The Government of Romania (GOR), in agreement with the European Commission (EC), requested functional reviews of the Romanian public administration through an independent advisory service with the World Bank. The general objective of this advisory service is to review the current situation of...

The Government of Romania (GOR), in agreement with the European Commission (EC), requested functional reviews of the Romanian public administration through an independent advisory service with the World Bank. The general objective of this advisory service is to review the current situation of...

The Thailand Country Development Partnership for Social Protection (CDP-SP) is a collaborative program of policy development and technical assistance between the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Bank and was launched in July 2001. CDP-SP operates in three key policy areas: labor...

This report highlights the relationship between poverty, risk and vulnerability facing the people of Afghanistan. The report is divided in to five chapters: Chapter I provides a short historical overview of poverty and vulnerability and highlights some of the ways in which the Afghan people have...

Half of the moderately poor, and one third of the extremely poor now live in urban areas in Mexico. While cities offer a number of opportunities and specific challenges for the poor, low quality and high costs restrict real access to basic public services. Yet, the urban-rural distinctions need...

This report summarizes and consolidates the findings of three Bank studies on poverty issues in Mexico, written as part of the second phase of this work: Urban Poverty, Rural Poverty, and Social Protection. It also expands on how Mexico will seek to use social protection policy as a vehicle for...

As the second largest African oil producer, Angola had unsustainable government expenditures in effect until 2014 due to the drop in international oil prices. The Government responded with a comprehensive reform program including the gradual elimination of most fuel subsidies and an extension of...

The objective of this study is to help the government to decide what role safety net and transfer programs should play in the coming 5 to 10 years. It seeks to answer following three questions: (i) can increased spending on transfers accelerate poverty reduction in the medium to long term?; (ii)...

The economic updates aim to share knowledge and stimulate debate among those interested in improving the economic management of Cameroon and unleashing its enormous potential. The notes thereby offer another voice on economic issues in Cameroon, and an additional platform for engagement,...