In preparation for its 2019-2022 Country Partnership Framework with South Africa, the World Bank Group has drafted a Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) which forms the basis of this book. Its aim is to strengthen understanding of the constraints in achieving two goals in South Africa: to eliminate poverty by 2030, and to boost shared prosperity. These goals are enshrined in South Africa’s Vision 2030 in the National Development Plan.

This book is the result of consultations and conversations with key government departments, the National Planning Commission, the private sector, academics and trade unions. It identifies five broad policy priorities: to build South Africa’s skills base; to reduce the highly skewed distribution of land and productive assets; to increase competitiveness and the country’s participation in global and regional value chains; to overcome apartheid spatial patterns; and to increase the country’s strategic adaptation to climate change. The key obstacle to growth that has been identified is ‘the legacy of exclusion’.

Undoing this is a long-term process, but renewed commitment by the political leadership to strengthen institutions and rebuild the social contract present an enormous opportunity in achieving progress towards South Africa’s Vision 2030.

How can we manage cross-border mobility in a manner that is beneficial to all? The World Development Report 2023 shifts from a narrow focus on labor markets for migrants and legal protection for refugees to a more holistic perspective -- one that recognizes the humanity of migrants and the complexity of the societies of origin and destination.

How can we manage cross-border mobility in a manner that is beneficial to all? The World Development Report 2023 shifts from a narrow focus on labor markets for migrants and legal protection for refugees to a more holistic perspective -- one that recognizes the humanity of migrants and the complexity of the societies of origin and destination.

This report examines the use of natural capital (natural resources and services) around the world. It finds that most countries are using these resources inefficiently, and closing these efficiency gaps can address many of the world's pressing economic and environmental problems.

First Published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This toolkit outlines the multiphased approach needed to set up a health hotline or telemedicine service at a national scale while also providing tools that can be used to, for example, cost out and design the system, contract service providers, and/or engage mobile network operators.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will create the largest free trade area in the world, measured by the number of countries participating. The pact will connect 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined GDP valued at $3.4 trillion. It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035. But achieving its fullpotential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures.The scope of the agreement is considerable. It will reduce tariffs among member countries and cover policy areas, such as trade facilitation and services, as well as regulatory measures, such as sanitary standards and technical barriers to trade. It will complement existing subregional economic communities and trade agreements by offering a continent-wide regulatory framework and by regulating policy areas-such as investment and intellectual property rights protection-that have not been covered in most subregional agreements.The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects quantifies the long-term implications of the agreement for growth, trade, poverty reduction, and employment. Its analysis goes beyond that in previous studies that have largely focused on tariff and nontariff barriers in goods-by including the effects of services and trade facilitation measures,as well as the distributional impacts on poverty, employment, and wages of female and male workers. It is designed to guide policy makers as they develop and implement the extensive range of reforms needed to realize the substantial rewards that the agreement offers. The analysis shows that full implementation of AfCFTA could boost income by 7 percent, or nearly $450 billion, in 2014 prices and market exchange rates. The agreement would also significantly expand African trade-particularly intraregional trade in manufacturing. In addition, it would increase employment opportunities and wages for unskilled workers and help close the wage gap between men and women.

This pocket-sized reference on key development data for more than 200 countries provides profiles of each country with 54 development indicators about the financial sector access and services for lower income people.

