This World Bank Discussion Paper brings together two contributions on external debt issues. The first paper discusses the insurability of sovereign debt against default. The second paper reviews numerous studies that have been conducted over the years to identify the variables that could predict...

The Kenyan government remains committed to a planned fiscal consolidation pathway, which should help contain public debt stock at a sustainable level. Nonetheless, there are significant challenges stemming from a slowdown in revenue collection, a growing demand for transfers to county...

Timor-Leste is making good progress in nation-building and its emerging governance systems have progressively developed into a largely disciplined PFM system. The main objective of this PEFA assessment is to establish a new baseline for Public Financial Management (PFM) performance measurement...

This module of the Public Expenditure Review (PER) sought to identify options for an effective and sustainable fiscal adjustment by considering key macroeconomic variables, fiscal policy priorities, spending trends, and Uganda's overall development needs. It has, therefore, detailed Uganda's...

A Public Expenditure Review (PER) is a diagnostic instrument to analyze public expenditures and revenues, support policy dialogue with government, and inform engagement with other stakeholders. During November 2021 and July 2022, a PER was conducted for Solomon Islands, titled Euro Fiscal reform...

The World Bank has helped define expenditure reform in 83 countries from 1979 to 1994 through 219 operations. Refrom efforts, through conditions for loans and credits, have focused on reducing and restructuring capital expenditures, reducing subsidies, reforming public employment, cutting the...

A successful demobilization and reintegration program (DRP) for ex-combatants is the key to an effective transition from war to peace. The success of this first step following the signing of a peace accord signals the end to organized conflict and thereby provides the security necessary for...

This study reviews the African Region of the World Bank's current thinking on cost sharing and the poor as apllied in Sub-Saharan Africa. It inventories country experiences and Bank activities in cost sharing for education and health, reviews African experiences with the implementation of cost...

Private participation in infrastructure has taken two distinct forms in the developing world. The first model, applied primarily in Latin America, focuses on privatization of existing infrastructure assets. The second, applied largely in East Asia, focuses on retaining existing assets in the...

This paper presents a framework for evaluating the level and composition of public expenditures, illustrated by sectoral and country examples.