Uruguay

How much redistribution does Uruguay accomplish through social spending and taxes? How progressive are revenue collection and social spending? A standard fiscal incidence... Show More + analysis shows that Uruguay achieves a nontrivial reduction in inequality and poverty when all taxes and transfers are combined. In comparison with five other countries in Latin America, it ranks first (poverty reduction) and second (inequality reduction), and first in terms of poverty reduction effectiveness and third in terms of overall (including transfers in-kind) inequality reduction effectiveness. Direct taxes are progressive and indirect taxes are regressive. Social spending on direct transfers, contributory pensions, education and health is quite progressive in absolute terms except for tertiary education, which is almost neutral in relative terms. Show Less -

The Executive Directors approved a Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance Program International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or IBRD Loan for the Oriental Republic... Show More + of Uruguay in the amount of US$66 million on the payment terms and conditions set out in the President's Memorandum (R2012-0215). Directors welcomed the use of the new Program-for-Results lending instrument to support Uruguay's national road rehabilitation and maintenance program, noting that this is the first program-for-Results operation in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. They highlighted the appropriateness of this instrument which is expected to foster further sustainability of road sector management by linking disbursements to both progress on road rehabilitation and stronger institutional systems and processes. Directors also emphasized the need for close monitoring, as well as feedback from beneficiaries, to ensure the success of the program and to draw lessons from experience. They welcomed the inclusion of a grievance mechanism among the program's actions. Directors commended the close collaboration with other development partners, in particular the inclusion of the Inter-American Development Bank's support within the program. Show Less -

This tenth edition of Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying... Show More + with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting eleven areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and employing workers. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 185 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where and why. This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for Uruguay. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2012 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January - December 2011). Show Less -

Over the 2013-2015 periods, the program is expected to include about 65 works contracts managed by DNV (Direccion Nacional de Vialidad - Road Department) and CVU (Corporacion... Show More + Vial del Uruguay - Uruguay Road Corporation), covering road rehabilitation and maintenance, bridge rehabilitation and road safety works. The maximum contract amount is anticipated to be around US$15 million for road rehabilitation and maintenance works, according to the program profile. The program will also require contracting for procurement of goods, consultants, and non-technical services. The US$510.0 million program will be financed by the Government of Uruguay fiscal revenues (about US$283.5 million), as well as the World Bank (US$66 million), the Inter- American development Bank (about US$67.7 million) and FONPLATA (Fondo Financiero para el Desarrollo de los Paises de la Cuenca del Plata - Fund for the development of countries of the Rio del Plata basin) (about US$92.8 million) loans proceeds. Program fiduciary arrangements for the proposed operation are within the responsibility of Uruguay's regular fiduciary systems, which essentially rely on the Country's Constitution and the procurement, accounting and financial management code called TOCAF (Texto Ordenado de Contabilidad y Administracion Financiera - Procurement and public financial management code). Program duration is expected to be three years, covering the 2013-2015 calendar years. Program works activities will be located on the Uruguay national road network. Show Less -

The health equity and financial protection datasheets provide a picture of equity and financial protection in the health sectors of low-and middle-income countries.... Show More + Topics covered include: inequalities in health outcomes, health behavior and health care utilization; benefit incidence analysis; financial protection; and the progressivity of health care financing. The tables in this report show how health outcomes, risky behaviors and health care utilization vary across asset (wealth) quintiles and periods. The quintiles are based on an asset index constructed using principal components analysis. Benefit-Incidence Analysis (BIA) shows whether, and by how much, government health expenditure disproportionately benefits the poor. The distribution of subsidies depends on the assumptions made to allocate subsidies to households. Under the constant unit cost assumption, each unit of utilization is assumed to cost the same and is equal to total costs incurred in delivering this type of service divided by the number of units of utilization. Show Less -

Doing business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant regulations.... Show More + It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 10 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. In a series of annual reports doing business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. This economy profile presents the doing business indicators for Uruguay. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2011 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January-December 2010). Show Less -

This paper examines the consequences of rapid disinflation for downward wage rigidities in two emerging countries, Brazil and Uruguay, relying on high quality matched... Show More + employer-employee administrative data. Downward nominal wage rigidities are more important in Uruguay, while wage indexation is dominant in Brazil. Two regime changes are observed during the sample period, 1995-2004: (i) in Uruguay wage indexation declines, while workers' resistance to nominal wage cuts becomes more pronounced; and (ii) in Brazil, the introduction of inflation targeting by the Central Bank in 1999 shifts the focal point of wage negotiations from changes in the minimum wage to expected inflation. These regime changes cast doubts on the notion that wage rigidity is structural in the sense of Lucas (1976). Show Less -

Uruguay is affected by floods more than by any other adverse natural events. In the last decade, floods corresponded to about 50 percent of all the extreme events registered... Show More + by the National Emergency System (SNE). Since 2000, more than 67,000 people were evacuated across the country due to floods. The 2007 floods, the worst recorded in the last 50 years, affected more than 100,000 people, public infrastructure, and the agricultural sector with losses estimated at US$20 million. In addition to an increase in rainfall intensity, floods have intensified as a result of poor storm-water systems in cities. According to a recent assessment, 60 Uruguayan cities have drainage deficiencies, of which 70 percent are considered significant. The objective of the grant was to strengthen the response of DINAGUA (National Directorate of Water) to extreme flooding events by: (i) introducing disaster risk reduction into legal and national policy frameworks, (ii) assisting in the establishment of a disaster risk reduction unit, and (iii) providing knowledge and capacity enhancement opportunities at the national and local levels. The grant financed advisory work, training, and workshops. DINAGUA housed consultants, coordinated workshops and interagency meetings, and executed the studies. The core approach was to support DINAGUA's policy-maker role in the water sector in order to move forward the DRM agenda focusing on flood prevention and mitigation. The project was designed with strong multi-institutional and cross-sectoral participation, as the introduction of new regulations and their implementation depended on several national agencies and local governments. In addition, through the development of a pilot project in the City of Artigas, DINAGUA demonstrated the application and importance of risk maps in land use planning, facilitating the dialogue with other local governments and national agencies. The knowledge base activities focused on several technical and policy workshops to increase DRM awareness and create local capacity. Show Less -

The report is organized around the main achievements and challenges Uruguay faces from the perspective of expanding opportunities for children in the XXI century, a... Show More + perspective that is consistent with the country's stated social welfare goals and upper middle-income status. Chapter two presents the main achievements and challenges faced at the national level in access to opportunities for key goods and services: education, health, housing and infrastructure, and information and communications technology. It also presents results over time using limited comparable data. Chapter three explores the geographic distribution of the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) in depth as well as the distribution of gains and losses over time. Both chapters measure opportunities to access a basic set of goods and services and an expanded set more consistent with Uruguay's relative development, whenever data allows. This report also offers some policy applications of the equality of opportunity framework as well as policy considerations to support an opportunity-enhancing environment. Chapter four provides an assessment of how recent education, social, and technological programs may fare from the perspective of expanding opportunities to children. Chapter five concludes. Show Less -