This paper is one of five country case studies which seek to answer the questions how, when and why does poverty get budget priority?

This study is based on a review of the extensive existing literature, and on a series of structured interviews with participants in the policy process in government, civil society and the donor community during February and March 2001.

The introductory section provides some country background, followed by a discussion of poverty and poverty policy in section 2. Sections 3 and 4 examine public expenditure and its impact on poverty, and the institutional framework of public sector reforms. Public expenditure management issues are investigated in section 5, followed by a discussion of poverty and public expenditure information and analysis in section 6. Section 7 examines public sector transparency, legislative oversight and participation of civil society. Section 8 concludes with a discussion of the research hypotheses that are common to all six case studies.