World Bank, Lao Gov’t discuss on poverty reduction
The World Bank in collaboration with Ministry of Finance, AusAID and European Commission, last Friday organised a workshop on Poverty Reduction Support Operation (PRSO) to support National Socio-Economic Development Plan policy and institutional reforms across sectors and agencies in Laos.
The workshop was co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Viengthong Siphandone and World Bank Country Manager, Ms Keiko Miwa.
World Bank Country Manager, Ms Keiko Miwa, left, and Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Viengthong Siphandone at workshop on Poverty Reduction Support Operation.
It aimed to share information with development partners on the role of the PRSO in supporting the Lao government’s reform priorities; (2) strengthen the coordination and cooperation among development partners and line ministries; and (3) explore possibilities of expanding partnerships.
The PRSO is budget support operation which encourages performance-based approach to economic management.
It aligns development partner strategies with the government 7th National Socio-Economic Development Plan Reform Priorities. It improves the visibility of government initiatives to reform the economic policy and institutional environment across sectors.
PRSO is critical for the development of Laos as it supports government-led medium-term policy and institutional reforms initiatives complementary to investment and technical assistance projects.
PRSO money is directly disbursed into the government budget to support government prioritized expenditures under the NSEDP, thereby strengthening systems from within and building long term capacity.
PRSO is developed as programmatic services of single-tranche annual operations with ex-post disbursement. The first operation was delivered in 2005.
Since then, the PRSO operations have matured and now focus on a broad range of policy and institutional reforms.
In September 2011 the preparation of the 3rd PRSO services 2011-2015 began, in alignment with the government 7th NSEDP 2011-2015.
PRSO8, the first annual operation of the 3rd series (and the 8th from the beginning) is being prepared this fiscal year (2011-2012).
The PRSO is prepared jointly by government and development partner teams in fields as various as economic policy and planning, private sector and trade development, public financial management, civil service, state auditing, health and education, natural resource management, macroeconomic and fiscal management, and statistics.
It also provides the government a solid platform for coordination and cooperation between government agencies and between government and development partners.
The PRSO has helped significant policy and institutional changes, has put in place the building blocks of sound public financial management to deliver public services, to improve investment, trade and the overall business environment and to contribute to sustainable natural resource management policies and institutions. By supporting lasting policies and institutional changes from within government, PRSO contributes to sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
