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This agriculture public expenditure review (AgPER) provides key background information and guidance in this endeavor by presenting and analyzing historic data on public spending on agriculture, examining the efficiency of spending, and identifying areas where additional funds can be applied effectively to achieve national agricultural policy and comprehensive Africa agriculture development program (CAADP) objectives. The goals of the AgPER in Sierra Leone are as follows: gain a better understanding of the countrys performance in the context of the 2003 Maputo declaration; draw lessons from the past in terms of budget execution in the agricultural sector and identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and deviations from goals; seek and recommend corrective actions for existing and future programs with a view to improving their impact and making them more efficient and equitable; initiate the implementation of the databases and methodology required for conducting similar reviews regularly and thus contribute to the institutionalization of the process; help the government establish an environment and capabilities for results-based management, with particular emphasis on improving planning, execution, and monitoring and evaluation; and increase visibility for the government and the financial and technical partners over the sectors absorptive capacity so that the decision may be made to allocate more resources to agricultural development. This report consists of five chapters: first chapter introduces the strategic and institutional context; second chapter studies the level of public agricultural expenditure in Sierra Leone; third chapter analyzes the economic and functional composition of public agricultural expenditure (allocative efficiency); fourth chapter assesses the technical efficiency of the processes of preparation, execution, and monitoring and evaluation of agricultural budgets; and fifth chapter contains our findings and recommendations.

Small dams play an important role in the provision of many kinds of benefits, such as drinking and irrigation water supply, flood control, small/mini hydropower generation, fishing, and so on. They are particularly important in rural and agricultural areas. Agriculture remains an engine of rural growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. Agricultural water management (AWM) can change the lives of millions of people by improving yields, reducing risks linked to climate variability, and increasing income for farmers. The demand for water storage is increasing as farmers and rural communities are more frequently facing water shortages for their crops and livestock. This demand is in part driven by climate change and increasing variability and scarcity observed around the globe. This note provides some lessons on how to address the challenges of small dam management with participation of community groups and effective government support for them.

The 2020 G20 Presidency mandated the Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) to develop an agenda to accelerate the adoption and application of technology-enabled infrastructure (InfraTech). This agenda supports two existing IWG initiatives, the Roadmap to Infrastructure as an Asset Class, and the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment (QII). Technology supports the roadmap by providing enhanced data, tools, and transparency for investors. In addition, it creates new investment opportunities by creating new markets, business models and potential for enhanced revenues. InfraTech also supports QII, as many technologies maximize the positive impact of infrastructure by enhancing sustainability, inclusivity, and resilience. The potential economic efficiencies that new technologies offer also help attain value for money across the project lifecycle and potentially reduce upfront or recurring public financial outlays. InfraTech also provides valuable tools for governments to respond to the COVID-19 health and economic crisis. This Reference Note supports the InfraTech Agenda endorsed by the G20 Infrastructure Working Group by outlining the potential economic, social, and environmental value to countries generated by adopting InfraTech solutions. It also provides a framework for evaluating the benefits of these solutions against their costs and risks. This paper focuses on the transport, energy, water, and digital infrastructure sectors.

The 2020 G20 Presidency mandated the Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) to develop an agenda to accelerate the adoption and application of technology-enabled infrastructure (InfraTech). This agenda supports two existing IWG initiatives—the Roadmap to Infrastructure as an Asset Class, and the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment (QII). Technology supports the roadmap by providing enhanced data, tools, and transparency for investors. In addition, it creates new investment opportunities by creating new markets, business models and potential for enhanced revenues. InfraTech also supports QII, as many technologies maximize the positive impact of infrastructure by enhancing sustainability, inclusivity, and resilience. The potential economic efficiencies that new technologies offer also help attain value for money across the project lifecycle and potentially reduce upfront or recurring public financial outlays. InfraTech also provides valuable tools for governments to respond to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) health and economic crisis. This reference note supports the InfraTech Agenda by outlining priority areas and tools for policymakers to implement the agenda. This paper focuses on the transport, energy, water, and digital infrastructure sectors.

