In preparing for the discussions of the Iraqi Constituent Assembly, IMF and World Bank staff and consultant experts presented to senior officials from the central and local governments in Iraq, including from Kurdistan, key options that might be relevant for the discussions. This paper reflects...

This paper examines a typology of grants that are used across the world, and places these in the context of the overall constitutional and legal framework for a country. It looks at the options for grants, given the need to maintain overall macroeconomic stability, efficiency in the use of...

Intergovernmental equalization grants have been described as the glue that holds a nation together. Getting the grants system right is critical to countries as they decentralize. This paper illustrates general principles with an example based on Indonesia in 2000. A general grant should be used...

This paper provides a detailed description of fiscal federal relations in Australian. The keystone to those relationships is the application by the Commonwealth Grants Commission of the principle of fiscal equalisation - that each State should be able to provide the same standard of services to...

A nation’s fiscal transfer system has many facets. Usually, the central government has several objectives in transferring funds to local government . Individual local governments often have objectives that conflict with the central government and with other one another. This paper looks at the...

This paper examines a typology of grants that are used across the world, and places these in the context of the overall constitutional and legal framework for a country. It looks at the options for grants, given the need to maintain overall macroeconomic stability, efficiency in the use of...

The operation of the horizontal fiscal equalisation (HFE) system between the Australian States has had an impact on service delivery. It redistributes funds among State governments to give each of them the same capacity to provide services. However, service standards are not the same across...