The Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Malawi provides the analytical foundation for country-level actions and investments to foster progress towards the World Bank Group (WBG) Twin Goals as well as the country's national goals. The main purpose of the SCD is to identify the key challenges...

Angola is endowed with significant natural wealth, but it will need to better manage these resources and reinvest them into other forms of capital to establish a sustainable development path. Before independence, the country was a relatively advanced economy with diverse exports, although its...

Ethiopia's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth, while still strong, decelerated to 7.7 percent in FY2018. A slowdown in industrial growth, mainly driven by lower growth in construction due to foreign exchange shortages and higher prices of imported construction materials, coupled with...

The Kenyan economy rebounded in 2018 and economic activity in the first quarter of 2019 was healthy, although emerging drought conditions could curtail GDP growth for the remainder of the year. The economy expanded by 6.0 percent in the first three quarters of 2018 compared to 4.7 percent during...

Afghanistan has been in protracted conflict for almost four decades, with direct implications on progress towards development objectives. This context of recurring episodes of violence and insecurity, economic and political instability, and the consequent displacement of populations within and...

Ghana's real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded in 2018, albeit at a slower rate than in 2017; the expansion was spurred by the mineral component of the industry sector. The government sustained its fiscal consolidation efforts in 2018 despite challenges. The current account deficit narrowed...

Around the world, countries use a wide variety of poverty measurement methodologies. A common method used to measure poverty is based on levels of consumption - a person is considered poor if his or her consumption level falls below some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs. This note...

About 80 percent of the poor households in Timor-Leste live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. It is therefore widely acknowledged that growth in the agriculture sector is an important channel through which poverty can be reduced in the country. That...

This Systematic Country Diagnostic is the result of a diagnostic exercise conducted by World Bank staff. It was prepared to inform the strategic dialogue between the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and the World Bank about priority areas for World Bank Group engagement. This...