This sector report for Sri Lanka - Selected public expenditure issues, 2003/2004 concentrates on the major expenditure issues facing the Government of Sri Lanka. The topic of government revenues is also, albeit briefly, touched on. The policy notes commence with a look at three overarching...

Albania has undertaken major reforms in its system of local government finance since 2000. What had been a system in which local functions were ambiguous and financing was largely provided through tightly controlled earmarked grants is now one in which functions are relatively clear and local...

This report shows that some investors still perceive Aceh as a risky place to do business, despite being relatively peaceful for almost four years. Security incidents, relatively common in post-conflict environments, deter businesses and individuals from investing in Aceh, robbing the economy of...

This note presents an overview of the results of various background work undertaken as part of the Technical Assistance for Public Expenditure Management (TAPEM) provided to the Government by the World Bank. This note focuses on the first pillar of the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) report carries an ex-post evaluation of a) budget performance in 2002/03 and, where information is available, for 2003/04 against fiscal objectives and spending priorities as set in the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERS); and,...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) is Uzbekistan's first one, prepared as part of the Bank's effort to establish a multiyear program of public expenditure work with the Government. The PER seeks to demonstrate how to improve the quality of the ongoing fiscal adjustment, and increase the...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) builds on the commitments of the 2003 Country Economic Memorandum (CEM), and 2002 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) Progress Report, being its primary objective to assess strengths and weaknesses in key areas of public expenditure, and identify policy options...

This Report discusses the challenge of budget financing of core structural reforms, within a broader framework of fiscal management reforms in Russia. It argues that explicit financing of structural reforms is fully justifiable because these are the investments in the institutional...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) analyzes the Government of Madagascar's efforts to meet the challenge of poverty reduction. The report first evaluates the macroeconomic and fiscal framework within which the Government is implementing its Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). Secondly, reviews...

The thrust of the argument in this report is that, from the fiscal policy perspective, Colombia's long term economic performance will best benefit from: lower public sector debt levels; a lower size of public expenditure; a simpler and (almost) neutral tax structure; a closer linkage between...