This book is about global public goods (GPGs), particularly those related to the environment, in the context of the global development process. We, the co-editors of this volume, are concerned with the long-term sustainability of development, as the distinction between developing and developed countries is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. We contend that global sustainability depends on indeed, consists of the provision of certain GPGs, and that the prevailing approach to development assistance does not sufficiently recognize this fact. A key question is whether the country-ownership model is even compatible with global sustainability. A second key question is whether the political will exists to make the provision of GPGs an explicit and central objective of official development assistance especially in the face of objections from those who believe aid should be solely concerned with the eradication of poverty through national or community-level interventions. A third key question concerns the mobilization and use of resources for the World Bank s work to support the provision of GPGs. The Bank is a major player on many regional and global issues, but its work at these levels is usually enabled by donor contributions, most often in the form of grants, targeted for a particular purpose. International development assistance needs to undergo a major transition, such that it takes as an explicit and principal objective the provision of GPGs important for development. The World Bank can play a leadership role in this transition, working within new kinds of coalitions but not abandoning the fundamentals of its operating model. Some of the most important GPGs are provided through the separate and cumulative actions of multiple countries, so the challenge for the Bank is to find ways of investing strategically and sharing knowledge across countries, while keeping faith with their national development strategies, so as to achieve maximum global impacts. The World Bank can also play a unique role in stimulating the private provision of GPGs through risk-sharing and market creation."

The World Development Report 2022 is a practical guide to help low-and-middle-income countries strengthen financial markets for a more equitable recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis. The report examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from COVID-19. Based on an in-depth look at the consequences of the crisis most likely to affect low- and middle-income economies, it advocates a set of policies and measures to mitigate the interconnected economic risks stemming from the pandemic-risks that may become more acute as stimulus measures are withdrawn at both the domestic and global levels.

The global economy has experienced four waves of rapid debt accumulation over the past fifty years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging and developing economies.

The World Development Report 2022 is a practical guide to help low-and-middle-income countries strengthen financial markets for a more equitable recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis. The report examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from COVID-19. Based on an in-depth look at the consequences of the crisis most likely to affect low- and middle-income economies, it advocates a set of policies and measures to mitigate the interconnected economic risks stemming from the pandemic-risks that may become more acute as stimulus measures are withdrawn at both the domestic and global levels.

This book provides analytical contributions to the design of fiscal rules in small economies in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. These economies usually face high levels of output volatility, large terms-of-trade shocks, and exposure to natural disasters. The relationship between fiscal rules and economic size has not been systematically assessed in the literature. Determining which fiscal rules are most appropriate for smaller economies can contribute toward improving their design and effectiveness. The study reviews the performance of fiscal rules worldwide and provides information on which rule types are most common, which have the best record for compliance, and which features tend to improve their performance. It provides practical policy directions drawn from international experience to assist policymakers of smaller economies in designing and implementing more effective fiscal rules.

International Debt Statistics (IDS) is a longstanding annual publication of the World Bank featuring external debt statistics and analysis for the 123 low- and middle-income countries that report to the World Bank Debt Reporting System (DRS).

Policymakers across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have long tried to integrate their people spatially and economically. Wishing to bring communities together and narrow economic gaps, governments have made large capital investments in transport corridors and "new cities." Hoping to provide jobs in places with little economic activity, governments have designated new industrial zones supported by spatially targeted business incentives. Yet the results of these place-based initiatives in MENA are limited. The disparities between capital cities and lagging areas, and between richer and poorer quarters of cities, remain stark. Across much of the region, a fortunate few are connected to opportunity, while many more people are marginal to the formal economy--or live outside it, seemingly forgotten. Why have place-based spatial initiatives in MENA countries largely underdelivered not yielding more sustainable jobs and growth? While the challenges are many and vary across the region, this report explains that many of these place-based policies get one thing wrong: they attempt to treat inequity's spatial and physical symptoms, not its causes. This report presents the five roots of spatial inequity in institutional inefficiencies across MENA--urban regulatory frictions, credentialist education systems, centralized control over local public services, barriers to the spatial mobility of goods and people, and barriers to market entry and lop-sided business environments - within cities, within countries, and across national borders. It proposes five transitional steps toward enabling convergence informed by economic geography.

