Russia : Bank Assistance for Social Protection

[摘要] This paper is one of the backgroundpapers prepared as an input to the Russia Country AssistanceEvaluation (CAE) by the Operations Evaluation Department(OED) of the World Bank. In 1992, the Russian Federationcommenced reforms to transition to a market economy. Thisreport focuses on the following projects: the EmploymentServices and Social Protection Loan (ESSP), the SocialProtection Adjustment Loan (SPAL), and the Social ProtectionImplementation Loan (SPIL). From the beginning of itsrelationship with Russia, the Bank viewed social protectionreform as one of the most important elements of its countryassistance strategy, largely out of concern that a breakdownin the social safety net would undermine political supportfor economic reform. In general, the outcome of socialprotection efforts during the first part of the 1990s wasmoderately satisfactory and the outcome in the second halfof the decade was moderately unsatisfactory. The ESSP wascreated to ensure a proper response to an anticipated risein unemployment claims as a result of industrialrestructuring and later changed to focus mostly oncomputerisation and upgrading the data processing capacityof local social protection offices dealing with pensionpayments. The SPAL-SPIL package addressed most of theimportant remaining social protection reforms, but withmixed success. Major barriers to success were the poorfiscal conditions prevailing through most of the 1990s, andthe unsatisfactory performance of both the Bank and theborrower during the latter half of the 1990s. Lessons to belearned from the Bank’s experience in Russia in the 1990sinclude the need to: (a) pay more attention to the politicaland institutional aspects of the reform process; (b) havereasonable expectations about the pace at which reforms canbe developed, adopted, and implemented (c) deal with all ofthe relevant units of government, and not just the federalexecutive; and (d) employ lending vehicles with moreflexibility to adjust lending activities as the policydevelopment and implementation process passes through itsvarious phases. Overall, the author has presented athorough, professional analysis covering all major aspectsof co-operation between the Russian Federation and the Bankin the social protection area in the 1990s.

[发布日期] 2002-09-01 [发布机构] World Bank, Washington, DC

[学科分类] 社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

[关键词] LIVING STANDARDS;RISKS;BORROWER;PROTECTION SYSTEM;STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT