Download or read book Expenditure Composition and Economic Development in Benin written by Mr.Marco Pani and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2010-05-27 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyzes expenditure composition and economic development in Benin. It addresses some specific issues on the basis of a stylized model of the Beninese economy that highlights the tradeoff between expenditure on wages and investment. The model takes into account specific characteristics of the Beninese economy, including the large share of agriculture in employment and GDP, the large number of urban unemployed engaged in precarious informal sector activities, and the strong influence of labor unions in the formal labor market concentrated in the urban areas.

Download or read book Public Expenditures for Agricultural and Rural Development in Africa written by Tewodaj Mogues and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whereas there is plenty of work looking at macroeconomic effect of public spending on growth and poverty in Africa as well as studies of the impact of spending or investment in one economic sector on outcomes in that sector or on broader welfare measures, this book fills a much needed gap in the research looking how the composition of public spending affects key development outcomes in the region. The book brings together recent analysis on the trends in, and returns to, public spending for agricultural growth and rural development in Africa. Case studies of selected African countries provide insights on the contributions of different types of public expenditures for poverty, growth and welfare outcomes, as well as insights into the constraints in gaining development mileage from investments in the agricultural sector.

Download or read book Global Economic Prospects January 2020 written by World Bank and published by . This book was released on 2020-01-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global economy is in a broad-based cyclical recovery. Investment, manufacturing and trade are on the rebound. Financing conditions are benign, monetary policies are generally accommodative, and the worst impacts of the recent commodity price collapse have begun to dissipate. However, the global economic outlook remains clouded by a number of risks. These include the possibility of financial market disruptions, rising protectionist sentiment, and heightened geopolitical tensions. Of particular concern is evidence of subdued productivity and slowing potential growth. In addition to discussing global and regional economic developments and prospects, this edition of Global Economic Prospects includes a chapter on the causes of the broad-based slowing of potential growth and suggests remedies. The report also contains Special Focus sections on the impact of the 2014-2016 oil price collapse and the relationship between education demographics and global inequality. Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing countries, on a semiannual basis (in January and June). The January edition includes in-depth analyses of topical policy challenges faced by these economies, while the June edition contains shorter analytical pieces.

Download or read book Government Expenditure and Economic Growth written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1989-05-15 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines the empirical evidence on the contribution that government and, in particular, capital expenditure make to the growth performance of a sample of developing countries. Using the Denison growth accounting approach, this study finds that social expenditures may have a significant impact on growth in the short run, but infrastructure expenditures may have little influence. While current expenditures for directly productive purposes may exert a positive influence, capital expenditure in these sectors appears to exert a negative influence. Experiments with other explanatory variables confirm the importance of the growth of exports to the overall growth rate.

Download or read book Benin written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2010-07-08 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The goal of the last ECF arrangement (2005–09) was to support Benin’s strategy to achieve higher sustainable growth and reduce poverty while preserving macroeconomic stability and reducing vulnerabilities to external shocks. The program achieved most of its objectives. The main macroeconomic challenge ahead is to mitigate the impact of the crisis in the short term, while reaching higher sustainable growth over the medium term. The government’s economic program is geared properly to pursue these objectives. The structural reform agenda is appropriately ambitious.

Download or read book Informal cross border trade in Africa How much Why And what impact written by Bouet, Antoine and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2018-12-21 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Informal cross-border trade (ICBT) represents a prominent phenomenon in Africa. Several studies suggest that for certain products and countries, the value of informal trade may meet or even exceed the value of formal trade. This paper provides a review of existing efforts to measure informal trade. We list 18 initiatives aimed at measuring ICBT in Africa. The paper also summarizes discussions conducted with many stakeholders in Africa between December 2016 and May 2018 regarding the measurement, the determinants, and the implications of ICBT. The methodologies used to measure ICBT in Africa differ widely, but they do confirm that informal trade in Africa is both sizeable and volatile. Both evidence on the determinants of ICBT and discussions with stakeholders suggest that policies should aim to reduce the existing costs associated with formal trade and provide positive incentives for traders and producers to move into the formal economy in order to avoid the loss of economic potential stemming from informal trade.

Download or read book The Efficiency of Government Expenditure written by Ms.Keiko Honjo and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1997-11-01 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper assesses the efficiency of government expenditure on education and health in 38 countries in Africa in 1984-95, both in relation to each other and compared with countries in Asia and the Western Hemisphere. The results show that, on average, countries in Africa are less efficient than countries in Asia and the Western Hemisphere; however, education and health spending in Africa became more efficient during that period. The assessment further suggests that improvements in educational attainment and health output in African countries require more than just higher budgetary allocations.

