The 2014-2015 Romania Regional Development 2 Program is the continuation of the World Bank's technical assistance to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MRDPA). Building on the previous engagement, the current work addresses a fundamental question: given Romania's...

As part of a deepening engagement with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) on the broader pensions agenda, this note analyzes and makes recommendations concerning the administration of civil service pensions. The national social security strategy (NSSS), was launched in 2015 and presented a...

Electronic Government (e-government) is among the main bases for improving public administration and service delivery in Ukraine. To effectively support enhanced developmentoutcomes, it requires a systemic and coordinated approach and parallel advancement of various components of digitalization....

This note analyzes the progress of three public sector reforms (Public Financial Management, Public Administration, and Decentralization and Deconcentration) in Cambodia and describes how their design, implementation, and institutional arrangements can be better sequenced and coordinated. It...

Like many European countries, Bulgaria's workforce is facing dynamic developments influenced by negative demographic trends, seasonal and long-term migration of the population both in the country and abroad, imbalanced economic development of the Bulgarian regions, learning opportunities in the...

Transitioning to a more knowledge- and technology-based economy will be critical if Bulgaria is to achieve convergence with its European peers in terms of economic productivity and living standards. The coming year presents an important opportunity for Bulgaria to improve its support for...

Bulgaria's transition to a market economy involved massive privatizations over the past few decades, however the central government still retains a portfolio of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) which includes some of the largest companies in terms of assets and revenues and dominates strategic...

The Systematic Country Diagnostic Update examines the key constraints to and opportunities for sustainably accelerating inclusive growth and boosting shared prosperity in Bulgaria. It builds on the first Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) published in 2015, entitled "Bulgaria's Potential for...

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). For men and women who inject drugs, assuming stable...

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. Though Bulgaria has one of the lowest overall spending in the European Union (EU), spending...