Evaluation Results for 1988: Issues in World Bank Lending Over Two Decades

摘要

The annual review of evaluation results, synthesizes and provides a unique perspective on a large body of development operations. It assesses the performance of operations supported by the Bank, and its underlying concern is with the efficiency and effectiveness of these operations. While the focus is on the Bank's performance in the preparation and implementation of the operations it finances, the implementation capacity and overall policies of borrowing countries are equally if not more important in the successful outcome of these operations. It begins with an overview of the performance of 1,983 operations evaluated by the Bank's Operations Evaluation Department (OED) over the period 1974-88. It then discusses the 378 evaluated operations whose performance has been unsatisfactory, and draws lessons and priorities for future studies. It analyzes the influences on sustainability in development operations. It continues with a discussion of common problems that have affected the financial sustainability of operations, concentrating in particular on cost recovery and cost overruns; it stresses the need to consider explicitly the links between the financial structure of projects and the borrowing country's macroeconomic policies. In conclusion, it discusses issues in the management of natural resources, and technical assistance for public sector management.