After the return to democracy, Ghana achieved significant economic growth and poverty reduction. However, in recent years, the rate of poverty reduction has slowed, becoming insignificant after 2012. The largest reduction in poverty, 2 percent per year, was reached from 1991–1998. Subsequently, the rate of decline fell to 1.4 percent in 1998–2005, 1.1 percent in 2005–2012, and dropped to 0.2 percent per year between 2012 and 2016. The slowdown in poverty reduction was not due to a reduction in GDP per capita growth, which peaked between 2005 and 2012 and remained high between 2012 and 2016. Rather, it was due to a drop in the rate to which economic growth translated into poverty reduction. The growth elasticity of poverty (percentage reduction in poverty associated for every one percentage change in GDP per capita) was 1.2 between 1991 and 1998 but declined to less than 0.1 between 2012 and 2016, indicating a 1 percent increase in GDP per capita led to less than 0.1 percent reduction in poverty.

Gabon's abundant endowment of natural resources, its strategic location, political stability, high urbanization, and youthful population create a broad but challenging development space for poverty reduction and shared prosperity. Immediately after independence the benefits of the oil boom propelled the country to upper-middle-income status and brought major progress in living conditions. The thriving resource sector triggered large migration flows of rural population to urban centers, resulting in the highest urbanization rate recorded in Africa. This urbanization process was characterized by increasing concentration of population and economic activities in a few cities along the coast, while the rest of the country became increasingly sparsely populated. The institutional and infrastructural foundations to ensure inclusive development and broad-based improvement of living conditions were not adequately set up. As a result, early economic and social achievements became unsustainable and have begun to fade with the decline of commodity prices and depletion of resources. Since its peak in the mid-1970s, real GDP per capita has halved. Today, persistent spatial inequalities are holding back lagging areas, unemployment is among the highest in Africa, and a large share of employment is informal and of low productivity. Poverty remains pervasive in the country. The incidence of poverty is particularly high in rural areas, but there is a disproportionate concentration of the poor in the main urban centers. Weak governance, coupled with lack of sound budgetary planning, prevent effective allocation of resources to promote social development and spatial integration. This Poverty Assessment uses the available household survey data (EGEP 2005 and 2017), the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS 2000 and 2012) and population census (RGPL 2013) to examine the nature of Gabon's poverty and looks forward asking what would be needed to sustainably reduce it.

Carbon pricing is increasingly recognized as an important source of government revenue. Carbon revenues can be crucial in supporting cost-effective climate mitigation, industrial competitiveness and other economic and development objectives. How carbon revenues are used and how these uses are communicated are also critical for public and stakeholder acceptability of carbon pricing. This report provides practical guidance on using carbon revenues by helping policymakers understand the implications, opportunities, and challenges associated with different approaches to carbon revenue use.

The current regulatory environment in Bangladesh discourages the entry of innovative businesses.Entrepreneurs face a myriad of regulatory barriers including an absence of laws and regulations that clarify the rules of the game for new activities (regulatory gaps), and conflicting definitions and interpretations (regulatory ambiguity).Typically, rules and regulations are announced without prior notice, consultation or impact assessment. As a result, they do not benefit from the practical knowledge that businesses have. Even welldesigned rules and regulations cause problems if announced suddenly and with immediate effect.There are inconsistencies and gaps in rules and regulations.Government agencies often impose their own rules and procedures without considering possible conflicts with rules and procedures imposed by other government agencies.Businesses find it difficult to find information on existing rules and regulations.Regulatory officials use undue discretion in dealing with businesses.Many regulatory areas lack an effective grievance redressal system.Insecure property rights also dis-incentivize businesses from making investments.Regulatory unpredictability hampers business entry and day to day business operations; however, the degree depends on the size of the business.