As a strong reformer among the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), Latvia has recorded a dramatic economic improvement recent years, with relatively strong growth, increased investment rates, and clear signs of easing labor market conditions. A stabilization package designed around a...

This is the first Economic Report on Afghanistan by the World Bank in a quarter-century. It is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the core challenges that lie ahead for the country and key strategic priorities for national reconstruction. It focuses on the conceptual frameworks,...

The importance of macroeconomic stability for growth, and poverty reduction is now accepted in Brazil. As of 1964, the country followed responsible macroeconomic policies, in the pursuit of stability, reconfirmed by the new Government in January 2003. The report focuses strictly on three key...

The Republic of Congo is the third-largest crude oil producer in Sub–Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Angola and is heavily dependent on oil production and oil exports. With a population of 5.5 million, Congo is a lower middle-income economy, endowed with abundant natural resources. The...

"The benefits of financial development and globalization have come with continuing fragility in financial sectors. Periodic crises have had real but heterogeneous welfare impacts and not just for poor people; indeed, some of the conditions that foster deep and persistent poverty, such as lack of...

"This paper provides a review of the contradictions and conflicts in the literature on economic governance and sketches an approach to use some of the conceptual and empirical findings from that literature for development policy. The literature offers conflicting conclusions on big questions:...