Belarus Heat Tariff Reform and Social Impact Mitigation

Belarus Heat Tariff Reform and Social Impact Mitigation PDF Author: Fan Zhang
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464806977
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
The Government of the Republic of Belarus (GoB) plans to increase district heating tariffs to cost-recovery levels and gradually phase out subsidies, replacing them with social assistance programs. Residential DH tariffs in Belarus are currently at roughly 10†“21 percent of cost-recovery levels. DH subsidies are highly regressive, add costs to business, and create significant fiscal risks and macroeconomic vulnerabilities. The study analyzes the social, sectoral, and fiscal impacts of the proposed tariff reform, and identifies and recommends measures to mitigate adverse impacts of district heating tariff increases on the households. The analysis shows that a negative social impact is manageable if a tariff increase is accompanied by countervailing measures to compensate for the loss of purchasing power, in particular of the poor, through targeted social assistance and energy efficiency programs. The reform is more likely to be successful if communication campaigns to address consumer concerns are carried out before significant price increases, and consumer engagement and monitoring systems are established. When tariff reform and mitigation measures are properly sequenced and coordinated, the reform will become more socially acceptable, consumers will benefit from better quality of services, the government will achieve positive fiscal savings, and the DH sector will become sustainable in the long term. The study analyzes the social, sectoral, and fiscal impacts of the proposed district heating tariff reform in Belarus, and identifies and recommends measures to mitigate adverse impacts of district heating tariff increases on the households.

Belarus Heat Tariff Reform and Social Impact Mitigation

Belarus Heat Tariff Reform and Social Impact Mitigation PDF Author: Fan Zhang
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464806977
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 91

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Government of the Republic of Belarus (GoB) plans to increase district heating tariffs to cost-recovery levels and gradually phase out subsidies, replacing them with social assistance programs. Residential DH tariffs in Belarus are currently at roughly 10†“21 percent of cost-recovery levels. DH subsidies are highly regressive, add costs to business, and create significant fiscal risks and macroeconomic vulnerabilities. The study analyzes the social, sectoral, and fiscal impacts of the proposed tariff reform, and identifies and recommends measures to mitigate adverse impacts of district heating tariff increases on the households. The analysis shows that a negative social impact is manageable if a tariff increase is accompanied by countervailing measures to compensate for the loss of purchasing power, in particular of the poor, through targeted social assistance and energy efficiency programs. The reform is more likely to be successful if communication campaigns to address consumer concerns are carried out before significant price increases, and consumer engagement and monitoring systems are established. When tariff reform and mitigation measures are properly sequenced and coordinated, the reform will become more socially acceptable, consumers will benefit from better quality of services, the government will achieve positive fiscal savings, and the DH sector will become sustainable in the long term. The study analyzes the social, sectoral, and fiscal impacts of the proposed district heating tariff reform in Belarus, and identifies and recommends measures to mitigate adverse impacts of district heating tariff increases on the households.

Adapting to Higher Energy Costs

Adapting to Higher Energy Costs PDF Author: Rebosio Calderon, Michelle P.; Georgieva, Sophia V.; Romanova, Ekaterina
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
This report presents a summary of findings from 208 focus group discussions (FGDs) held across eight countries (Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Romania, Tajikistan, and Turkey) in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) between 2013 and 2014. This report complements a large body of research on the poverty impacts of the energy sector reforms as well as quantitative data previously collected. Specifically, it gives voice to poor and middle-income citizens, and presents their perspectives and concerns with regard to rising tariffs and reforms in the energy sector overall. The report argues that by gaining a deeper understanding of the narratives that people attach to energy issues, governments can design better mitigation policies to address the reforms’ adverse impacts; better communication campaigns to convey the rationale of reforms to the public; and institute stronger accountability measures to help citizens protect their rights as consumers.

Green Finance and Investment Inventory of Energy Subsidies in the EU's Eastern Partnership Countries

Green Finance and Investment Inventory of Energy Subsidies in the EU's Eastern Partnership Countries PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264284311
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
This publication aims to provide the first comprehensive and consistent record of energy subsidies in the EaP region, with a view to improving transparency and establishing a solid analytical basis that can help build the case for further reforms in these countries.

Environmental Performance Reviews

Environmental Performance Reviews PDF Author: United Nations. Economic Commission for Europe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
This series assists countries to improve their environmental policies by making concrete recommendations for better policy design and implementation. It helps integrate environmental policies into sector-specific policies such as those in agriculture, energy, transport and health. The present publication contains the third Environmental Performance Review of Belarus. It takes stock of progress made by Belarus in the management of its environment since the country was reviewed for the second time in 2005. It assesses the implementation of the recommendations made in the second review. It also covers issues of specific importance to the country related to legal and policy frameworks, the financing of environmental policies, greening the economy, and integrating environmental concerns into selected sectors, in particular air protection, water management, waste management, biodiversity, forests and protected areas, energy, agriculture, transport, forestry, tourism, environmental education and education for sustainable development, human settlements and health

