The topics for this review were
determined by the Government in consultation with a core
group of donors at a workshop in Brussels organized by the
European Commission in November 2000. The Government
suggested reviewing public expenditures at the regional
level, starting with three regions. This public expenditure
review (PER) marks the first explicit attempt at Regional
PERs. This integrated report draws on draft reports from the

Following the East Asian financial
crisis, the Bank's involvement in Thailand intensified,
enabling a multifaceted stabilization, and structural reform
dialogue, which deepened the economic, financial, and sector
knowledge of the country. The study benefits from this
analytical work, and provides an overview on the ongoing
policy dialogue, regarding short- and medium-term reform,
through a number of instruments. To promote longer-term

Forestry contributes 7-10 percent of Lao
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 15-20 percent of
non-agricultural GDP. In rural areas forest exploitation is
one of the few available economic activities, and non-timber
products provide more than half of family income. The sector
contributes 34 percent of total export value, and even more
of net foreign exchange. Forestry royalties as a share of
government revenues have decreased from 20 percent in the

The study reviews Niger's water
resources, and planning process, through its short- and
medium-term water investment program, and priorities in the
water supply, and sanitation sector. Critical challenges are
examined for improving its complex water resources
management to support economic growth, given its landlocked
situation, with diffuse, and mostly rural population, and
immense, untapped fossil aquifer supplies. Despite multiple

This Public Expenditure Review (PER), is
the seventh in a series of annual PERs for Ethiopia,
addressing issues of public expenditure management, relevant
to the government, and donors. As such, and as a result of a
shared understanding between the Government, and a core
donor group, the report shifts the emphasis from analysis,
to problem solving, and, from perspective of the federal
government, to the joint perspective of the federal, and

The study reviews the challenges water
resources management faces, and the opportunities for policy
formulation towards sustainable development in Argentina,
where regardless of prudent public finances management,
water resources management remain disproportionately
backward compared to regional, and international best
practices. Hence, within a frame of reference on the
country's population, institutions, and legal

The report is an overview of
Nepal's economic development, comprising five volumes,
which include the main report, followed by reviews on
agricultural and rural development, on the social sectors,
and, the transport sector. Although development progress is
noteworthy in many areas, considerable evidence of improper
resource spending exist, thus, the main objective of this
report is to identify the incentives, and institutional

This Strategy Note sets out a framework
for World Bank involvement in the environment sector in the
immediate to medium term. It elaborates upon and reinforces
the environmental objectives specified in Thailand's
Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan
(1997-2001) and the World Bank's Country Assistance
Strategy for 1998. This report is organized in six sections.
Section 1 provides a brief introduction to the changing

The Review suggests the outlines of an
architecture for microfinance in Fiji in which the National
Centre for Small and Micro-Enterprise Development (NCSMED),
as envisioned by the Government of Fiji, is the primary
source of funding and technical assistance for microfinance
institutions. But to assure a sound financial sector
building approach to policy it is desirable that the Royal
Bank of Fiji also have substantial input. The Review also

In the dynamic socio-demographic contexts of the world’s forests and their users, climate change, including climate change mechanisms such as Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), along with energy and food security issues, have brought emerging challenges for women and men in adopting new roles in resource management. Consequently, a renewed focus on the world’s forests and their users is warranted.

This regional study encompasses three
Central American countries: Nicaragua, Guatemala, and
Honduras. The focus of this report is Honduras. The
objective of the study is to understand how broad-based
economic growth can be stimulated and sustained in rural
Central America. The study identifies "drivers" of
sustainable rural growth and poverty reduction. Drivers are
defined as the assets and combinations of assets needed by

Since independence in 1966,
Guyana's economy has gone through a state control of
major productive sectors, and financial institutions -
including controls of prices, credit, and foreign exchange -
to a combination of political/social unrest, with terms of
trade deterioration, and slow economic growth. This led
Guyana to become the fourth poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere, despite its rich endowment in mineral resources,