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Lesson
Well designed and adequately resourced technical assistance is critical in helping governments with limited technical capacity deliver a complex set of reforms. This is demonstrated by the broadening of the tax base by implementing the goods and services tax. Collected revenue doubled during 2012–2016 with the help of sustained and targeted support from ADB starting in 2010.

Project Number: 39658-013
Project Name: Economic Recovery Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Successful privatization of state-owned enterprises requires strong political commitment and government ownership. The new government failed to carry forward the privatization program articulated in the report and recommendation of the President. This underlines the need for such reforms to be based on broad stakeholder consultations, and the importance of a high degree of political consensus on the goals and process of the reform.

Project Number: 39658-013
Project Name: Economic Recovery Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The government’s strong capacity and diligent response enabled the quick and smooth processing of the program. The stakeholders met by the evaluation mission indicated that before the 2008 conflict Georgia’s economy was relatively well-managed by the government. The government had a good track record with development partners and this was instrumental in securing substantial support after the twin crises.

Project Number: 42529-013, 42529-023
Project Name: Growth Recovery Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The quick response of the development partners and their good collaboration were vital to engaging the government. The 2008 conflict caused the development partners to engage collectively with the government in designing the crisis response and policy discussions. The NBG said this collective engagement encouraged the government to discuss the crisis response measures and policy actions seriously. As this was an emergency situation, the discussions, negotiations, approvals, and transfers happened quickly.

Project Number: 42529-013, 42529-023
Project Name: Growth Recovery Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Under the program implementation arrangements, a regional TA was envisaged to help the government (and other countries in the region such as Armenia and Tajikistan) implement its crisis budget effectively by improving public expenditure monitoring and developing and maintaining sound audit trails. However, the regional TA was not implemented and the envisaged fiduciary arrangements were no longer monitored under the GRSP. Nevertheless, other development partners have taken related initiatives.

Project Number: 42529-013, 42529-023
Project Name: Growth Recovery Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Continued engagement and reforms are necessary. For the envisaged impact to be fully achieved, the government should be encouraged to engage with ADB and other development partners. The IDP housing that the evaluation team visited was intact and in good condition, based on a cursory inspection. Schools, banks, and stores, among other support facilities, have since been established and appear to be functioning well. A more in-depth assessment of the resettlement sites would help to determine the overall success of the resettlement program.

Project Number: 42529-013, 42529-023
Project Name: Growth Recovery Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Limited capacity of government staff should be considered in designing reform programs. The 34 policy actions for a crisis response operation stretched out the government’s capacity in absorbing a substantial reform agenda. Constraints to capacity were reflected in the delays in complying with the policy actions, in particular with the policy action on financial ratios, which resulted in waiver of this action.

Project Number: 43152-012
Project Name: Economic Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Reform prioritization and sequencing could lead to more durable results. A steady, step-by-step pace of reforms may be more suitable in the Tongan context, given prevailing capacity constraints. The process of implementing reforms takes time, especially for reforms that require specialized skills, such as those in PFM and those that are structural in nature; these types of reforms take time to implement and cannot be completed by a single quick-disbursing stand-alone program.

Project Number: 43152-012
Project Name: Economic Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
In small island economies, fiscal consolidation measures should take into account the size of the public sector. The role and magnitude of the public sector in a small, island economy and sporadic wage increases for civil servants put pressure on recurrent expenditure. These make it difficult to manage fiscal expenditure over time. A small economic base limits areas for alternative employment opportunities. This could imply that the share of the public sector in the economy would remain large in the longer term.

Project Number: 46385-001
Project Name: Strengthening Public Financial Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Short-duration programs should consider time lags for policy actions. A program of short timeframe should adequately reflect the time lags that usually occur in implementing policy actions. It would be difficult for a short-duration program, even with up-front delivery of vital reforms, to achieve indicators involving external debt-togross domestic product, revenue mobilization, sustainable fiscal outturn, and improvements in Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability ratings due to time lags of these actions.

Project Number: 46385-001
Project Name: Strengthening Public Financial Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Policy-based loans should ensure adequate support for reform implementation. Accompanying TA would help clients meet key program targets, such as implementation of the IGF and medium-term budgeting. Policy-based loan design should ensure that TA findings are translated into actions. With the MFEM’s preference for policy-based lending, loan design should ensure strong links between TA and the program being supported.

Project Number: 42503-013, 42503-023
Project Name: Economic Recovery Support Program - Subprograms 1 and 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Policy-based loans are useful instruments for aligning donor activities and securing donor participation. As noted above, donors provide a significant amount of resources, including for capacity building. Various modalities of donor participation and coordination could be explored in the design of policy-based loans, such as inclusion of donor commitment and funding of specific programs and projects (especially in the social sectors, where donors are active) and TA (notably in PFM).

Project Number: 42503-013, 42503-023
Project Name: Economic Recovery Support Program - Subprograms 1 and 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Addressing multiple development challenges in a single operation results in complex program design that is not appropriate where capacity is a key constraint. Narrowing the thematic focus (e.g., infrastructure governance reform) could result in a more coherent program.

Project Number: 42503-013, 42503-023
Project Name: Economic Recovery Support Program - Subprograms 1 and 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Institutional reform requires well-defined and attributable outcomes. Many of the milestones for institutional reform are process related, e.g., cabinet endorsement of the IGF. The outcomes from the institutional reforms are not well-defined, e.g., higher economic and social rates of return. There is a need for closer monitoring and evaluation to determine whether the reforms achieved their objectives. The theory of change and intended results should be well articulated at the outset.

Project Number: 42503-013, 42503-023
Project Name: Economic Recovery Support Program - Subprograms 1 and 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Public enterprise reform in the FSM requires creative approaches to involving the private sector in the management of public assets given limited private sector capacity and interest. The effort to reform and divest public enterprises has not been as successful as hoped. One reason is that in such a small and remote lower-income country with a weak private sector, there are few people with the capital or business experience to bid for or successfully manage such enterprises.

Project Number: 33314-013
Project Name: Federated States of Micronesia: Private Sector Development Program
Report Date: