Many countries are convinced that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) should be an important component of their growth strategy. To encourage FDI, they have improved their business climates, developed various guarantees for investors, and offered incentives. In the real world, Investment Promotion...

In 2017, the Philippines was among the top three growth performers in the East Asia region. Only Vietnam and China performed better. The Philippines growth performance slightly weakened in 2017 to 6.7 percent year-on-year from 6.9 percent in 2016. Growth was anchored in strong exports, while...

Despite decades of war and instability, Iraq's abundant natural resources, strategic geographic location and cultural history endow Iraq with tremendous potential for growth and diverse economic development. Driven by windfall oil revenues in recent years, the Government of Iraq has invested...

This report examines the key challenges faced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Kyrgyz Republic, in an attempt to identify the issues and areas in most urgent need of reform. The IFC Study of Investment Climate as seen by Small and Medium Enterprises in the Kyrgyz Republic is the...

Sierra Leone's devastating 11-year civil war destroyed much of its infrastructure, and left its economy in tatters. In 2004, two years after the end of the war, Sierra Leone asked the investment climate (IC) advisory services of the World Bank Group to help create a better business and...

This assessment of Zambia's investment climate highlights some of the impediments to growth and export diversification in the current business environment in the country. It is based on an analysis of enterprise survey data specifically collected for the purpose, namely, the World Bank's Zambia...

Given the need to improve the overall investment climate in the Republic of Madagascar, an Indian Ocean island nation located off the east coast of Africa, this Investment Climate Assessment Update (ICAU) evaluates trends and characteristics associated with firm, growth, and performance. More...

This report on Sudan's Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) provides a baseline assessment of challenges to productivity, diversification and inclusion. Chapter 1 describes some of the questions underlying the three issues of competitiveness, diversification and broad-based growth. Chapter 2...