Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the El Salvadoran government's implementation of mandated programs to rebuild the country's social, economic, and political structures, focusing on the: (1) programs' estimated implementation costs; (2) availability of funds to finance the programs; and (3) status of three of the mandated programs.

GAO found that: (1) the Salvadoran government will need $1.83 billion through 1996 to implement the mandated programs; (2) although the United States and other international donors agree that the estimated costs are realistic, they have committed only $1.15 billion to date; (3) high-priority programs are more underfunded than low-priority programs because of donors' restrictions on the use of their funds; (4) donors are not likely to increase the level of their funding; (5) the Salvadoran government expects that the programs will be implemented on a more modest scale than originally planned due to funding shortfalls, but it may be able to increase its own contributions because of greater than forecasted economic growth, improved tax collections, and two unrestricted loans; (6) the three programs have not been implemented as rapidly as expected; (7) insufficient funding has slowed the development of the National Civilian Police and its academy, which has resulted in the deployment of undertrained and poorly equipped recruits; (8) political negotiations over program elements between Salvadoran factions and administrative and technical problems have delayed land transfers and the National Reconstruction Plan; and (9) the Agency for International Development has acted to correct some of the administrative and technical problems associated with the land transfers and the National Reconstruction Plan.