This report is the second in a series of annual reports describing the progress African countries are making on strengthening the quality of policies and institutions that underpin development. It presents Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) scores for the 39 African countries...

Trade can play a crucial role in the development of services sectors in Africa. Services offer new dynamic opportunities for exports, especially for land-locked countries, while opening up to imports of services and foreign direct investment is a key mechanism to increase competition and drive...

This report addresses the question raised in its title - now that 18 interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) have been initialed and negotiations of full EPAs have been launched, what should African countries and regional EPA-groups do? Part two of the report analyzes the outcome of the...

The international community is committed to helping partner countries meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving global poverty by 2015. Providing more effective aid and increasing its impact on development is one important contribution to this end. This report takes stock of progress made...

"This paper considers approaches towards improving the predictability of aid to low income countries, with a special focus on budget support. In order to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, the donor community is increasing aid flows while pushing for more coordination...

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 document assesses the quality of financial accountability and transparency in Bangladesh, and makes recommendations for improvement. With respect to public funds, it compares the financial management standards, and practices of agencies using such funds against and international, or "best...