Download or read book Fiscal Policy and Long Term Growth written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2015-04-20 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper explores how fiscal policy can affect medium- to long-term growth. It identifies the main channels through which fiscal policy can influence growth and distills practical lessons for policymakers. The particular mix of policy measures, however, will depend on country-specific conditions, capacities, and preferences. The paper draws on the Fund’s extensive technical assistance on fiscal reforms as well as several analytical studies, including a novel approach for country studies, a statistical analysis of growth accelerations following fiscal reforms, and simulations of an endogenous growth model.

Download or read book World Development Report 2019 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2018-10-31 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. New ways of production are adopted, markets expand, and societies evolve. But some changes provoke more attention than others, in part due to the vast uncertainty involved in making predictions about the future. The 2019 World Development Report will study how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Technological progress disrupts existing systems. A new social contract is needed to smooth the transition and guard against rising inequality. Significant investments in human capital throughout a person’s lifecycle are vital to this effort. If workers are to stay competitive against machines they need to train or retool existing skills. A social protection system that includes a minimum basic level of protection for workers and citizens can complement new forms of employment. Improved private sector policies to encourage startup activity and competition can help countries compete in the digital age. Governments also need to ensure that firms pay their fair share of taxes, in part to fund this new social contract. The 2019 World Development Report presents an analysis of these issues based upon the available evidence.

Download or read book Evaluating Public Spending written by Sanjay Pradhan and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Bank Discussion Paper No. 318. Analyzes the condition needed for achieving sustainable private sector growth in the Visegrad countries--the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the Slovak Republic. The analysis focuses on the legal and regulatory framework and institutional capacity, the privatization of state enterprises, and private sector development.

Download or read book PEFA Public Financial Management and Good Governance written by Jens Kromann Kristensen and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-11-24 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This project, based on the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) data set, researched how PEFA can be used to shape policy development in public financial management (PFM) and other major relevant policy areas such as anticorruption, revenue mobilization, political economy analysis, and fragile states. The report explores what shapes the PFM system in low- and middle-income countries by examining the relationship between political institutions and the quality of the PFM system. Although the report finds some evidence that multiple political parties in control of the legislature is associated with better PFM performance, the report finds the need to further refine and test the theories on the relationship between political institutions and PFM. The report addresses the question of the outcomes of PFM systems, distinguishing between fragile and nonfragile states. It finds that better PFM performance is associated with more reliable budgets in terms of expenditure composition in fragile states, but not aggregate budget credibility. Moreover, in contrast to existing studies, it finds no evidence that PFM quality matters for deficit and debt ratios, irrespective of whether a country is fragile or not. The report also explores the relationship between perceptions of corruption and PFM performance. It finds strong evidence of a relationship between better PFM performance and improvements in perceptions of corruption. It also finds that PFM reforms associated with better controls have a stronger relationship with improvements in perceptions of corruption compared to PFM reforms associated with more transparency. The last chapter looks at the relationship between PEFA indicators for revenue administration and domestic resource mobilization. It focuses on the credible use of penalties for noncompliance as a proxy for the type of political commitment required to improve tax performance. The analysis shows that countries that credibly enforce penalties for noncompliance collect more taxes on average.

Download or read book Benin written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-12-26 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper discusses Benin’s Fifth Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement, Request for Extension, and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria. Program implementation continues to be very satisfactory. The macroeconomic and structural policies outlined by the authorities are adequate to pursue the program’s objectives, and risks to program implementation are deemed manageable. Benin’s economic performance remains strong despite a less supportive external environment and the border closure with Nigeria. The significant increase in the share of external debt in total debt in the past two years warrants caution. The recent debt reprofiling operation and the Eurobond issuance have contributed to lowering borrowing costs, diversifying the financing structure, and extending debt maturity. However, these operations can also generate new vulnerabilities that will need to be mitigated through an enhanced debt management strategy and continued capacity improvements at the debt management office.

