The South Asia Economic Focus is a biannual economic update presenting recent economic developments and a near term economic outlook for South Asia. It includes a Focus section presenting more in depth analysis of an economic topic of relevance for stability, growth and prosperity in the region...

Despite some financial turbulence, growth in developing East Asia and Pacific (EAP) was resilientduring the first half of 2018. The growth outlook for the region remains positive. After peaking in2017, growth in developing EAP is expected to slow modestly in 2018, as China's economicexpansion...

Firms and entrepreneurs of all types - from microenterprises to multinationals - play a central role in growth and poverty reduction. Their investment decisions drive job creation, the availability and affordability of goods and services for consumers, and the tax revenues governments can draw...

Conditions in the region and the rest of the world have changed dramatically since the April 2020 Regional Economic Update (World Bank 2020a). In addition to still unfolding unprecedented health crisis, the world is now experiencing the deepest global recession since the Second World War (World...

The COVID-19 pandemic, which is still impacting South Asia, has temporarily brought the region to a near standstill. Governments proactively stabilized activity through monetary easing, fiscal stimulus, and supportive financial regulation, but the situation is fragile amid weak buffers and...

The people of the Mashreq have seen more than their share of deaths, economic losses, and instability over the past decade. As the decade-long conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic created new challenges and worsened the existing ones, economic activity declined, labor markets deteriorated, and...

The global economy appears to be transitioning toward a more stable period. Although acute risks have diminished, real-side activity remains sluggish †“ especially in high-income Europe. Most developing countries have fully recovered from the crisis. Although growth is slower than during the...