Trade can dramatically improve women's lives, creating new jobs, enhancing consumer choices, and increasing women's bargaining power in society. It can also lead to job losses and a concentration of work in low-skilled employment. Given the complexity and specificity of the relationship between...

As part of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) program for Trade-Related Assistance to Least Developed Countries (LCDs), which Myanmar joined in April 2013, the Government of Myanmar has asked the World Bank Group (WBG) to be the implementing agency for a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study...

This report summarizes the main challenges that men- and women-led companies (also referred to as traders or trade firms) and customs brokers face in undertaking cross-border trade of merchandise goods in the Republic of Tajikistan. The report also provides recommendations to address these...

Collusive agreements among competitors create unmitigated harm. When competitors agree to limit competition, id est to form economic cartels, the poor pay up to 50 percent more for essential goods, growth is stymied as competitiveness and productivity declines, and public policies become less...

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) reported over 30 million Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and around 960,000 deaths as of May 2021. Official tracking data shows that Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina have the highest number of reported cases throughout LAC, which in turn is the region with among...

The maximizing finance for development (MFD) approach can be implemented to close the financing gap in the water and sanitation sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, helping the region in getting closer to achieving sustainable development goal (SDG 6), particularly if emphasis is put on...

The COVID-19 pandemic represents the largest economic shock the world economy has witnessed in decades, causing a collapse in global activity. Nevertheless, there are signs that global activities are stabilizing, and have picked up in many large emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs)....

Water security is a matter of increasing concern across the world and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is no exception. With rapidly growing demands for water and increasing variability due to climate change, ensuring water access to all users and mitigating water-related risks should be at...

Efficient energy services are essential for economic growth, competitiveness, and human development. Globally, energy markets are undergoing a transformation: fossil fuel prices are responding to new and unpredictable dynamics, and new energy and information and communication technologies (ICT)...