Limited competition hinders the optimal use of telecommunication services in the Dominican Republic, which lags peer countries in mobile subscriptions and internet penetration. Despite recent reforms designed to enhance competition, the telecommunications sector remains dominated by a small...

The aim of this note is twofold: (1) summarize emerging challenges and opportunities for the water sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries; and (2) suggest ways to respond to these challenges where the World Bank's Water Global Practice can provide support. Following a description...

Over the last two decades, Moldova has achieved major development results: with average annual growth of 4.6 percent since 2000, poverty has decreased dramatically, and the growth has also benefitted more citizens: Inequality, as measured by the Gini Index, has declined from 36.4 in 2000 to 26.3...

The main objective of this policy note is to assess key social protection and labor (SPL) policies, program expenditures and institutional arrangements in Cote d'Ivoire. The note aims to identify policy options for improving allocative and technical efficiency for key programs, including how to...

This note takes stock of productivity trends of the Albanian non-agricultural private sector using granular firm-level data. To understand better the sources of jobs and productivity growth, this note analyzes firm-level data from the Albanian annual Structural Business Survey (SBS) collected by...

The study described in this policy brief quantified the impacts of water shocks (too much, too little and too dirty) on economic outcomes in Colombia, using combined hydrological and econometric modeling, and offers recommendations for putting the country on the path to water security (see...

North Macedonia has made considerable progress in recent decades, moving from lower-middle to upper-middle income status, and from a planned to a functional market economy. Despite these reforms, the domestic economy still lacks the needed dynamism to move into higher-income status, as evidenced...

The policy note assesses Bhutan's agribusiness sector and recommends steps the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) might consider to increase the sector's growth. The analysis relies primarily on Enterprise Survey conducted in 2015, supplemented by extensive literature reviews and fieldwork....

Sound pesticides management and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in particular are widely acknowledged as important mechanisms to mitigate pre- and post-harvest losses and to achieve sustainable agricultural intensification. The recent proliferation of agricultural concessions, contract farming...

The arrival of a new government provides an opportunity to reinvigorate the reform agenda to deliver inclusive growth for the Somali people. Since the establishment of the Provisional Constitution in 2012, Somalia has made commendable progress on many fronts. Macroeconomic stability has been...