The operations policy on Development Policy Lending (DPL), approved by the Board in August 2004, requires that the Bank systematically analyze whether specific country policies supported by an operation are likely to have "significant effects" on the country's environment, forests, and other...

This report was prepared at the request of the Philippines Social Security System (SSS) to analyze key challenges and propose reform options to improve the sustainability and expand the coverage of old age income protection for private sector workers. A simulation employing the Pension Reform...

The Philippine economy recovered strongly from the global recession owing to a combination of transitory and permanent, as well as global and idiosyncratic factors. Similar to its regional peers, the recovery was partly driven by the rebound in global trade and domestic consumption linked to...

In recent years, Indonesia has made great strides in economic growth and development. This growth has been accompanied by rapid urbanization that has transformed Indonesian cities. Urbanization has the potential to boost national economic growth by facilitating the emergence of agglomeration and...

Kenya's economy has been running on one engine. Kenya's strong engine is domestic consumption, which accounts for 75 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Kenya's weak engine remains its exports, which have been declining sharply in relative importance. Kenya's top four main exports do not...