the efforts of the Government of Serbia (GoS) to improve efficiency in the public administration system.
... See More + The program will do this by focusing on key areas of the administrative system, with particular implications for public spending in personnel costs, financial commitments (including the management of arrears), and the purchase of goods and services. While the program is strategically based on the public administration reform (PAR) strategy and the action plan for the implementation of the PAR strategy, it is also influenced by the procurement strategy and the public financial management (PFM) reform strategy. The main objective of the program is thus to improve efficiency in the management of employment and finances in the public sector as set out in the action plan for the implementation of the PAR strategy.
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The objective of the Modernization and Optimization of Public Administration Program Project for Serbia is to improve efficiency in public sector employment and finances.
... See More + The Government of Serbia has launched an ambitious program of public sector reforms that seek to enhance efficiency in the public sector. The Government’s overall framework for reforming public sector administration is set out in a (PAR Strategy adopted in 2014. Together with the action plan for the Implementation of the Public Sector Reform Strategy (2015-2017), adopted in 2015, the strategy sets out the immediate priorities of the Government of Serbia with respect to key reforms in the public administration. Both the PAR Strategy and Action Plan cover five major areas of reform: improvement of the organization and functioning of the public administration systems; strengthening of human resource management; improvement of public finance and public procurement management; increased transparency and enhancement of ethical standards and strengthening the Government’s supervision capacities. The PAR strategy complements and incorporates elements of other strategic planning instruments, notably the Procurement Strategy (2014), the Public Financial Management Reform Program (2015) and the Action Plan for Open Government Partnership (2014). The Bank’s engagement supports these reforms in the core systems of human resource management, public financial management and public procurement. These reforms are addressed in turn below with a focus on human resource management, in many respects the most challenging part of the reform agenda.
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Strengthening the financial management systems of Local Government Units (LGUs) in West Bank and Gaza assumes critical importance from the Palestinian Authority (PA) as well as other stakeholders (such as donors).
... See More + For the last few years, several efforts were made to computerize the LGUs operations, particularly with respect to public financial management (PFM). Most common among these have been efforts to introduce a unified financial management information system (FMIS) that computerize and automate key aspects of budget execution and accounting operations across the LGUs. FMIS can enable prompt and efficient access to reliable financial data and help strengthen financial controls, improving the provision of public services, raising the budget and reporting processes to higher levels of transparency and accountability, and expediting LGUs’ operations. Also, it can enable the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) to obtain timely and sufficient data and information on the performance of all LGUs. In this context, the World Bank contracted PricewaterhouseCoopers Palestine (PwC) to perform an assessment of the current FMIS maintained in sample municipalities and to understand whether these systems are achieving the LGUs’ objectives and needs, and how the systems are integrated with other information systems covering the LGUs’ operations. This assessment was carried out by PwC team, and was based on inquiry and meetings with staff from the sample LGUs, MoLG, and Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF). This report covers only component one (Assessment of FMIS).
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Although much has been written on the traditional role and key responsibilities of a company secretary, these writings are not sufficient to fully prepare an individual for the enormous task undertaken.
... See More + The role of the company secretary has changed and this is both undisputed and understated. The secretarys role is no longer the same as it was a decade, let alone five years ago. This paper will look at some of the aspects of the role of the modern company secretary and the competencies that are required to succeed.
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In 2015, the PA managed to reduce the overall deficit, but a steep decline in donor aid resulted in an increase in domestic borrowing and arrears.
... See More + Expenditure growth exceeded 6 percent and it was mainly driven by spending on transfers and goods and services. However, it was offset by strong revenues which grew by 9 percent in 2015. As a result, the recurrent deficit (in nominal NIS terms) was maintained close to its 2014 level. The budget revenue target is seen as achievable, but the expected decline in expenditures appears optimistic, particularly for net lending and the use of goods and services. Also, Bank staff project development spending to be lower than budgeted based on past trends. Put together, staff projects the 2015 total deficit to be USD1.43 billion, or 10.9 percent of GDP. Aid inflows are expected to reach a maximum of USD900 million, resulting in a financing gap of USD0.5 billion. Notably, this projection does not take into account any increases to the salaries of teachers in 2016, as it is unclear whether they will be implemented this year.
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Benchmarking public procurement focuses on an equally critical aspect of procurement systems for private sector participation: a well-functioning complaint system.
... See More + Efficient complaint mechanisms introduce a fairly low-cost form of accountability by offering disgruntled suppliers a forum to air their complaints. They increase suppliers’ confidence in the integrity of the procurement process, encouraging more to participate, which can increase competition, lower prices and improve quality. That can allow government agencies to deliver better services and give the public more confidence in the way public funds are spent. The benchmarking public procurement data show that in 17 of the economies measured, it is still not possible for users to access tender documents from the electronic procurement portal. Even more worrisome, when website visitors in several countries click on a ‘tender documents’ option, they are led to an empty page. Interestingly, in 31 of the economies measured, bidders may submit their bids through an electronic platform. In a few countries like Chile and the Republic of Korea, electronic submission of bids has become the rule. But in most economies measured, e-bidding remains possible only in limited circumstances, as for a certain type of contract, or a certain industry, or if bidders have special authorization.
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Publication 101080 NOV 12, 2015
Saliola,Federica; Ghossein,Tania; Lopez Claros,Augusto; Pouget,Sophie; Danon,Elisabeth; Gutierrez Casadiego,Maria Paula; Del Valle Catoni,Natalia; Mayer Cuesta,Raquel MariaDisclosed