Many cities have sought to replicate the urban bus public-private partnership (PPP) structures that succeeded at the beginning of the millennium, such as those implemented in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. These cities improved their public transportation systems in the face of rapid urbanization, rising air pollution, and increasing road safety incidents through these PPP interventions. Examining these past international experiences, and others, Public-Private Partnerships in Urban Bus Systems: An Analytical Framework for Project Identification and Preparation first challenges the assumption that PPP structures are always the optimal approach for improving urban bus systems. The authors use relevant case studies to demonstrate that structuring such PPPs in cities in the developing world requires tailor-made interventions that respond to local contexts. The authors identify essential elements for PPP feasibility and invite readers to consider alternative solutions for achieving the desired objectives. This book presents an analytical framework that public transportation practitioners can use to support the process of identifying and preparing appropriate technical, financial, and legal structures to improve urban mobility if a PPP is the preferred solution. It follows a detailed, risk-based approach to thoroughly analyze the challenges that might be experienced by cities that pursue private participation in proposed urban bus interventions. Using specific examples, the authors thoroughly analyze the risks and the specific potential planning-stage challenges likely to be encountered and suggest strategies for practitioners to respond to the specific local contexts and the various alternative solutions. This study builds upon international experiences, predominantly in Latin America and in PPPs focused on streamlining fleet provision and operation. Finally, the book helps to identify and define bankable project structures that could respond well to local contexts and minimize risks

Today's unprecedented growth of data and their ubiquity in our lives are signs that the data revolution is transforming the world. And yet much of the value of data remains untapped. Data collected for one purpose have the potential to generate economic and social value in applications far beyond those originally anticipated. But many barriers stand in the way, ranging from misaligned incentives and incompatible data systems to a fundamental lack of trust. World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives explores the tremendous potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, while also acknowledging its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies. To address this tension between the helpful and harmful potential of data, this Report calls for a new social contract that enables the use and reuse of data to create economic and social value, ensures equitable access to that value, and fosters trust that data will not be misused in harmful ways. This Report begins by assessing how better use and reuse of data can enhance the design of public policies, programs, and service delivery, as well as improve market efficiency and job creation through private sector growth. Because better data governance is key to realizing this value, the Report then looks at how infrastructure policy, data regulation, economic policies, and institutional capabilities enable the sharing of data for their economic and social benefits, while safeguarding against harmful outcomes. The Report concludes by pulling together the pieces and offering an aspirational vision of an integrated national data system that would deliver on the promise of producing high-quality data and making them accessible in a way that promotes their safe use and reuse. By examining these opportunities and challenges, the Report shows how data can benefit the lives of all people, but particularly poor people in low- and middle-income countries

Today's unprecedented growth of data and their ubiquity in our lives are signs that the data revolution is transforming the world. And yet much of the value of data remains untapped. Data collected for one purpose have the potential to generate economic and social value in applications far beyond those originally anticipated. But many barriers stand in the way, ranging from misaligned incentives and incompatible data systems to a fundamental lack of trust. World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives explores the tremendous potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, while also acknowledging its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies. To address this tension between the helpful and harmful potential of data, this Report calls for a new social contract that enables the use and reuse of data to create economic and social value, ensures equitable access to that value, and fosters trust that data will not be misused in harmful ways. This Report begins by assessing how better use and reuse of data can enhance the design of public policies, programs, and service delivery, as well as improve market efficiency and job creation through private sector growth. Because better data governance is key to realizing this value, the Report then looks at how infrastructure policy, data regulation, economic policies, and institutional capabilities enable the sharing of data for their economic and social benefits, while safeguarding against harmful outcomes. The Report concludes by pulling together the pieces and offering an aspirational vision of an integrated national data system that would deliver on the promise of producing high-quality data and making them accessible in a way that promotes their safe use and reuse. By examining these opportunities and challenges, the Report shows how data can benefit the lives of all people, but particularly poor people in low- and middle-income countries

Productivity growth is the foundation of lasting income growth and poverty reduction: Poverty declined in EMDEs with the fastest pace of productivity growth 1981-2015, and rose in EMDEs with the lowest pace. A broad-based slowdown in productivity growth has been underway. Productivity levels in EMDEs remain less than 20 percent of the advanced-economy average, and just 2 percent in LICs. Factors contributing to the productivity deceleration include smaller gains from sectoral reallocation, a slowdown in improvements in many drivers of productivity growth, and an increase in the frequency of adverse shocks.