Download or read book Successful Transitions from Public to Private Sector Led Growth Lessons for Benin written by Aissatou Diallo and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-12-03 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, like Benin, have scaled up public investment during the last decade. Such a strategy contributed to the improvement of infrastructure, but also to a build-up of debt vulnerabilities. Looking forward, the planned fiscal consolidation will result in some restraint of public spending, and, in particular, public investment. In this context, maintaining or even raising the region’s economic growth will require an offset by the private sector. The analysis draws lessons from countries that have successfully transitioned from public investment to private investment-led growth using a global sample starting in the mid-1980s. These lessons highlight policies that have been crucial in fostering a rebound of private investment in the wake of a contraction of public investment. The analytical framework proposed by Hausman, Rodrik and Velasco (2005) is used to identify and classify such policies. Finally, the paper analyses how the identified policies could help Benin achieving a smooth transition from public to private sector-led growth.

Download or read book Yes Africa Can written by Punam Chuhan-Pole and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011-06-24 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes an in-depth look at twenty-six economic and social development successes in Sub-Saharan African countries, and addresses how these countries have overcome major developmental challenges.

Download or read book The Growth Report written by Commission on Growth and Development and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2008-07-23 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The result of two years work by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists, 'The Growth Report' is the most complete analysis to date of the ingredients which, if used in the right country-specific recipe, can deliver growth and help lift populations out of poverty.

Download or read book Returns to agricultural public spending in Africa south of the Sahara written by Benin, Samuel and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2015-12-18 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using data on 34 countries in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA) from 1980 to 2012, this paper assesses the returns to public spending in the agricultural sector, considering expenditures on agriculture as a whole versus expenditures on agricultural research. First, an aggregate production function is estimated using a fixed-effects, instrumental variables estimator to address potential endogeneity of agricultural expenditure and to obtain elasticities of land productivity with respect to total agricultural expenditure and agricultural research expenditure. Different model specifications are used to test the sensitivity of the results to different assumptions. The estimated elasticities are then used to estimate the rate of return to expenditure in different countries and groups of countries. The elasticity of land productivity with respect to total agricultural expenditure per hectare is estimated at 0.04, and elasticity with respect to agricultural research expenditure per hectare is estimated to be higher at 0.09. The aggregate returns to total agricultural expenditure and agricultural research expenditure in SSA are estimated at 11 percent and 93 percent, respectively. Comparative analysis of the estimates with those of previous studies, as well as across different countries and different groups of countries, is undertaken. Then implications are discussed for maintaining the high returns to agricultural research expenditure and for further studies on the low return to total agricultural expenditure, including more disaggregated analysis of expenditure on other functions besides research to better inform prioritization of agricultural expenditure.

Download or read book Africa s Infrastructure written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-12-01 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable infrastructure development is vital for Africa s prosperity. And now is the time to begin the transformation. This volume is the culmination of an unprecedented effort to document, analyze, and interpret the full extent of the challenge in developing Sub-Saharan Africa s infrastructure sectors. As a result, it represents the most comprehensive reference currently available on infrastructure in the region. The book covers the five main economic infrastructure sectors information and communication technology, irrigation, power, transport, and water and sanitation. 'Africa s Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation' reflects the collaboration of a wide array of African regional institutions and development partners under the auspices of the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa. It presents the findings of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project launched following a commitment in 2005 by the international community (after the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland) to scale up financial support for infrastructure development in Africa. The lack of reliable information in this area made it difficult to evaluate the success of past interventions, prioritize current allocations, and provide benchmarks for measuring future progress, hence the need for the AICD. Africa s infrastructure sectors lag well behind those of the rest of the world, and the gap is widening. Some of the main policy-relevant findings highlighted in the book include the following: infrastructure in the region is exceptionally expensive, with tariffs being many times higher than those found elsewhere. Inadequate and expensive infrastructure is retarding growth by 2 percentage points each year. Solving the problem will cost over US$90 billion per year, which is more than twice what is being spent in Africa today. However, money alone is not the answer. Prudent policies, wise management, and sound maintenance can improve efficiency, thereby stretching the infrastructure dollar. There is the potential to recover an additional US$17 billion a year from within the existing infrastructure resource envelope simply by improving efficiency. For example, improved revenue collection and utility management could generate US$3.3 billion per year. Regional power trade could reduce annual costs by US$2 billion. And deregulating the trucking industry could reduce freight costs by one-half. So, raising more funds without also tackling inefficiencies would be like pouring water into a leaking bucket. Finally, the power sector and fragile states represent particular challenges. Even if every efficiency in every infrastructure sector could be captured, a substantial funding gap of $31 billion a year would remain. Nevertheless, the African people and economies cannot wait any longer. Now is the time to begin the transformation to sustainable development.