India has achieved much in the last 25 years. Since the early 1990s, when reforms began, growthrates have been higher and more stable, the economy has become more modern and globally integrated,macroeconomic stability has improved, and the average citizen is better educated and lives longer. In...

The period of the COVID-19 pandemic will be marked and remembered. It will certainly be known for the ongoing health crisis that has reverberated across the world, leading to significant social impacts, rising inequality and poverty rates, and the steepest recession in Europe since World War II....

Das sub-saharische Afrika beginnt sich immer stärker zu differenzieren. Die Spanne zwischen Ländern mit guten wirtschaftlichen Potentialen und besseren Perspektiven und jenen mit allzu langem Reformstau vergrößert sich. Gerade die Gruppe der aufstrebenden Ökonomien zeigt große...

The India Development Update for April 2015 has two main aims. First, it reports on the key developments over the past six months in Indias economy, and places these in a longer term and global context. Based on these developments and on policy changes over the period, it updates the outlook for...

A national financial inclusion strategy (NFIS) can provide an effective instrument to chart a clear and coordinated path toward improving financial inclusion. An NFIS enables stakeholders to jointly define financial inclusion objectives, identify obstacles and opportunities relevant to the...

The rapid technological advancement is now disrupting the global economy and creating new business and development models, offering countries opportunities to leapfrog over traditional paths for economic growth. Over the past years, digital technologies have been spreading throughout the world...

The pandemic has afflicted India at a time when its economy had already been decelerating. Defying a long-term accelerating path, real GDP growth moderated from 7.0 percent in 2017-18 to 6.1 percent in 2018-19 and 4.2 percent in 2019-20. The pre-COVID-19 growth deceleration was perceived to be...

Following a sharp slowdown over the past two years, a recovery is underway in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the region is expected to strengthen to 2.4 percent in 2017 from 1.3 percent in 2016, slightly below the pace previously projected. The rebound is being led by...

Despite sustained economic growth over the past two decades, Sub-Saharan Africa faces massive challenges and significant gaps in many development outcomes. Although poverty has been declining, a recent report estimates that over two-fifths of the African population was poor in 2012. Nearly...