2017年-世界发展银行全球_World_Bank_Group_Engagement_in_Upper-Middle-Income_Countries___Evidence_from_IEG_Evaluations_147页_2mb

World Bank Group Engagement in Upper-Middle-Income Countries: Summary

Core Content

The World Bank Group (WBG) has been actively engaged with upper-middle-income countries (UMICs) as part of its broader strategy to support middle-income countries (MICs). This report, based on Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) evaluations from 2007 to 2016, provides insights into the effectiveness of WBG interventions in UMICs and identifies areas for improvement. The report is structured around the WBG's "three ways" framework: accelerating inclusive and sustainable economic growth, investing in people, and fostering resilience to global shocks.

Main Views

1. Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth

• Economic Management and Institutions: The WBG supported UMICs in building resilience during the global financial crisis, particularly through countercyclical fiscal policies and strengthening public sector institutions. However, there is a significant gap between UMICs and OECD countries in terms of institutional quality and governance.
• Competitiveness and Productivity: UMICs face challenges in maintaining competitiveness due to the rise of lower-income countries and the inability to compete with developed economies. The WBG's support for competitiveness and innovation was relevant but often sector-specific, missing systemic weaknesses. There is a need for more comprehensive reforms across innovation ecosystems.
• Investment Climate Reforms: The WBG provided extensive support for investment climate reforms, but measuring their effectiveness has been difficult. IFC and the World Bank often had different roles, with IFC focusing on procedural improvements and the World Bank on institutional reforms. Synergy between these efforts was limited.

2. Investing in People

• The WBG's interventions in education, health, and social protection have added value in UMICs, helping countries adopt innovative programs and improve the quality of public services.
• Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs): CCTs have been among the most successful programs, particularly in social protection. UMICs showed strong demand for support in building social safety net systems.
• Health Financing: The WBG supported risk pooling and subsidies to increase poor participation in health systems. IFC played a crucial role in promoting private sector financing in health PPPs.
• Urban Development: The WBG supported urban services such as electricity, water, and transport, as well as housing for lower-income groups. IFC contributed through investments in PPPs and private urban service providers.
• Employment Programs: Limited evidence exists on the effectiveness of employment and job creation programs, with only a few interventions specifically targeting job creation.

3. Fostering Resilience

• Environmental Sustainability: The WBG played a key role in supporting environmental sustainability and climate change adaptation in UMICs, especially through mobilizing funds and building institutional capacity. However, the effectiveness of these programs was often limited by weak result frameworks.
• Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV): The WBG has a strategic comparative advantage in addressing FCV-related challenges, such as youth unemployment and urbanization. Experiences in Lebanon and Jordan highlighted the need for faster financial mechanisms and response facilities in UMICs.

Key Information

Knowledge Agenda

• The WBG has increasingly focused on delivering knowledge services alongside financing, especially through Reimbursable Advisory Services (RAS).
• There is a tension between the WBG's mandate as a global development agency and its reliance on consultant models for knowledge delivery, which can limit coverage of sensitive areas.
• Strengthening knowledge transfer is critical, particularly for South-South exchanges. Geographic, thematic, and organizational fragmentation hinders the realization of this potential.

Portfolio Performance

• The WBG's portfolio performance in UMICs generally exceeded that in other income groups, but effectiveness varied across sectors.
• During the review period, lending to UMICs increased significantly, mainly during the global financial crisis, but the trend reversed after 2010, with lending returning to pre-crisis levels.
• The WBG's financial instruments are important for sending positive signals to markets and catalyzing private investment, especially in underdeveloped markets.

Challenges

• Structural issues in UMICs, such as weak public sector institutions and high youth unemployment, persist despite WBG support.
• Systemic improvements in public sector institutions and private sector competitiveness are less common than individual interventions.
• There is a need for more effective monitoring and evaluation of WBG knowledge services in UMICs, as well as better alignment of financial and knowledge instruments.

Conclusions

• The WBG's engagement with UMICs remains highly relevant for addressing specific developmental challenges and serving as a model for lower-income countries.
• Continued expansion of financial instruments and improved knowledge transfer mechanisms are essential to enhance the WBG's ability to respond to UMICs' evolving needs.
• The WBG should focus on fostering systemic improvements and ensuring that its interventions contribute to long-term development outcomes in UMICs.