Suchergebnisse

This is the first full scale World Bank Public Expenditure Review (PER) for Armenia. The primary objective of the Report was to review the main fiscal trends in Armenia for the period of 1997-2001 and develop recommendations with respect to further fiscal adjustment, expenditure prioritization, and budget consolidation. The report has the following structure. Chapter 1 reviews the main features of the Government's fiscal adjustment effort, initiated in the mid 90-s. It is focused on the analysis of aggregated indicators of fiscal performance such as deficit, public debt, budget arrears, and tax revenues. Chapter 2 looks at the main expenditure trends in the Armenia consolidated budget for 1997-2001 and makes an assessment of the quality and depth of expenditure restructuring undertaken in this period. Chapter 3 looks at the public sector's activities that remain non-reflected in the regular Government budget, which includes extra- budgetary funds, in-kind external grants, subsidies provided by the state-owned companies in the energy and utility sectors, and operations of the Social Insurance Fund. Chapter 4 presents in-depth analysis of progress made to date in the area of expenditure management and suggests a draft medium-term action plan to address identified weaknesses in budget preparation, presentation, execution, and reporting. Annexes 1 and 2 reflect more specific recommendations with respect to upgrading budget management procedures and the regulatory framework. Chapters 5-7 review expenditure policies in the main social sectors (health, education, social protection and insurance) and provide recommendations on: (i) how current expenditures could be made more efficient; (ii) what should be the main direction for intra-sectoral expenditure reallocation; and (iii) what should be medium-term targets for an increase in public expenditures in these sectors. Chapter 8 estimates a minimum level of budget support in core public infrastructure, which would stop deterioration of existing core assets in respective ...

From 15 May to 2 June 2000 COWI conducted a mission to the three Caucasian republics of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, spending about one week in each country. The mission established an initial overview of trade facilitation issues and conducted an outline Trade Facilitation Audit for the region. The purpose of the mission was to prepare for possible progress towards the re-opening of borders in the region, in the event that a peace agreement is reached in Nagorno-Karabakh. This chapter commences by summarizing some of the most interesting facts, relating to the movement of a generic consignment in the Caucasus region, which emerged from the discussions with stakeholders during the mission. Section 1.2 addresses what can be considered the key issue of the study; namely, whether, in the event of peace, the region would realize the maximum potential benefit, given the current institutional and operational context. A subsidiary issue is whether all the constituent countries in the region would benefit, or whether some would suffer some initial dis-benefits. The final section of this chapter provides a summary of the key regional and national recommendations, which have been identified to try and ensure that the potential benefits of any settlement are not dissipated in the current institutional and operational mire. A more detailed breakdown of the provisional recommendations, by component and sub-component, together with an estimate of the required inputs, is provided in Appendix B.

Georgia became a member of WTO in June 2000. It has low import tariffs and no quantitative restrictions. The VAT (20 percent) and excise taxes are equally applied to imports and domestic output. However, the implementation of trade policies is undermined by corruption and poor customs and tax administration. Moreover, a new tariff schedule adopted in January 2003 increased the number of tariffs from four to 22! and the top duty rate from 12 to 30 percent. Although the weighted average tariff will go up only by a fraction of a percent and the new tariffs are in line with the upper bounds agreed with the WTO upon accession, such a schedule is a step back from the previous, simpler schedule. Georgia faces no significant trade barriers in world markets and main export destinations include the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region (45 percent)-e.g., Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Armenia- where Georgia enjoys duty-free access, followed by Turkey (20 percent), and the EU (18 percent)-mainly Germany. Like most CIS countries, the cost of doing business in Georgia is high and adds significant investment risk. Not surprisingly, outside of two large energy project, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Georgia has been insignificant. According to the 2002 Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) conducted in Georgia, taxation and corruption are the main obstacles to doing business. Along with crime, these problems are somewhat worse in Georgia than its regional counterparts. Issues relating to regulations, the judiciary, infrastructure, and access to finance while still problematic appear more or less the same across the CIS region. More specifically, the industry case studies conducted for this study identified several institutional constraints which significantly undermine the export competitiveness of Georgian firms and create barriers to entry, a critical issue for a transition economy. Notably, exporters do not have assured access to inputs at world prices, particularly of those procured ...