International Debt Statistics (IDS) is a longstanding annual publication of the World Bank featuring external debt statisticsand analysis for the 123 low- and middle-income countries that report to the World Bank Debt Reporting System (DRS). Thecontent coverage of IDS 2021 includes:.1) a user guide describing the IDS tables and content, definitions and rationale forcountry and income groupings, data notes, and description of the additional resources and comprehensive datasetsavailable to users online, 2) a brief overview analyzing global trends in debt stocks and debt flows to low- and middleincomecountries within the framework of aggregate capital flows (debt and equity), 3) tables and charts detailing debtor and creditorcomposition of debt stock and flows, terms volume and terms of new commitments, maturity structure of future debtservice payments and debt burdens, measured in relation to GNI and export earnings for each country, and 4) one-pagesummaries per country, plus global, regional and income-group aggregates showing debt stocks and flows, relevant debtindicators and metadata.

Just like nearly every aspect of human experience, crime, civil conflict, and violence have become increasingly global. Around the world, civil wars, of which there are more today than at any time since the end of World War II, displace greater numbers of people ever further from their countries of origin. Transnational terrorism has reached a 50-year high, in terms of both its incidence and the number of reported fatalities. Cross-border criminal markets—illicit drugs, human trafficking, wildlife trade, and so forth—take a heavy toll on the many societies they affect. This Policy Research Report, The Internationalisation of Crime, Conflict, and Violence, offers a unified framework to take stock of the theoretical and empirical literature on crime, conflict, and violence and to discuss how the international community organizes itself to address security as a regional and global public good. The increasingly global effects of crime and conflict require an equally global response to violence

It is over a decade since the 2009 Global Recession. Most emerging market and developing economies weathered the global recession relatively well. However, following a short-lived initial rebound in activity in 2010, the global economy and, especially, emerging market and developing economies, have suffered a decade of weak growth despite unprecedented monetary policy accommodation and several rounds of fiscal stimulus in major economies. A Decade After the Global Recession provides the first comprehensive stock-taking of the decade since the global recession for emerging market and developing economies. It reviews the experience of emerging market and developing economies during and after the recession. Many of these economies have now become more vulnerable to economic shocks. The study discusses lessons from the global recession and policy options for these economies to strengthen growth and be prepared should another global downturn occur

The share of people living in extreme poverty, as assessed by the international poverty line (currently set at USD$1.90 a day), has become one of the most prominent indicators for assessing global economic development. It has been a central indicator for the Millennium Development Goals and is now an important indicator among the Sustainable Development Goals. The World Bank's Poverty and Shared Prosperity series is the official source for the latest global estimates of poverty and shared prosperity. Each report also expands on a particular theme. As the world continues to make progress in eradicating poverty, efforts to monitor progress in reaching our goals will need to bring greater attention to ensuring that no one is left unaccounted for, that everyone counts - and the 2018 report explores the implications of this. Chapters 1 and 2 provide updates on the status of global poverty and the state of shared prosperity in the world. Chapter 3 examines the usefulness of a measure of societal poverty, which takes both absolute and relative aspects of deprivation into account above a certain income level. This measure provides a higher estimate of global poverty, which allows for the notion that participating in society may require more resources in richer countries. Chapter 4 puts forward a multidimensional index of global poverty that builds on the consumption-based measure by adding dimensions of well-being for which market prices largely do not exist, such as health and education. Chapter 5 addresses a key constraint in monitoring global poverty, namely, that the current state of data does not allow for the measurement of inequality within households. This chapter describes the first efforts to overcome this constraint, with the aim of improving our understanding of the individual-level characteristics of the poor through a focus on gender.

Doing Business 2018 is the 15th publication in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies. It ranks economies on their ease of doing business and analyzes reforms to business regulation. This year's report expands the paying taxes indicator and includes a new annex which measures public procurement regulations.

Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? This book addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.