Turmoil at Twenty

Turmoil at Twenty PDF Author: Pradeep K. Mitra
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821381148
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
The transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, among all emerging- and developing-economy regions, have been hardest hit by the global economic crisis of 2008-09. This is partly due to the region s deep integration into the global economy across many dimensions trade, financial, and labor flows. Attempts by countries that came later to the transition to catch up rapidly to Western European living standards at a time when global liquidity was unusually abundant, together with some policy weaknesses, made them vulnerable to reversals in market sentiment. Written on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, 'Turmoil at Twenty' analyzes the run-up to the current crisis and addresses a number of key questions related to vulnerability to the recession, expected recovery, and necessary reforms in the region: Did the transition from command to market economies, and the period during which this took place, plant the seeds of vulnerability that made transition countries more prone to crisis than other developing countries? Did the choices made on the road from plan to market shape the ability of crisis-hit countries to recover? What combination of domestic policy reform and international collective action is needed to bring about a recovery and minimize the humanitarian cost of the crisis? What structural reforms are needed today to address the most binding constraints on growth in a world where capital fl ows to transition and developing countries are expected to be considerably lower than before the crisis? 'Turmoil at Twenty' will be of interest to policy makers and their advisers, researchers, and students of economics who seek lessons from the current economic crisis, as well as scholars of the transition.

Ukraine

Ukraine PDF Author: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 149832942X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
This paper discusses Ukraine’s Ex Post Evaluation of Exceptional Access Under the 2010 Stand-By Arrangement. For the most part, the 2010 program was appropriately designed given the ambitious agenda it had set out to accomplish. The macroeconomic strategy and program design correctly addressed the most important vulnerabilities—Ukraine’s large fiscal and quasi-fiscal deficits, its lack of resilience to external shocks, and lingering weaknesses in the financial sector. Although the program’s long duration was appropriate given its focus on medium-term issues, hindsight would suggest that a shorter program would have been preferable given the country’s past program performance.

Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations for 2002

Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations for 2002 PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic assistance, American
Languages : en
Pages : 1680

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Book Description


Energy Poverty

Energy Poverty PDF Author: Stefan Bouzarovski
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319692992
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 125

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Book Description
This open access book aims to consolidate and advance debates on European and global energy poverty by exploring the political and infrastructural drivers and implications of the condition across a variety of spatial scales. It highlights the need for a geographical conceptualization of the different ways in which household-level energy deprivation both influences and is contingent upon disparities occurring at a wider range of spatial scales. There is a strong focus on the relationships among energy transformation, institutional change and place-based factors in determining the nature and location of energy-related injustices. The book also explores how patterns and structures of energy poverty have changed over time, as evidenced by some of the common measures used to describe the condition. In part, this means investigating the makeup of energy poor demographics across various social and spatial cleavages. More broadly, it also argues that energy sector reconfigurations are both reflected in and shaped by various domains of social and political organization, especially in terms of creating poverty-relevant outcomes.

Lights Out?

Lights Out? PDF Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821382977
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
Emerging Europe and Central Asia, the region made up of the countries of Central and South East Europe (CSE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), is a major energy supplier to both Eastern and Western Europe. However, the outlook for both primary and derivative energy supplies is questionable, with a real prospect that there will be a significant decline during the next two decades. Western Europe is heavily dependent on energy imports from this region and therefore will be affected by declines in primary energy supplies. But Western Europe has the financial capacity to secure the energy supplies it needs (albeit at the expense of others). In contrast, the region s energy-importing countries are caught between Western Europe, which has increasing import needs, and it s own exporters, whose exports will likely decline. These countries face the prospect of being squeezed not only financially but also in terms of energy access. This difficult prospect is compounded by the deterioration of the energy infrastructure, including power generation and district heating. Although the public sector will have to finance a portion of these infrastructure investments, it will not have the capacity to meet the full needs. It is essential, therefore, that the countries in the region move quickly to put in place an enabling environment to support investment in the sector. Further complicating these issues are environmental concerns, in particular concern about climate change. EU member states and those with EU ambitions will need to meet the challenging EU greenhouse gas emissions targets. At the same time, a number of countries in the region will face the temptation to use environmentally unfriendly technology to meet their immediate energy needs. 'Lights Out?' analyzes key measures that can help countries address all of these challenges.

Toward gender-informed energy subsidy reforms

Toward gender-informed energy subsidy reforms PDF Author: Rebosio Calderon; Michelle P.; Georgieva, Sophia V.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
This report is a companion piece to the summary report “Adapting to Higher Energy Costs: Findings from Qualitative Studies in Europe and Central Asia”, which looks at poverty and social impact of energy subsidy reforms. In particular, this report examines whether energy subsidy reforms in ECA region impact men and women differently, and what it means for energy subsidy reforms to be more gender sensitive. Prior global studies on gender and energy suggest that men and women have different priorities when it comes to energy use; that the reforms may have unequal effects on their well-being; that they face different challenges in interacting with energy providers or social assistance institutions; and may have different views on and knowledge of policy reforms. Qualitative findings of this research indicate that gender-related vulnerabilities in energy reforms occur for the following reasons: the relative economic vulnerability of women and female headed-households; intra-household roles related to energy use, and to procurement of energy sources and appliances; impacts of household coping strategies on the well-being of both women and men; and behavioral differences in how women and men interact with relevant institutions, such as energy providers and social assistance offices.