Trade can play a crucial role in the development of services sectors in Africa. Services offer new dynamic opportunities for exports, especially for land-locked countries, while opening up to imports of services and foreign direct investment is a key mechanism to increase competition and drive...

This policy note is based on a project on financial services and trade agreements in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. It emphasizes that the liberalization of trade in financial services is helpful to, but is not a panacea for, domestic financial system modernization. It adds that the...

While Malaysia's economy has had great success, it also faces several challenges including limited services trade. This report seeks to explain the main constraints that are holding back the services sector in the country. The key finding is that Malaysia's development strategy needs to pivot to...

The rapid expansion of digital technologies around the world has impacted many economic and social activities with increasingly reliable and fast Internet connectivity changing how people communicate, work, and live. Digital services have also played an important role in keeping the world...

Malaysia's higher education sector expanded rapidly in the late 1990s, with the number of institutions peaking in 2001 and the number of international students peaking in 2017. Following improvements in the quality of local universities and the establishment of branches of international campuses...

Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has been promoting reforms to help regional integration for effective transport services. The study indicated the need for better traffic management, in general, and, specifically, to face up to the growing congestion problem in the capital cities....

This book is the result of an extensive agenda of analytical work on regional trade integration in Africa involving staff from various units of the Africa region of the World Bank. The aim of this volume is to provide the main messages from this work to a wide audience the private sector, civil...

This Selected Issues paper for Algeria analyzes the potential economic impact of Algeria’s Association Agreement with the European Union (AAEU). The paper lays out the major elements of Algeria’s AAEU and makes a comparison with other AAEUs. It discusses the potential economic...

The macroeconomic environment is sound, with low inflation and a comfortable external position, although the fiscal position remains a concern for the medium term. The authorities have successfully privatized and liberalized the telecommunications, energy, and transportation sectors. Moreover,...

This paper discusses 2013 Article IV Consultation highlights slower economic performance and financial risks in Botswana. The output growth is expected to remain broadly unchanged in 2013 as strong nonmining sector growth would offset the subdued mining output. Banks’ high exposure to...