South East Europe Municipal Finance Review : Local Government Finance in the Western Balkans
This report addresses the limited access to local governments of data and knowledge of municipal finance issues in South East Europe (SEE). The objective of the analytical work under the SEE Municipal Finance Review (MFR) aims to (i) contribute to...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Working Paper |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/09/19713014/south-east-europe-municipal-finance-review-local-government-finance-western-balkans http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18965 |
Summary: | This report addresses the limited access
to local governments of data and knowledge of municipal
finance issues in South East Europe (SEE). The objective of
the analytical work under the SEE Municipal Finance Review
(MFR) aims to (i) contribute to improved understanding of
local government management and finance in the SEE Region;
and (ii) contribute to improving the quality and consistency
of key municipal finance data for improved evidence based
policy making. The analysis presented in this report
comprises the first attempt to review and analyze a regional
set of disaggregated sub-national finance data in the SEE
Region. Main findings of the MFR are presented in this
report. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2
provides an overview of the decentralization framework in
the SEE Region, including on the administrative and
political structure of sub-national governments, their
population size and distribution, and the service functions
assigned to local governments. Chapter 3 explains in more
detail the local government finance framework. This includes
an overview of the structure and composition of sub-national
finances, in particular (i) revenue and expenditure
assignments; (ii) transfers and intergovernmental fiscal
relations; and (iii) the evolving framework and realities of
sub-national borrowing and debt. Chapter 4 provides a
summary of the key trends and findings from the
cross-country, regional analysis, complemented by detailed
analysis of the disaggregated datasets, where available.
Finally, Chapter 5 summarizes conclusions and provides some
recommendations for a possible way forward. In the medium to
long term, access to municipal finance information would
contribute to increasing transparency and accountability of
local governments, improving revenue collection and
expenditure performance, optimizing budget allocation
procedures, and strengthen local authorities' role and
position in intergovernmental fiscal considerations and
negotiations in the SEE countries. |
---|