Selected Issues Papers

Public Spending Adequacy and Efficiency in Guatemala: Sectoral Gaps and Priorities

By Carolina Bloch, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Mariano Moszoro, Marianela Armijo

September 25, 2025

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Format: Chicago

Carolina Bloch, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Mariano Moszoro, and Marianela Armijo. "Public Spending Adequacy and Efficiency in Guatemala: Sectoral Gaps and Priorities", Selected Issues Papers 2025, 128 (2025), accessed September 26, 2025, https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229025386.018

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Summary

Guatemala faces the challenge of closing persistent social and infrastructure gaps with one of the lowest public spending levels among developing economies. This low level of spending reflects the state’s limited capacity to expand service coverage, improve quality, and reduce long-standing disparities in secondary school attendance, maternal and child health, and access to water and sanitation. In support of the government’s efforts to improve the quality of spending, this paper provides a preliminary diagnostic of spending adequacy and efficiency in education, health, social assistance, and infrastructure, using an aggregate and sectoral lens, and assessing some of the institutional and PFM constraints hindering the government’s capacity to plan, execute and evaluate allocation of public resources.

Subject: Budget planning and preparation, Education, Education spending, Expenditure, Health, Infrastructure, National accounts, Public financial management (PFM), Public investment spending

Keywords: Budget planning and preparation, Education, Education spending, Guatemala, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Public investment spending, Public spending, Spending efficiency

Publication Details

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