Pakistan - Public Expenditure Management : Accelerated Development of Water Resources and Irrigated Agriculture

World Bank

Washington, DC

关键词: ANNUAL AVERAGE FLOW;    AQUIFERS;    AVAILABLE WATER;    AVAILABLE WATER RESOURCES;    CANALS;   

RP-ID  :  25665

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This report focuses principally on threekey dimensions of better public expenditure management inPakistan. First, it is paramount to continue financialdiscipline and reduce the overall size of the public sectordeficit, including the sizable losses of public enterprises.The modest progress made in reducing the government'sfiscal deficit during the past few years has been underminedby the persistence of high level of losses of publicenterprises, especially Water and Power DevelopmentAuthority (WAPDA), and Karachi Electricity Supply Company(KESC). To reduce the unsustainable burden of public debt,the fiscal deficit, which has averaged 5.5 percent of GDP(excluding grants) and 3.4 percent (including grants) duringthe past three years, must be brought down further.Provision needs to be made for the large and continuingpublic enterprise losses and unfunded contingent liabilitiesof the public sector. A strong and successful governmentrevenue mobilization effort, which will gradually raise theratio of revenues from 17 percent of GDP (FY02) to say 20percent over the next decade, remains central to restoringPakistan's fiscal health. But as the experience of thepast few years shows, the structural weakness in thetaxation structure (relatively heavy dependence on tradetaxes) and the institutional weaknesses in the taxcollection machinery (especially on the income tax side)will continue to dampen revenue growth for some time. Thusit will be prudent to assume, at best, only moderate growthin the ratio of government revenues to GDP over the nextfive years. Even on the assumption of a steady increase inthe ratio of government revenue to GDP, the growth inoverall public spending in real terms will be modest overthe next few years because of the need to reduce the deficitfurther and to fund public enterprise losses and contingentliabilities. Indeed, in the medium term overall publicspending as a proportion of GDP is unlikely to increase fromthe level of 22 percent witnessed in recent years, even ifgrant assistance remains at a relatively high level.