Reports

Understanding Financial Accounts seeks to show how a range of questions on financial developments can be answered with the framework of financial accounts and balance sheets, by providing non-technical explanations illustrated with practical examples: What are the basic principles, concepts and definitions used for this framework which is part of the system of national accounts? What sources and which methodologies are used for their compilation? How are these used to monitor and analyse economic and financial developments? What can we learn about the 2007-2009 economic and financial crisis when looking at the numbers provided in this framework? What can we learn about financial risks and vulnerabilities? This publication is intended for young statisticians, students, journalists, economists, policy makers and citizens, who want to know more about the statistics that are at the heart of the analysis of financial developments in OECD economies.

Chile’s planning and governance framework has supported the roll-out of high quality and efficient infrastructure that has been a key enabler of the country’s rapid development over the past two decades. However, changing circumstances such as climate change, decentralisation and a greater focus on social and territorial equity now require a change in how infrastructure needs are identified and addressed. This review examines Chile’s infrastructure stock and governance standards in light of the country’s 2030 growth agenda and OECD benchmarks, and sets out how such change can be achieved, with a special focus on transport and water infrastructure.

This report discusses the main results of a study on how to reduce air pollution from urban public transport in Kazakhstan. More specifically, it presents the analysis of how to design a green public investment programme in this sector. This sector represents an opportunity for Kazakhstan to address key objectives in its environmental and climate-related policies as part of the country’s ambitions to transit to a green economic path of development. In addition to supporting environmental and climate-related objectives, the programme is designed to support the modernisation of the urban transport fleet in the country as well as stimulate the domestic market to shift to modern buses powered by clean fuels.

The programme is designed to be implemented in two phases: Phase 1 which covers the cities of Kostanay and Shymkent; and Phase 2 which extends the coverage to all major urban centres in Kazakhstan. Two scenarios for the implementation of the second (extended) phase of the programme are developed. Their total cost is estimated to be up to EUR 300 mln. These investments are expected to result in significant air improvement with NOx emissions seeing the greatest decline of up to 2 mln kg/year, whereas CO2 emissions are estimated to decline in an ideal scenario by up to 70 thousand t/year.

This report assesses the state of Armenia’s sanitation services, which are in poor shape, and proposes ways forward for reforming the sector by: ensuring equitable access by all and identifying solutions that work for the poorest and most remote communities; generating economies of scale and scope, and reducing both investment and operational costs for the efficient delivery of sanitation services; and moving towards sustainable cost recovery for the sanitation sector, by identifying how much funding can be mobilised from within the sector and how much external transfers are required. The state of Armenia’s sanitation services are inadequate, with 51% of the population in rural areas using unimproved facilities, causing direct damage to the environment and exposing inhabitants to health risks, and better access but degraded sewerage-system infrastructure in urban areas, posing health hazards due to potential cross-contamination between sewage and drinking water. According to preliminary estimates, EUR 2.6 billion of investments will be required to meet Armenia’s sanitation needs, with approximately EUR 1 billion needing to be spent in the next 7 to 10 years. Given the country’s current economic situation, this investment will have to be spread over time and targeted to avoid further deterioration of infrastructure and increase of the financing gap.