Nicaragua: Change and Continuity

Description:
Country Report 2004: Nicaragua, Executive Summary
The present country study observes some continuity and several novelties in relation to the fight against poverty in Nicaragua. After having obtained debt relief in the HIPC context, Nicaragua has, with the publication of the National Development Plan (PND) and the Operational PND, entered a stage which could be described as second-generation PRSPs. The considerable effort of institutional development and of planning that has been carried out by the country, and of which these plans are part, has been analyzed focusing on three main aspects. First, if the policies proposed could effectively be implemented, would they directly contribute to the reduction of poverty? A second question concerns the government of Nicaraguas real capacity, both administrative and financial, to implement these policies. The third aspect concerns the pressures that these structures and procedures are bound to exert upon the state bureaucracy and its professional capabilities.