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Foundational digital public infrastructure (DPI), consisting of unique digital identification, payments system and data exchange layer has the potential to support the transformation of the economy and support inclusive growth. India’s foundational DPI, called India Stack, has been harnessed to foster innovation and competition, expand markets, close gaps in financial inclusion, boost government revenue collection and improve public expenditure efficiency. India’s journey in developing a world-class DPI highlights powerful lessons for other countries embarking on their own digital transformation, in particular a design approach that focuses on shared building blocks and supporting innovation across the ecosystem.
How could the GovTech improve budget processes and execution efficiency? Could the GovTech strengthen redistributive function of public expenditure? Based on an event-study method, this paper finds that the introduction of digital budget payments and e-procurement could significantly enhance budget transparency and help expand the coverage of social assistance to reach the most vulnerable population. Exploiting staggered adoption of digital budget payments, a synthetic control regression identifies meaningful increase in pre-tax income shares among the bottom 50th percentile and female workers, especially for emerging market and developing countries, with effects materializing gradually over...
The new path for economic development that India must create The whole world has a stake in India’s future, and that future hinges on whether India can develop its economy and deliver for its population—now the world’s largest—while staying democratic. India’s economy has overtaken the United Kingdom’s to become the fifth-largest in the world, but it is still only one-fifth the size of China’s, and India’s economic growth is too slow to provide jobs for millions of its ambitious youth. Blocking India’s current path are intense global competition in low-skilled manufacturing, increasing protectionism and automation, and the country’s majoritarian streak in politics. In Bre...
Digital divide across countries and within countries continues to persist and even increased when the quality of internet connection is considered. The note shows that many governments have not been able to harness the full potential of digitalization. Governments could play important role to facilitate digital adoption by intervening both on supply (investing in infrastructure) and demand side (increase internet affordability). The note also documents significant dividends from digital adoption for revenue collection and spending efficiency, and for outcomes in education, health and social safety nets. The note also emphasizes that digitalization is not a substitute for good governance and that comprehensive reform plans embedded in National Digital Strategies (NDS) combined with legal and institutional reforms are needed to ensure that governments can reap full benefits from digitalization and manage the risks appropriately.
In developing economies, a shift to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic varies substantially. An increase in teleworking days per week ranges from 0.7 to 17.6 percentage points across 10 developing countries covered by an online survey to about 500 respondents per country. An estimated income discount associated with telework disappeared temporarily at the onset of the pandemic. A calibrated model indicates that workers’ preferences to telework may largely depend on their educational attainments. Whether telework will sustain in these countries could depend on obstacles to telework, particularly for workers with less education, and a degree of economy-wide externality.
This is a small book about big disruptions. Over two decades, and across two different political regimes, the world’s largest democracy combined the rise of cheap mobile phones, cheap data and a unique digital ID system to create an unprecedented revolution in digital public goods. This included the rise of path-breaking fintech systems like Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the creation of a new kind of welfare state based on digital direct benefit transfers and interlinked e-governance systems that brought almost half a billion people who never had bank accounts into the financial system. India’s Techade pieces together the story of how this digital revolution came to be. It is a crisp, yet comprehensive account of the systems, the innovators, the processes and the political will that drove the digital enterprise across India. A must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the transformative nature of technology and its deep impact on Indian society, politics and culture.
Following Kazakhstan’s recovery from the 2014-15 decline in oil prices, the country was hit by a series of shocks, starting with the COVID-19 pandemic, then the January 2022 social unrest, and most recently the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. So far, that has had limited impact on output, also thanks to various measures taken by the authorities to stabilize the economy. However, there are risks to the outlook. The financial system, which is small and bank-dominated, underwent significant changes during this period. Banks’ largest exposures are to households while large corporates rely on non-residents for funding.
This paper examines the significance and impact of broad-based and industrial policies on economic diversification in developing economies, supported by a literature review, case studies, and IMF analyses. Economic diversification entails shifting from traditional sectors, like agriculture and mining, to a variety of high-quality services and sectors. This transition is crucial for adapting to global market fluctuations and promoting sustainable growth and improved living standards. A literature review, including many IMF contributions, reveals a strong correlation between economic diversification and improved macroeconomic performance in developing countries, such as faster economic growth ...
The Digital Solutions Guidelines for Public Financial Management (Guidelines) are intended to serve as a comprehensive reference material for the assessment, design, and improvement of digital initiatives in the public financial management (PFM) area. To support the digital transformation of PFM functions, the Guidelines are structured around three Pillars – Functional, IT Architectural, and Governance and Management. Each pillar comprises six principles, which are further broken down into one to four attributes to promote more efficient and transparent PFM operations while fostering innovation and managing digital risks. These Guidelines also allow a graduated approach to digital transformation of PFM through three levels of maturity for each Attribute – foundational, intermediate, and advanced – to help take into account country-specific contexts and capacities in digital transformation strategies.