The previous chapters have suggested that many policy-induced distortions constrain productivity and development in Brazil. As a result, a significant number of potential policy reforms could increase competition and thereby stimulate innovation and productivity growth.
... See More + These policies could also promote economic and social inclusion. Therefore, it is somewhat of a paradox that after many decades of debate on policies to promote development and a large volume of public resources spent, it appears so difficult to develop and implement successful policies. This chapter suggests that many of the currently-implemented policies failed because they have an intellectual justification rooted in distorted versions of development theory, or a misplaced vision of national security and self-sufficiency. The combination of interests with misleading intellectual justifications means that for reasons of history and political economy, adopting improved policies for productivity is very difficult. Even though the overall objective of growth is a nationally-shared aspiration, individual policy interventions have rarely had clear objectives.
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The development objective of the Urban Institutional and Infrastructure Development Program Project for Ethiopia is to enhance the institutional performance of participating urban local governments to develop and sustain urban infrastructure, services, and local economic development.
... See More + The proposed Urban Institutional and Infrastructure Development Program (UIIDP or Operation) will support the objectives of the WB’s Ethiopia Country Partnership Framework (CPF) (2018–22). The CPF for Ethiopia, discussed by the Board on June 27, 2017, has three strategic focus areas: (a) promoting structural and economic transformation through increased productivity, (b) building resilience and inclusiveness, and (c) supporting institutional accountability and confronting corruption. The proposed UIIDP supports all three focus areas. The UIIDP’s fundamental objectives and funding directly target the strengthening of urban governance and management systems, participatory strategic and spatial planning, improved transparency and accountability enhanced citizen engagement in decision-making of urban governments (including of women), public private dialogue, and directly financing urban infrastructure and services. By assisting to create well-functioning and productive urban centers, the UIIDP contributes to the WB’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.The proposed Operation will be financed through a hybrid of Investment Project Financing (IPF) and Program-for-Results (PforR) instruments. Most of the Operation is financed through the PforR instrument, which has proven to be the optimal and effective mechanism for providing conditional grants to regional states and ULGs, as demonstrated in the ULGDP II. There are four primary reasons for this. First, the UIIDP directly supports the government program and forms a core part of the existing intergovernmental fiscal architecture. Second, the basic goal of the UIIDP is to leverage the improved institutional performance of the local governments it supports to more effectively deliver infrastructure and service delivery, and ensure meeting of broader objectives and maximizing of development impact. Due to the direct relationship between the institutional results and the Program disbursements, the PforR instrument allows for a directly incentive-driven approach to achieve the Program Development Objective (PDO). Through the use of disbursement linked indicators (DLIs), the UIIDP will ensure that incentives of the regional and local levels of government are effectively aligned around the goals of the Program. Third, the Program will use, improve, and integrate GoE and local government systems, including public FM, social and environmental systems management and procurement systems. Fourth, the PforR instrument has proven as an effective and efficient tool in the implementation of the ULGDP II and this modality is critical to the success of the program. The government’s new UIIDP (2018–23) envisions that all cities will gradually generate increasing levels of municipal own-source revenues, with which to finance investments in infrastructure and deliver services. However, this will be a long-term process.
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The Public Expenditure and Public Utilities Development Policy Loan (PEPU DPL) series supports the Serbia government’s multi-year fiscal consolidation agenda under the following three development objectives: Pillar A: Improve public expenditure management through strengthened public financial management and public administration reform; Pillar B: Improve the financial sustainability and efficiency of energy sector public enterprises; and Pillar C: Improve the financial sustainability and efficiency of transport sector public enterprises and state-owned companies.
... See More + This DPL series contributes to the World Bank Country Partnership Framework (CPF) FY16-20 Focus Area 1: Economic Governance and the Role of the State and its related objectives. More specifically the CPF sets two focus areas for support: 1. Economic Governance and the Role of the State; and 2. Private Sector Growth and Economic Inclusion. The design of the DPL series reflects lessons learned from previous DPL operations in Serbia and energy, transport sector and public sector reform programs. Strong complementarity is built into this DPL series with the State-owned Enterprise (SOE) Reform DPLs, the PforR on Modernization and Optimization of Public Administration, and the Competitiveness and Jobs project. The series complements the Program-for-Results (PforR) operation on Modernization and Optimization of Public Administration which supports implementation of the key legislative and policy reforms under the Pillar A of the PEPU DPL.
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Ratings for the Mali: Project to support grassroots initiatives to fight hunger and poverty are as follows: Outcome was moderately unsatisfactory, Risk to development outcome was high, Institutional development impact was N/A, World Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was satisfactory.
... See More + Lessons from the project include: (i) Projects that seek to “improve living conditions” need to define, benchmark, and measure a project’s attributable contribution to changes in human welfare. Measuring access to assets is an insufficient metric. (ii) Private productive investments should not be relied on to finance the operations and maintenance of core public services provided by World Bank–financed projects when local revenue recovery is not feasible. (iii) A pilot project should be designed to generate lessons: its M&E system should therefore double as a learning lab to test and adapt interventions within the country and sector context.
