Energy demand in Arab countries continues to grow at a higher rate than economic growth. Meeting national electricity demand and exploiting their significant renewable energy resources (particularly, solar and wind) in a sustainable manner is a common challenge across all Arab countries. A...

This paper argues that governments and regulators, supported by financial institutions and multilateral development banks (MDBs), hold the key to mobilizing private finance at the scale needed to transform the way we build, produce, and consume in order to protect nature while fostering...

Meeting the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals will require enormous infrastructure investment around the world. Sustainability-linked financing (SLF) incentivizes companies to pursue ambitious, long-term environmental and social goals. As the largest global development institution focused on...

The COVID-19 pandemic adds further challenges to the development of capital markets. For many emerging markets and developing economies challenges have intensified because of (i) the deterioration in the macroeconomic environment, including the contraction of the economies, and larger fiscal...

Following a decade of conflicts, Western Balkan countries accomplished robust economic growth in the 2000s. This growth pattern was domestic demand driven and externally financed, hence was hampered significantly by the global financial crisis and subsequent euro area debt crisis. Despite modest...

This Note provides guidance to securities markets regulators in emerging market economies (EMEs) about key regulatory issues that could affect the issuance of debt instruments for infrastructure financing over which they have some control. The Note focuses on three areas (placement regime,...

This Policy Note focuses on distribution channels, the role they play in product diversification and costs, and how regulation can promote competition in mutual funds (MFs) distribution. In many emerging market economics (EMEs) where both the capital markets and the MFs have reached certain...

Poland's capital markets can play a crucial supporting role to the ongoing economic development and efficient allocation of credit. Capital markets will become increasingly important to meet the long-term funding needs of strategic sectors, including large, medium and small entities. Expansion...

Capital markets in Serbia are shallow and relatively underdeveloped. The only market segment that functions comparatively well is the government bond market. The contribution of capital markets to financing the economy is limited. The private sector is not making use of non-government bond...