Skill formation and human capital accumulation are a lifetime process, and quality early childhood education and development (ECED) is critical for ensuring that children get a head start in this process. Recognizing the importance of ECED, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) include an...

Nepal has made significant progress across many human capital dimensions in the past twenty years, though shocks remain a threat to achievements. The current Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has adversely affected the economy and the delivery of essential services, which can have significant...

Nepal continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive has helped to reduce the fatality rate. The country experienced a first wave in March 2020, a second wave in mid-April 2021, and a third wave in January 2022. In response, social distancing...

The report is organized as follows. Section two reviews the identity ecosystem in Morocco. The section discusses in detail five identification programs that seem to have complementary strengths and that can be considered as assets. These are the national identity (CNIE), the civil register, the...

The Nepal Development Update is produced twice a year with the following two main aims: to report on key economic developments over the preceding months, placing them in a longer-term and global perspective; and to examine (in the Special Focus section) topics of particular policy significance....

Cabo Verde's economic achievements over the last thirty years have been spectacular and are unprecedented on the African continent. These achievements are remarkable given the unique challenges the country faces due to its small size, lack of scale for production of goods and delivery of...

The global COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic imposed both a supply and a demand shock on Nepal's economy, which adversely affected growth. The global crisis induced by the pandemic initially impacted Nepal through the tourism sector, with arrivals from China dropping by around 70 percent in...

Nepal has been hit hard by COVID-19, although the situation has improved more recently. As the outbreak became widespread in mid-2020, a nationwide lockdown was implemented from March to July in 2020, followed by localized lockdowns, including in the Kathmandu Valley up until mid-September....

The Maldives experienced a slowdown in economic growth in 2023, despite an increase in tourist arrivals. The GDP growth rate was 4.0 percent, well below the pre-pandemic trend. The increase in tourist arrivals did not lead to higher GDP growth due to a decline in spending per tourist. Inflation...