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Project Performance Assessment Report 123411 FEB 14, 2018
As emphasized in Toward Gender Equality in East Asia and the Pacific: A Companion Report to the World Development Report (World Bank 2012), gender inequality in access to economic opportunities, earnings, and productivity persists across East Asia and the Pacific.
... See More + These disparities include wage gaps and the concentration of women and woman-led enterprises in less-remunerative jobs and sectors. This is problematic for at least three reasons. First, utilizing the full potential ofwomen in the labor market would likely result in greater macroeconomic efficiency, all other factors being equal. Second, jobs can serve as direct instruments for the development and empowerment of women. Third, expanding opportunities for women in the labor market has the potential to produce tremendous positive spillovers on women's overall agency, control, and power.
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After a two-year recession, something last experienced over three decades ago, the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is growing again.
... See More + The challenge now is to accelerate and sustain growth to continue making progress on the social front as in the first decade and a half of the new century: between 2000 and 2014 the region managed to reduce poverty (US$4 a day poverty line) from 42.9 percent to 23.3 percent, cutting the number of poor people by 80 million at a time when the Latin American population increased by 100 million. A renewed emphasis on productivity comes up during any discussion of LAC’s growth agenda. After all, labor productivity in the region has stalled at around 30 percent of that of the U.S. Moreover, improvements on the productivity front would result not only in faster growth but also, as basic economic theory suggests, in better salaries for the workforce, therefore further contributing to poverty reduction and shared prosperity. But why is there such a gap in LAC’s productivity with respect to the developed countries? One factor is the large infrastructure investment and service gaps. Infrastructure investments can be a powerful engine for reviving and sustaining growth. A recent regional study on the determinants of growth in LAC indicates that infrastructure has been the main structural driver of growth in the region. Yet, LAC governments are well aware that public resources are not enough to satisfy infrastructure needs, especially in the context of ongoing fiscal adjustments across the region and the enormous need for infrastructure investment: an estimated $180 billion per year investment gap. And LAC governments are also aware that the private sector can play a central role to finance the existing gap. Not surprisingly then, LAC has made considerable strides in attracting private sector investments in infrastructure: the region has the largest stock of active Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) investments and the largest pipeline of infrastructure projects by volume globally, reflecting the central role of the private sector in the regional development agenda. Going forward, LAC countries will benefit from an improved environment for private investments, as well as for further developing a robust pipeline of bankable projects. This report showcases the different ways the World Bank Group has been part of these efforts to support the mobilization of private financing for infrastructure in the region, following what authors call the Cascade approach. These encompass everything from policy and regulatory advice to structuring support, guarantees schemes and financing. Country-specific examples presented in this report illustrate how private financing mobilization in LAC has been supported by the WBG. While not exhaustive, these examples are representative of the different strategies and instruments used by governments at the central and subnational levels to help leverage private sector participation in infrastructure. The WBG stands ready to continue to assist the region in that endeavor with financial support, as well as knowledge and convening services.
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Working Paper 123738 FEB 01, 2018
Abousleiman,Issam A.; Araujo,Jorge A. De Thompson R.Disclosed
New available data suggests that the business environment in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) is not improving, and may be deteriorating.
... See More + The main constraints to doing business named by firms surveyed in the 2016 enterprise survey are the practices of the informal sector, with 40 percent of respondents identifying this as a major issue, followed by tax rates at 33 percent and transportation at 23 percent. Lao PDR has demonstrated impressive economic growth for the past decade, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 7 percent, largely concentrated in the natural resource sector. However, this has been accompanied by a less than proportionate decline in poverty and rising inequality. The main identified constraint to investment was the practice of firms in the informal sector, with 40 percent of respondents citing this issue as a serious problem. Coming in second was tax rates, cited as a constraint by 33 percent of firms. Large percentages of firms also mentioned that transportation, electricity, and inadequately educated workers were major problems. Large firms were more likely to consider workers’ education a problem, while transportation was proportionally a bigger issue for medium firms, as was tax rates for smaller firms. Regionally, firms in the north and south of the country were more likely to identify key issues as major problems than firms located in the central region or Vientiane.
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This paper describes the operational framework for implementing the IDA18 IFC-MIGA Private Sector Window pilot. As part of the IDA18 replenishment, IDA Deputies endorsed and IDA Executive Directors approved the creation of a 2.5 billion US dollars IDA18 Private Sector Window to mobilize private sector investment and scale up the growth of a sustainable and responsible private sector in the poorest IDA and fragile and conflict-affected IDA countries.
... See More + Building on key stakeholder feedback, this paper presents the operational framework for the PSW, which will begin implementation with the start of IDA18.
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Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes Accounting and Auditing (‘ROSC A&A’) assess financial reporting and auditing standards, institutions and practices in participating countries.
