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Middle East West Asia Executive Summary This study presents an overview and comparison of local government finance in seven countries of the Middle East and Western Asia (MEWA): Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian National Authority, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, and Yemen. There have been important efforts recently to reform local government finance in the MEWA region. Examples of this are new laws that were adopted in Turkey since 2002 as part of its European Union membership process; a reform project in Jordan to transfer the responsibility of property tax collection and management from the Ministry of Finance to municipalities, the advances accomplished in the modernization of municipal administration in Syria in the framework of the current Five Year Plan (20062011); and the 1997 law on local authorities in Palestine. In Lebanon, in October 2009 the National Government, at its highest level, committed to further support decentralization and local government reinforcement during an international seminar organized by the UCLG in Tripoli (Lebanon). Local democracy is also in progress. Local elections took place in 2010 in Lebanon, allowing democratic renewal of local leaders. In Jordan a new municipalities' law was issued in 2007 that allows for full election of municipal councils and mayors, and dedicates a 20 percent quota for women. In Iraq and Yemen, provincial councils and governors have been elected for the first time in January 2009 and in May 2008 respectively. On the other hand, local elections have not, for the moment, been renewed in Saudi Arabia. While local elections in Iran were
scheduled for 2011, they may be delayed until the presidential elections in 2013.
Main issues and challenges for local government finance Some of the main challenges facing local government finance are: •
Prevalence of deconcentrated government structure
•
Significant spatial expenditures
•
Ad-hoc intergovernmental borrowing practices
•
Internal and external conflicts
•
Weak local participation
disparity
capacity
in
transfers
and
public
and
community
Local government systems in most of the MEWA region, with the exception of Turkey and Palestine, can be characterized as a form of deconcentration rather than one of devolved local self-government. In general, the public administration system is highly centralized, equipped with an elaborate system of deconcentrated field offices of line agencies and a good number of lower tier governments such as governorates, districts, and a variety of municipalities. Decisions for the most part, especially service delivery decisions, are made by the central government and the role of subnational authorities is largely confined to carrying these out. In all countries, the deconcentrated units of the central government provide a big chunk of public services, including health and education, under strict guidance of
Mehmet Tosun University of Nevada, Reno, U.S.A.