Subnational Public Expenditure Review 2019 : Fostering Decentralization in Myanmar
Myanmar’s decentralization of governance, financing and service delivery is taking place against aparticularly challenging backdrop. Myanmar is a country with considerable geographic and socialdiversity and a history of isolation, conflict and unde...
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Format: | Report |
Language: | English |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/400111577821333322/Subnational-Public-Expenditure-Review-2019-Fostering-Decentralization-in-Myanmar http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33118 |
Summary: | Myanmar’s decentralization of
governance, financing and service delivery is taking place
against aparticularly challenging backdrop. Myanmar is a
country with considerable geographic and socialdiversity and
a history of isolation, conflict and underdevelopment.
Decades of civil conflict and tight military rule have
marked Myanmar’s political, social and economic life since
its independence from British rule in 1948, and left a host
of historical institutional legacies including
underrepresentation of women, civil service norms that
prioritize compliance over performance, bureaucratic silos
and weak public investment management, that still impact the
country today. Political and economic transitions, begun in
2011, have promoted growth and improved welfare outcomes,
though the benefits have not been equally shared with all
groups or geographic areas. There remain extreme variations
in the provision and quality of public infrastructure and
services, reflected in large disparities per capita income
and humandevelopment outcomes. These inequalities are
widening, economic growth is spatially concentratedin the
growth poles of Yangon and Mandalay, while rural and remote
areas, such as those on the Shanplateau, are isolated from
the centers of growth. The Myanmar subnational PER examines
Myanmar’s nascent subnational institutions, focusing on
governance, union-local administrative and fiscal relations
and service delivery from a local perspective. The aim is to
identify pragmatic and practicable policy options for
incrementally strengthening the institutional capacity and
inclusiveness of subnational governments within the confines
of the current constitution. While political debate on the
future shape of a federal Myanmar continues, reforming local
governance institutions, within the considerable space
available in the current constitution, as suggested
throughout the PER, is an important way to support
“federalism from below”, promoting a more sustainable,
inclusive and accountable system of governance and fiscal
management that better reflects Myanmar’s considerable
social and economic heterogeneity. |
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