Conditionality in the World Bank s Development Policy Lending Background for IDA Consultations, July 2007
2005 Conditionality Review In October 2004, the Development Committee (a ministerial advisory forum of the WB and IMF) requested a review of the Bank s policy and practice on conditionality and a report on the continued efforts by the Bank and the Fund to streamline their aggregate conditionality The resulting 2005 Review of World Bank Conditionality discussed the rationale for and modalities of conditionality in policy-based lending (now known as development policy lending), and looked at trends and key challenges in the application of conditionality
Conditionality - Terminology Conditionality comprises policy and institutional actions critical to achieve the results of the government s s program. These actions are included in the World Bank s s legal agreement and must be met to permit disbursements of development policy credits/grants. Benchmarks are other actions the Bank uses to describe a country s s program it is supporting. They are not necessarily critical actions and are not intended to determine disbursements.
DPO Shares in Bank Lending FY01-06 06 70% 64% 60% 50% 50% IBRD Pol. Based Lend. IDA Pol. Based Lend. Pol. Based Lend. % Total 40% 30% 38% 33% 27% 30% 40% 37% 33% 31% 25% 32% 30% 34% 31% 20% 19% 27% 26% 10% 0% 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Recent Conditionality Trends in Bank DPOs 40 38 35 30 35 31 32 33 35 32 33 IBRD IDA 25 26 28 27 20 21 18 20 22 19 17 19 15 10 16 12 12 11 13 12 5 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Use of Benchmarks in DPOs 35 30 32 30 32 25 20 15 10 5 0 23 IBRD IDA 19 17 16 17 16 15 12 12 11 10 8 8 8 6 5 5 5 4 2 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Conditionality Trends in DPOs in Pakistan are Similar 25 20 19 18 15 14 11 12 10 11 5 0 2001 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007
Thematic Content of Conditions: Shift to Public Sector Governance 50 47 45 43 Share of Conditions by Themes, in percent 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 1980s 1990-94 1995-99 2000-04 2005-06 27 24 24 22 21 21 18 17 16 16 13 12 11 9 9 6 6 5 35 22 30 28 17 0 Trade and Economic Management Environment, Rural, and Urban Development Social Sectors Public Sector Governance Financial and Private Sector Development
Thematic Content of Prior actions in Pakistan: emphasis on social sectors & governance Share of conditionality by themes (percent) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 19 6 15 Trade and economic management 56 31 20 Social sectors 2001 & 2002 2004&2005 2006&2007 28 32 25 Public sector governance 33 5 12 Financial and Private Sector Development 0 1 16 Environment, Rural, and Urban Development
Conditionality Review Findings In September 2005 the Development Committee endorsed the review s s findings that the Bank s s policy framework is robust and adopted five good practice principles for the application of conditionality: Ownership: : Reinforce country ownership Harmonization: : Agree up-front with the government and other financial partners on a coordinated accountability framework Customization: : Customize the accountability framework and modalities of Bank support to country circumstances. Criticality: : Choose only actions critical for achieving results as conditions for disbursement. Transparency and predictability: : Conduct transparent progress reviews conducive to predictable and performance-based financial support.
GPP1: Reinforce Ownership The Bank should draw on a government s expressed policy intentions (e.g., PRSP or sector strategies) and track record of reform to gauge the ownership of reform Bank support needs to understand the political economy dimensions of reform and give policy space for internal processes to mature Sound analytic should can play an important role in informing the debate and underpinning government policy choices
GPP2: Harmonization Under the lead of country authorities, Bank staff should reach understandings with the government and other partners on a single and internally coherent framework for measuring progress Responding to country circumstances, policy matrices should be used flexibly to achieve different levels of coordination depending on the availability of other budget support donors and government preferences
GPP3: Customization Agreed accountability frameworks should be fully consistent with the government s s internal accountability mechanisms and not be used to add policy actions to the government s s agenda or leverage outside preferences. Support for sensitive policy reforms (privatization, power sector, trade liberalization, price reform, user fees) should be based on a good understanding of the country-specific circumstances and is warranted when they are part of a well-designed and owned government strategy
GPP4: Criticality Choose policy and institutional actions that are critical for achieving the results of the program Critical actions for future support should be clearly identified and policy matrices should set out actions, outputs, and outcomes Size of program matrices in Bank documents (notably number of benchmarks) should be managed carefully no need to repeat entire government program if laid out elsewhere
GPP5: Transparency and Predictability Progress should be reviewed regularly and in line with a country s s monitoring and evaluation cycle, drawing to the extent possible on internal accountability processes Financing decision should be announced early enough to be taken into account by governments in the budget cycle
Recent DPO Support to Pakistan Federal: SAC I & II (FY01, FY02); PRSC I & II (FY05, FY07) Provincial: Punjab: Punjab Education DPC I-IV(FY04I IV(FY04-FY07); FY07); Punjab Irrigation DPL I & II (FY06-07); 07); NWFP: NWFP SAC I&II (FY02, FY04); NWFP DPC I&II (FY06, FY07); Sindh: Sindh SAC I (FY02); Sindh Education DPC I (FY07)
Recent DPO Support to Pakistan Key objectives of the programs: Macroeconomic stability; revenue mobilization Improvements in investment climate Infrastructure improvements: (institutional reforms) Financial management and procurement reforms Reforms in Education to improve quality and access Reforms in health sector Social protection Key development partners: IMF: SACs, PRSCs DFID: PRSCs Sindh Education DPC; ADB; EC; possibly Netherlands Punjab Education: ADB; Germany, UNICEF, potentially DFID NWFP DPC Potentially ADB; DFID, EC, Netherlands, Germany, Norway
Some Specific Policy Reforms: Federal Tax administration reforms: establishment of LTUs and MTUs; Unbundling of WAPDA through DISCO-specific tariff notifications; Reform of labor legislation to increase labor market flexibility; Notification of new procurement rules; Strengthening public health surveillance Piloting demand side interventions in education and health Increased funding for the Food Support Program
Some Specific Policy Reforms: Provincial Fiscal sustainability: tax revenue mobilization, improved expenditure prioritization, debt reduction; MTBF Education: Increased sector expenditures under an MTBF; stipends to girls; delivery of free textbooks; merit- based teacher recruitment; public-private private partnerships; monitoring systems; partnerships with district governments. Health: Contracting out of management of primary health care; hospital autonomy Irrigation: Increases in O&M expenditures; decentralizing responsibilities to Farmers Organizations Financial management: settling of advance audit paragraphs; improved expenditure monitoring systems Procurement: New procurement law; procurement Regulatory Authority; ex-post third party validations
Purpose of this Consultation Review progress in application of good practice for 2007 implementation report Listen again to partner countries (after 2005 review) to refine messages on conditionality Give voice to additional in-country stakeholders