Search

Displaying 1 - 15 of 33

Lesson
Objectives under Output 3 could have been pursued further through other ADB modalities when the AETP (Accelerating Economic Transformation Program) was discontinued (as in Output 1 on energy and social protection). The lack of structural transformation had been presented as one fundamental reason why the BOP (balance of payments) crises are recurrent in Pakistan. There was a strong consensus during subprogram 1 and subprogram 2 that resource mobilization, internal or external, is not what constrains Pakistan development in normal times (i.e. outside crisis episodes).

Project Number: 42163-013
Project Name: Accelerating Economic Transformation Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Attaching support for this reform agenda to a crisis fighting effort and to an IMF (International Monetary Fund) adjustment program was a major handicap for the AETP (Accelerating Economic Transformation Program). A multiyear pursuit of structural transformation objectives would have benefited from not being linked to the short-term financial targets that govern macroeconomic stabilization programs, crucial as they are.

Project Number: 42163-013
Project Name: Accelerating Economic Transformation Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Gender-related goals are generally easier to monitor if they are policy conditions instead of targets in the DMF (design and monitoring framework).

Project Number: 44061-012
Project Name: Strengthening Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Policy reforms invariably require a champion to steer and lead. The Minister of Labor and Social Protection, who had earlier been the Chairman of Amonatbank, was the key figure in promoting the plastic cards pilot program. Despite some issues (some of which may still linger), this remains a modern step in pension reform in the region. Similarly, the reforms in the Tax Committee had considerable government ownership and support. During the program, the President announced issuance of a new Tax Code, an action that was endorsed by the program.

Project Number: 44061-012
Project Name: Strengthening Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A multiple tranche design or program cluster design is useful, as it brings more balance to the program and helps keep up the government's commitment, even though such a design has high transaction costs for the government and ADB. Such designs also discourage the tendency for the government and ADB to include easier actions in the initial tranche and tougher ones in the later tranches, thereby unbalancing the program and leading to less than successful ratings. The incentive tranche kept ADB and the government engaged and kept the reforms on track.

Project Number: 44061-012
Project Name: Strengthening Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
In countries with capacity challenges, reforms take time as limited capacity results in implementation delays. This must be accounted for in design.

Project Number: 44061-012
Project Name: Strengthening Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Where country systems are weak, program monitoring could benefit from TA (technical assistance), as in Tajikistan. The TA could focus on expenditure tracking mechanisms, internal controls, and external audits; and be conducted in two stages. In the first stage, when monitoring capacity is still weak, experts could be engaged to monitor program-supported expenditures rather than relying on the government to submit monitoring reports. The second stage would focus on improving country systems to help the transition of monitoring tasks from external experts to government staff.

Project Number: 44061-012
Project Name: Strengthening Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
In order to have a meaningful and more sustainable impact, policy reforms should focus on areas in which ADB has been engaged and remains involved over a longer time period.

Project Number: 44061-012
Project Name: Strengthening Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A program concentrating on a single area is much more likely to have a bigger impact than a program with several focuses

Project Number: 44061-012
Project Name: Strengthening Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The provisions of funds under a program loan will generally only have an immediate impact on the overall level of economic activity if a pipeline of projects is in place when the funding becomes available. This was not the case when the ERSP (economic recovery support program) subprogram 1 loan was disbursed, but the delay in capital project construction to ensure more sustainable and beneficial projects were implemented was desirable.

Project Number: 42503-013
Project Name: Economic Recovery Support Program - Subprograms 1 and 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Ensuring continuity of staff at the program directorate builds institutional memory and supports the successful implementation and sustainability of the reforms.

Project Number: 44453-014
Project Name: West Bengal Development Finance Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A program design of this nature should avoid numerous and complex policy actions, and focus on the core elements of the government's reform agenda. Policy actions must be prioritized thoroughly based on a clearly defined, time-bound roadmap. Policy-based programs should be supported by an accompanying TA to meet all targeted policy actions in a timely manner, and strengthen the government's capacity to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the reforms.

Project Number: 44453-014
Project Name: West Bengal Development Finance Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The effective use of IT-based e-governance systems not only strengthens the government's capability and efficiency in tax administration, expenditure, and debt management, but also enhances the quality and accessibility of public service delivery at affordable costs to many different segments of society, including the poor. IT-based public sector reforms are also very effective at standardizing processes and preventing leakage, fraud, and corruption, and thereby improving accountability and governance at all levels of public administration.

Project Number: 44453-014
Project Name: West Bengal Development Finance Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Policy-based programs targeting fiscal consolidation should not sacrifice economic growth by insisting on rapid and drastic fiscal adjustment in the short-term. Instead, fiscal space must be created gradually through carefully sequenced and multifaceted reforms that promote a sustainable fiscal trajectory along with economic growth. To achieve this balanced approach, revenue collection should be augmented with more efficient tax administration and an expansion of tax base instead of tax rate increases, which might hinder economic growth.

Project Number: 44453-014
Project Name: West Bengal Development Finance Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The sustained commitment by the GOWB ensured that reforms transcended short-term political considerations. For a policy-based program to be successful, sufficient resources must be devoted to cultivate dialogue with all stakeholders and institutionalize ownership of reforms.

Project Number: 44453-014
Project Name: West Bengal Development Finance Program
Report Date: