Economics & Development

Raising revenue right is a defining challenge for emerging market and developing economies. Tax systems must do three things well: mobilize sufficient revenue to finance public goods and social protection, limit efficiency distortions, and ensure that the tax-and-transfer system is fair. This report presents an integrated framework to help policy makers identify the best balance between efficiency and fairness for raising a given amount of revenue—referred to in this book as the fiscal frontier—and the paths countries can take to reach it. The analysis draws on a growing body of public finance research and country case studies, many supported by the World Bank and grounded in administrative data. To help countries apply this framework, Raising Revenue Right: A Roadmap for Domestic Resource Mobilization first assesses the state of revenue mobilization today. It then examines how countries can harness the 3Ts—technology, transparency, and trust—which can help move countries toward the fiscal frontier and, in some cases, push the frontier outward. Digital tools, better use of data, cross-border information sharing, and stronger trust between citizens and the state can improve tax administration and compliance, opening new possibilities for raising revenue. Next, it provides a toolkit covering three areas: using taxes as instruments of environmental and industrial policy; applying the Marginal Value of Public Funds framework to assess whether and how to raise additional revenue; and using administrative tax data to generate policy insights. The final chapter provides policy makers with practical guidance on implementing the report’s key lessons.

The development objective of the Second Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project – Additional Financing for India is to increase the safety of selected dams in participating States and to strengthen dam safety management in India. The additional financing is proposed to scale up the national dam safety program to cover an additional 100 to 150 high risk large dams and to deepen institutional capacity, sustainable financing, and long-term asset management required to operationalize the Dam Safety Act 2021, including the design of a National Dam Safety Fund (NDSF). The World Bank will support structural rehabilitation and modernization of dams (such as seepage reduction, spillway strengthening, and electro-mechanical upgrades), complemented by non-structural measures including updated operation and maintenance manuals, basic instrumentation, flood forecasting and early warning systems, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), reservoir sediment management, and Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) prepared and tested with communities. Institutional strengthening will include establishing and reinforcing Dam Safety Organizations (DSOs) and Dam Safety Review Panels (DSRPs), integrating dam safety with disaster management plans at multiple administrative levels through incident response systems and drills, expanding capacity building and graduate programs, and enhancing research and knowledge partnerships via Centers of Excellence (CoEs). Risk-informed asset management will be advanced through the three-tier Risk Assessment and Classification Framework (RACF), comprehensive asset management plans, and a national dam asset management system, while improving the predictability and adequacy of operation and maintenance financing and developing alternative revenue streams such as tourism, fisheries, and floating solar, including exploration of public private partnership options where feasible. The project intends to reduce the likelihood and consequences of dam failures, enhance climate resilience of critical water infrastructure, and protect livelihoods by lowering flood and drought risks downstream; it will contribute to people with enhanced resilience to climate risks, targeted at 13.5 million beneficiaries, reduce crop losses and power disruptions, generate more and better-paid job equivalents, and strengthen the governance and regulatory systems mandated by the Dam Safety Act 2021.

The Executive Directors discussed the World Bank Group (WBG) Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Thailand for FY2027 to FY2032, welcoming its alignment with the 14th National Economic and Social Development Plan and the WBG jobs framework centered on private sector-led job creation, its focus on two outcomes of a more competitive private sector and enhanced resilience for growth, the embedding of more and better jobs and private capital mobilization as cross-cutting priorities, and attention to challenges from the silver economy and aging. Directors endorsed selective engagement to mobilize private capital and create better jobs through a One WBG approach, stressed strong government reform collaboration and results-focused partnerships with other development partners including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and noted appreciation for Thailand hosting the Annual Meetings in Bangkok in October 2026.