In 2009 the Gabonese authorities defined a new vision whose strategic guidelines are detailed in an operational plan, the strategic plan for an emerging Gabon (PSGE) whose goal is to turn Gabon into an emerging country within one generation. PSGE includes an ambitious public investment program...

The Lebanon Economic Monitor provides an update on key economic developments and policies over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank work on Lebanon. It places them in a longer-term and global context, and assesses the implications of these developments and other...

The Lebanon Economic Monitor provides an update on key economic developments and policies over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank work on Lebanon. The political standoff combined with an escalating Syrian conflict hampered growth in 2012, and is projected to...

Lebanon faces serious challenges from a volatile security environment and spillovers from the ongoing Syrian conflict which pose serious risks to an already fragile internal political situation. Security incidents have become increasingly more common and the volatile security environment is...

Kazakhstan’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed in 2014 because of weak demand and the fall in oil prices. Government policies were directed to mitigating the impact of lower oil prices on growth. So far labor market and poverty reduction outcomes do not seem to have been affected by...

A new domestic political stalemate has developed while spillovers from the Syrian conflict further exacerbated. A mid-year lull in the security situation gave a temporary boost to consumer and investor sentiment. Lebanon’s current account deficit remains elevated, albeit lower than during the...

The political and security transition continues to take a heavy toll on Afghanistan’s economy. Economic growth is estimated to have fallen further to 2 percent in 2014 from 3.7 percent in 2013 and an average of 9 percent during 2003-12. Political uncertainty combined with weak reform progress...

Jordans economy continues to slowly but steadily recover from the Arab Spring spillovers. These spillovers include Egypts gas disruptions, the neighboring Syrian and Iraqi conflicts and associated security incidents. Notwithstanding these shocks, real GDP growth rate is estimated to have reached...

Egypt’s economic activity is gaining momentum. Growth accelerated to 5.6 percent during the first half of FY15, compared to a dismal 1.2 percent in the same period last year. The recent spike in economic activity reflects favorable base effects, but more importantly broad-based sector...

The objective of this report is to identify the main obstacles to longer term growth in Jamaica. The report takes a holistic approach, examining a large set of economic and social factors that may be hindering growth and filtering them through a growth diagnostic analysis to narrow the focus to...