India procures 20% of GDP publicly: World Bank

Public procurement is the process of purchasing goods, services or works by the public sector from the private sector

GN Bureau | December 3, 2016


#Economy   #World Bank   #GDP   #Ease of Doing Business  
World Bank
World Bank

South Asia has the highest share of public procurement in GDP, at 19.3%; followed by sub-Saharan Africa at 14.9%. “India procures 20% of GDP publicly, Pakistan 19.8%. East Asia has the lowest share, 9.3% of GDP, largely driven by China, where only 2.8% of GDP is generated through publicly procured projects. The Philippines and Thailand also procure less than 3% of GDP publicly,” said a World Bank blog.

The blog “Is public procurement a rich country’s policy?” by Simeon Djankov and co-authored by Federica Saliola and Asif Islam said that public procurement is the process of purchasing goods, services or works by the public sector from the private sector.

The range of economic sectors concerned by public procurement is as wide as the needs of a government to properly function and deliver services to its citizens. Governments turn to the private sector to supply goods and services for the construction of schools, to purchase hospital supplies, to secure computer services in public buildings, renew a fleet of city buses, or construct a new road as indicated in the World Bank Doing Business 2017 report.

 It added: “It is surprising that no attempt has been made to-date to systematically and consistently collect reliable statistics on the size of public procurement in economies around the world. Data are publicly available for high-income countries. The European Union calculates the average share of public procurement in the GDP of its 28 member states to be 16%. The OECD also collects statistics on the share of public procurement in its 35 member countries, which averaged 12% of GDP in 2015. For the rest of the world, there is scarce data and studies. The World Trade Organization estimates the share of public procurement in GDP globally to be between 10 and 15%, implying that public procurement is as used in middle-income and poor countries as in high-income ones. Is this actually the case?”

The blog said that the data show low-income countries have the largest share of public procurement in GDP, at 14.5%; followed by upper-middle income countries, at 13.6%. In Eritrea, for example, public procurement is a whopping 33% of GDP, due to both significant inflows of development assistance that go through public procurement and the small tax base which makes government expenditures almost entirely dependent on development aid. In Angola, the share is 26% of GDP, for much the same reasons.

Some rich countries also have high shares of public procurement in GDP, for example the Netherlands at 20.2% or Finland at 18.5%. The ratio of government expenditure to GDP in these countries is twice as large as in most emerging economies, underscoring the significance of public procurement. High-income countries in the Middle East, however, show markedly lower share of public procurement: Oman at 6% of GDP, Bahrain at 8.2%.

The figures suggest that public procurement is indeed as important in developing countries as it is in advanced economies. Governments in developing countries are significant purchasers or good and services, and these markets represent huge opportunities to enhance competition and development. This result can be used to refocus efforts to improve the quality of service delivery.

“If public procurement ensures competitive markets for government goods and services, one would expect benefits for the consumer: higher quality and perhaps lower prices. The ultimate benefit may be reduced corruption, as a transparent procurement process will weed out some corrupt practices,” the blog added.

Comments

 

Other News

After Pahalgam: “All forces to maintain high vigil”

Recognizing the seriousness of the Pahalgam terrorist attack this week, India has sent out a strong signal to Pakistan to stop supporting cross-border tourism by taking a number of steps including suspending the Indus Water Treaty. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which is chaired by

How Ayurveda and Yoga can help heal common ailments

Healing Revolution: Defeat 100 Ailments with Ayurveda, Yoga and Lifestyle By Ram K. Sharma Rupa Books, 272 pages, Rs 395

Green cities: A pathway to sustainability

As the world observes Earth Day on April 22, the imperative for sustainable urban development has never been more pressing. Urban areas contribute approximately 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (UN-Habitat Report, 2023). In India, the urban population is projected to reach 800 million by 2050 (

A unique way of looking at nature, at people, at life itself

Another Day in Landour: Looking Out from My Window By Ruskin Bond HarperCollins, 220 pages, Rs 399 Landour is a q

‘Better than the entire world’: Here’s the ‘India book’ for ages

The Undying Light: A Personal History of Independent India By Gopalkrishna Gandhi Aleph Books, 624 pages, Rs 999 Vet

Why the youth’s ‘affair’ with stock market is usually tragic

Nine out of 10 individual traders in the equity Futures and Options (F&O) segment have incurred net losses, according to a recent SEBI study. What’s even more striking is that a significant portion of these traders are young individuals – students, early professionals and first-time earners

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now



Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter