The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) SOUTH ASIA | Afghanistan | IBRD/IDA | Investment Project Financing (IPF) | FY 2019 | Seq No: 9 | Archived on 08-May-2024 | ISR00434 Implementing Agencies: Da Afghanistan Bank, Ministry of Finance 1. OBJECTIVE 1.1 Development Objective Original Development Objective (Approved as part of Approval package on 25-Apr-2019) The PDO is to support the development of digital government-to-person payments in Afghanistan. Has the Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? Yes Current Development Objective (Approved as part of Restructuring package Seq. 1 on 12-Jan-2021) The PDO is to support the development of digital government-to-person payments in Afghanistan. 2. COMPONENTS Name Component 1: Biometric identification system for civil servants and pensioners:(Cost 5,000,000.00) Component 2: Integration of the Identification, Verification and Payment Systems:(Cost 9,600,000.00) Component 3: Expansion of financial services and access points:(Cost 8,400,000.00) Component 4: Project management:(Cost 2,000,000.00) 3. OVERALL RATINGS Name Previous Current Progress towards achievement of PDO Moderately Unsatisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Unsatisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Risk Rating High High May 08, 2024 Page 1 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) 4. KEY ISSUES & STATUS 4.1 Implementation Status and Key Decisions The Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund (ARTF) in the project was canceled based on the consideration that the project cannot be effectively implemented under the current extraordinary situation in Afghanistan. Undisbursed IDA grants under this project will remain suspended until a decision is made by the World Bank. 5. SYSTEMATIC OPERATIONS RISK-RATING TOOL Rating at Approval Last Approved Rating Risk Category Approval Package - ISR Seq. 08 - 31 Oct Proposed Rating 25 Apr 2019 2023 Political and Governance High High High Macroeconomic High High High Sector Strategies and Policies High High High Technical Design of Project or Program High High High Institutional Capacity for Implementation and High High High Sustainability Fiduciary Substantial Substantial Substantial Environment and Social Low Low Low Stakeholders High Substantial Substantial Overall High High High May 08, 2024 Page 2 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) 6. RESULTS 6.1 PDO Indicators by PDO Outcomes Unique identification of civil servants and pensioners for G2P payment purpose Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) Closing Period Indicator Name Value Month/Year Value Date Value Date Value Month/Year 0.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 0.00 12-Aug-2021 70.00 Oct/2024 Comments on This is the percentage of civil servants and pensioners who are biometrically-registered and Percentage of civil servants achieving targets received a unique identification number issued through NSIA and to be used for payment and pensioners biometrically- registered and issued a purposes. unique identifier for payment purposes (Percentage) No change in value - relevant activities have not started. Percentage of female 0.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 70.00 Oct/2024 civil servants and Comments on This indicator tracks progress for women only. pensioners achieving targets biometrically registered (Percentage) Increased efficiency in government payments Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) Closing Period Indicator Name Value Month/Year Value Date Value Date Value Month/Year Percentage of civil servants 60.00 Dec/2018 60.00 12-Aug-2021 80.00 Oct/2024 and pensioners who received Comments on This is indicator will calculate the percentage of civil servants and pensioners receiving government payments achieving targets payments through electronic means including banks accounts as well as mobile wallets. This through electronic channels indicator will be disaggregated by gender. (Percentage) May 08, 2024 Page 3 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) No change in value - relevant activities have not started, 60.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 80.00 Oct/2024 Comments on The current system makes it very difficult for MoF to get this disaggregated data. Baseline Percentage of female achieving targets cannot thus be established. Nevertheless the end-project objective is to ensure that female civil servants and civil servants and pensioners are not left behind when it comes to transition to electronic pensioners who receive payments. 80 percent of women are expected to be paid through electronic channels by end- government payments project (same distribution as overall beneficiaries). through electronic channels (Percentage) With systems upgrade and payment reforms, this indicator -tracking for omen only - will be updated during project implementation, at least annually. Increased capacity for digital payments Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) Closing Period Indicator Name Value Month/Year Value Date Value Date Value Month/Year 2,890.00 Sep/2018 2,890.00 12-Aug-2021 3,250.00 Oct/2024 Comments on The term " financial access points" is meant as the sum of: (1) the number of branches of achieving targets commercial banks and licensed Electronic Money Institutions; (2) the number of active agents of licensed financial institutions; (3) the number of in-service ATMs of commercial banks; and Number of financial access (4) the number of POS terminals accepting electronic payments. Once MFIs connect to APS, points (Number) their branches will be included. No change in value - Updated data on active number of agents not available with DAB. Related project activities have also not started. May 08, 2024 Page 4 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) 14.00 Dec/2018 68.00 12-Aug-2021 68.00 12-Aug-2021 100.00 Oct/2024 Percentage of financial Comments on No change in value: the onboarding of additional financial institutions is ongoing. Certificates institutions connected to the achieving targets of completion are pending for 4 financial instiutions. APS (Percentage) 6.2 Intermediate Results Indicators by Components Component 1: Biometric identification system for civil servants and pensioners Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) Closing Period Indicator Name Value Month/Year Value Date Value Date Value Month/Year No Dec/2018 No 12-Aug-2021 Yes Oct/2024 Comments on This indicator is meant to follow up on the progress towards setting up a national unified Unified biometric achieving targets