... See More + These reports form part of a joint initiative implemented by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to review the quality of implementation of internationally recognized standards and principles in 12 key areas (‘the ROSC program’) with a view to promoting financial and economic stability. This report provides an assessment of financial reporting and auditing requirements and practices within the corporate sector2 in the Philippines and sets forth areas for consideration for improving the institutional environment for A&A. The ROSC A&A used international benchmarks of good practice governing financial reporting and auditing in the assessment, including International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Standards on Auditing (ISA). This report updates an earlier assessment which was published in 2006 and was undertaken following a formal request from the Government of the Philippines.
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Accounting and Auditing Assessment (ROSC) 120118 SEP 28, 2017
De Guzman,Aisha Lanette N.; Sirois,Bonnie AnnDisclosed
This evaluation assesses the World Bank Group’s effectiveness in supporting improved access to adequate, reliable, and sustained water and sanitation services in client countries.
... See More + It also examines how well the Bank Group is equipped to support the countries in moving toward sustained water and sanitation services for all, with a focus on the poor, in keeping with Sustainable Development Goal 6. The World Bank Group provided $30.3 billion for WSS to client countries during FY2007-16. The World Bank accounted for the largest share with $28.4 billion (93 percent), followed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with $1.5 billion (5 percent), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) with $0.4 billion (2 percent). Lack of financial viability and accountability of service providers are at the core of gaps and disparities in global water and sanitation services, and the World Bank Group’s response has been inadequate. Securing financial viability and institutional accountability is also crucial to attract much needed investments into the water and sanitation service sector, including private sector finance. The water and sanitation services sector faces cross-sectoral challenges that are approaching crisis proportions in many areas, but the World Bank Group has not developed yet a systematic response to address such challenges. Without tackling financial viability and cross-sectoral impacts head-on, credible progress towards SDG 6 is unlikely. IEG’s evaluation also highlights pioneering and successful initiatives by the Bank in the WSS sector in several countries. The challenge is to replicate these positive experiences elsewhere.
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Co-residence is an important source of support for the elderly, especially in countries where pension systems do not cover most of the population.
... See More + This note provides new evidence regarding elderly co-residence patterns in more than 100 developing countries that represent over 90 percent of the developing world population. The authors find a wide range of co-residence rates across countries, ranging from 29 to nearly 100 percent, and a strong inverse relationship between the receipt of a pension and co-residence. The results show the importance of informal support, and have implications for the choice and design of policy instruments aimed at the elderly, including social insurance and assistance.
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Madagascar has been entirely unsuccessful in reducing the number of its people that are poor, or extremely so, in the ten years since 2001, when poverty was already at a very high level.
... See More + This well-known conclusion draws on the analysis of three successive rounds of the national household expenditure surveys (enquete periodiques aupres des menages, EPM) conducted by the Madagascar National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) in 2001, 2005, and 2010. The objective of the analysis in this report is to document the levels and changes in poverty in Madagascar, and provide a detailed review of correlates of poverty and inequality in various dimensions, including gender, age, the structure of households, and place of residence. The report is an assessment of past poverty trends, and while policy implications are highlighted in many cases, the report is focused mainly on the descriptive, rather than prescriptive. It is found that the poverty headcount did not decrease between 2001 and 2005, rising instead from 71 to 75 percent of the population, rather than the 68 percent estimated official headcount for 2005. The methodology is described at length in the report and its annexes.
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Country Gender Assessment (CGA) 78131 APR 01, 2014
In the mid-2000s, poverty measurement in Colombia was at a standstill. A dated poverty measurement methodology was clashing with improvements in the national household survey system.
... See More + As a result, official poverty rates showed volatile trends, and a weak communication strategy produced an unconvincing storyline, which further resulted in the rapid deterioration of indicator credibility. This happened during a period of high and sustained growth that also included a number of poverty reduction interventions, such as the flagship program familias en accion and the unidos strategy. The public debate on poverty lost focus and moved from substantial policy discussions to technical measurement methods.
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This World Bank annual report focuses on the work of the World Bank Group as it relates to countries and people striving to overcome poverty in all regions, especially in Africa.
... See More + The World Bank Group is working with partners on more than 620 projects: to give both boys and girls a chance to learn; offer health services to those in need of care; promote the development of the private sector so as to put local savings to work creating jobs and property for the poor; and build infrastructure and secure, sustainable energy resources that are prerequisites for growth. This report also highlights the World Bank's work to strengthen governance, institutions, and the rule of law so people have a fair opportunity to forge a future for their families and countries. Regional perspectives are reviewed, through a breakdown of the Bank's lending and activities across the developing world, featuring highlights of projects in borrowing countries within each of the Bank's six regions. The report gives the fiscal year activities and gives a description of the Bank's development knowledge-sharing over the fiscal year 2007; a discussion of the Bank's approach to lending in low income, and middle-income countries; the Bank's resources; and a summary of the Bank's lending by region, theme, and sector, such as environmental programs and infrastructure projects. This section also describes the Bank's partnerships with public, private, and civil society stakeholders. The fiscal 2007 financial statements, organizational information, income by region, new operations approved in fiscal 2007 are given in this report.
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