2012年-世界发展银行全球_Public_Expenditure_Review_for_Peru___Spending_for_Results_112页_2mb

Public Expenditure Review for Peru: Spending for Results Summary

Core Content

This report, Public Expenditure Review for Peru: Spending for Results, analyzes the fiscal and expenditure trends in Peru from 2002 to 2011, focusing on the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending in the context of economic growth, poverty reduction, and institutional capacity. It outlines key challenges in public expenditure management and proposes policy recommendations to enhance fiscal discipline and improve the impact of public spending.

Main Challenges

• Inequities in Access to Public Services: Despite progress, access to public services remains unequal, especially between urban and rural areas, and between different income groups.
• Low Quality of Public Services: Public services such as education and health are underperforming, with significant gaps in service delivery and outcomes.
• Inefficient and Inequitable Tax System: The tax system relies heavily on indirect taxes and has a narrow base, contributing to inequality and inefficiency.
• Weak Institutional Capacity: Public administration faces challenges in execution, planning, and coordination, particularly at the local level.
• Inadequate Revenue Allocation: Natural resource revenues are unevenly distributed, exacerbating regional disparities and reducing the effectiveness of public investment.

Key Information

Economic Context

• Peru has experienced an economic dividend due to fiscal discipline and growth.
• The tax-to-GDP ratio increased, largely driven by rising commodity prices.
• GDP grew by 51% from 2005 to 2011, while non-financial public expenditures increased by 73% in real terms.
• The poverty rate declined by over 17 percentage points between 2005 and 2010.

Fiscal Trends

• General government interest expenditure decreased from 2.1% of GDP in 2002 to 1.1% in 2010.
• Public debt to GDP ratio remains stable, but macroeconomic stability is still under threat due to external shocks.
• Fiscal space is constrained, and maintaining fiscal prudence is crucial to sustaining growth and poverty reduction.

Tax System

• Indirect Taxes Dominance: Value Added Tax (VAT) accounts for over half of all tax revenues.
• Low Personal Income Tax Revenues: Despite high tax rates, personal income tax revenues are less than half of comparator countries.
• Inequities: The tax system is inequitable, with a heavy reliance on salaried workers and numerous exemptions.
• Need for Broadening Tax Base: To increase revenues and support growth, Peru must broaden the tax base and reduce exemptions.

Public Expenditure

• Functional Classification: Public expenditure in 2005 and 2010 shows a shift in focus.
• Economic Classification: Expenditure is primarily on goods and services, with a growing share on personnel and outsourced services.
• Regional Disparities: Public expenditure per capita is highest in the wealthiest regions.
• Local Government Spending: Local governments now account for over one-third of public investment, but their capacity to manage such increases is limited.

Efficiency and Effectiveness

• Allocative Efficiency: Public spending is not well-targeted, with many programs not effectively addressing poverty and inequality.
• Technical Efficiency: The quality of public services is low, particularly in education and health.
• Results-Based Budgeting (RBB): Introduced in 2008, RBB has shifted focus from inputs to outcomes, but its implementation is still limited and needs to be more pragmatic.

Public Investment

• Growth in Public Investment: Public investment increased from an average of 3% to 6% of GDP, with local governments now contributing 2.3% of GDP.
• Challenges in Planning and Management: The system for allocating resources is fragmented, and there is a lack of coordination between different levels of government and public-private projects.
• Need for Better Planning: The focus on legal compliance over outcomes has limited the effectiveness of public investment.

Policy Recommendations

• Strengthen Fiscal Discipline: Maintain prudent fiscal management to ensure the sustainability of the economic dividend.
• Improve Tax System: Broaden the tax base, reduce exemptions, and simplify the tax system to enhance equity and efficiency.
• Enhance Public Spending Effectiveness: Focus on improving the absorption capacity of public resources, particularly in education and health.
• Improve Institutional Capacity: Strengthen the capacity of local governments to manage and execute public investment projects.
• Reform Revenue Allocation: Revise the system for allocating natural resource revenues to improve equity and efficiency.
• Promote Results-Based Budgeting: Ensure that RBB is implemented in a practical manner, focusing on outcomes rather than just reporting requirements.
• Improve Coordination: Enhance communication and coordination between different levels of government and between public and private investment projects.

Conclusion

Peru has made significant strides in fiscal management and poverty reduction, but the challenge now lies in ensuring that public spending is both effective and equitable. The country needs to address institutional limitations, improve the efficiency of its tax system, and reform the allocation of natural resource revenues to ensure that public investment and services meet the needs of all citizens.