platform for biometric identification. identification system for civil servants and pensioners is implemented (Text) No change in value - relevant activities have not started. Inadequate Mar/2019 Inadequate 12-Aug-2021 Inadequate 12-Aug-2021 A Oct/2021 comprehensiv e legal Legal and regulatory framework has framework established, been enacted including for data protection Comments on A comprehensive legal framework - that sets out the purposes of the ID system, defines the (Text) achieving targets role, duties, governance and independence of the NSIA, sets out the scope of personal data to be collected, establishes appropriate data protection and privacy rights (assuming no general data protection and privacy framework is enacted), creates a mandate for technology and vendor neutrality, and is harmonized with existing legal instruments will be developed. May 08, 2024 Page 5 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) No change in value - the procurement for the related consultacy assignment to develop a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework has not yet stated (Terms of reference have been finalized) Component 2: Integration of the Identification, Verification and Payment Systems Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) Closing Period Indicator Name Value Month/Year Value Date Value Date Value Month/Year Number of government 0.00 Dec/2018 2.00 12-Aug-2021 2.00 12-Aug-2021 1.00 Oct/2024 systems integrated with Comments on Integration between AFMIS - APS and ATS completed AFMIS (Number) achieving targets Number of digital 37,811.00 Dec/2018 239,601.00 15-Dec-2020 239,601.00 15-Dec-2020 419,063.00 Oct/2024 transactions facilitated Comments on As more financial institutions are connected , the volume of digital transactions routed through APS for the year achieving targets through APS increases. (Number) Component 3: Expansion of financial services and access points Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) Closing Period Indicator Name Value Month/Year Value Date Value Date Value Month/Year 0.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 5.00 Oct/2024 Comments on No change in value - relevant activities have not started achieving targets Percentage of civil servants that are active users of digital This indicator measures the percentage of civil servants that have used digital payments at payments (Percentage) least once over a 12-month period. Digital payments will include but not be limited to: transactions via card, mobile and other digital platforms. Through a series of surveys, this indicator will monitor usage of digital payments. This indicator tracks the adoption of digital payments, and monitors digital transactions. May 08, 2024 Page 6 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) Percentage of female 0.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 0.00 12-Aug-2021 5.00 Oct/2024 civil servants that use Comments on This sub-indicator tracks outcome for women only. digital payments achieving targets (Percentage) 1,879.00 Sep/2018 1,879.00 09-May-2021 2,250.00 Oct/2024 Comments on The number of active agents of licensed financial institutions offering, at the minimum, cash-in Number of agents of licensed achieving targets and cash-out services financial institutions (Number) No change in value - updated data not yet available ; and relevant activities have not started 180.00 Sep/2018 180.00 09-May-2021 180.00 09-May-2021 225.00 Oct/2024 Number of female Comments on Of which, owned or operated by women. 10 percent target of the total number of agents agents (Number) achieving targets Component 4: Project management Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) Closing Period Indicator Name Value Month/Year Value Date Value Date Value Month/Year 0.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 0.00 12-Aug-2021 75.00 Oct/2024 Comments on No change in value - the GRM is not yet in place. Progress is behind schedule, partly due to Percentage of civil servants achieving targets COVID-19 and uncertainty over project activities. Establishment of GRM is pending and beneficiaries that are recruitment of a safeguard specialist . satisfied with the level of service (Percentage) Women only - 0.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 0.00 12-Aug-2021 75.00 Oct/2024 Satisfaction with level May 08, 2024 Page 7 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) of service (Percentage) 0.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 80.00 Oct/2024 Comments on This indicator measures effectiveness of citizen feedback mechanisms established under the achieving targets Project. It measures the percentage of cases (including complaints and inquiries) that are addressed as per the standards agreed upon in the GRM procedures. Grievances addressed within stipulated time No change in value - the GRM is not yet in place. Progress is behind schedule, partly due to (Percentage) COVID-19 and uncertainty over project activities. Establishment of GRM is pending recruitment of a safeguard specialist . Women only - 0.00 Dec/2018 0.00 12-Aug-2021 80.00 Oct/2024 Grievances addressed Comments on This indicator measures effectiveness of citizen feedback mechanisms established under the within stipulated time achieving targets Project. It measures the percentage of cases (including complaints and inquiries) that are (Percentage) addressed as per the standards agreed upon in the GRM procedures. May 08, 2024 Page 8 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) 7. DATA ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 7.1 Cumulative Disbursements 7.2 Disbursements (by loan) Loan/Credit/TF Status Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed IDA-D4530 Effective 10.00 6.81 3.19 1.10 4.49 16.16% TF-B0027 Effective 35.00 4.38 30.62 3.91 0.47 89.27% 7.3 Key Dates (by loan) Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Signing Effectiveness Orig. Closing Rev. Closing IDA-D4530 Effective 25-Apr-2019 01-Jul-2019 25-Sep-2019 31-Oct-2024 31-Oct-2024 May 08, 2024 Page 9 of 10 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Payments Automation and Integration of Salaries in Afghanistan (PAISA) (P168266) TF-B0027 Effective 25-Apr-2019 01-Jul-2019 25-Sep-2019 31-Oct-2024 31-Oct-2024 8. KEY DATES Key Events Planned Actual Approval 25-Apr-2019 25-Apr-2019 Effectiveness 25-Jul-2019 25-Sep-2019 Mid-Term Review No. 01 01-Jun-2024 Operation Closing/Cancellation 31-Oct-2024 9. RESTRUCTURING HISTORY Restructuring Level 2 Approved on 23-Dec-2020 10. ASSOCIATED OPERATION(S) There are no associated operations May 08, 2024 Page 10 of 10