This report examines the system of residential electricity subsidies in Pakistan, and explores how it can be improved to better assist households within the existing political and budgetary constraints. The report is multi-disciplinary in nature, drawing on specially commissioned analysis of...

This report analyzes issues related to international migration in Armenia and its impact on Armenian households' welfare. The report uses microdata coming from two recent household surveys, the 2017 Russian-Armenian University survey, a nationally-representative household focused on...

Informal employment remains a salient and persistent feature of the Sri Lanka labor market, with around 70 percent of the work force informally employed. There are generally three reasons to be concerned about high informality: poverty, productivity and public finance. This report focuses on the...

APEI member countries and Madagascar (APEI ) identified enhanced regional agricultural trade as a key priority. The matter was referred to the World Bank for further analysis which is presented in this report. Potential for increased agricultural exports from APEI+ countries to Mauritius and...

In 2015, Lao PDR is virtually unrecognizable from what it was just a decade ago. A more open, more outward trade landscape has transformed the country from a closed-off backwater into a fast-growing developing country, complete with coffee shops, restaurants, and billboards lining the streets of...

The initial hours and days after a humanitarian emergency are generally seen as the most important. Because they affect the rapid deployment of relief to people in need, international trade policies, and the way in which they are implemented, can make an enormous difference to the effectiveness...

In the last decades, slow growth and job creation have encouraged emigration, further dampening domestic sources of growth in Nepal. Tepid growth over the past decade, the slowest in the region, has resulted in few jobs being created, leading to more Nepalese workers seeking opportunities...

Bangladesh's export growth has been remarkable. Bangladesh aims to generate USD 54.1 billion in export earnings by FY2020, a significant increase over the USD 35 billion earned in FY2015-16. The leading sector, textiles and apparels, usually referred to as ready-made garments (RMG), has created...

This handbook intends to be a resource for those interested in trade policy reform, in Pakistan and elsewhere. It arose from the Pakistan trade and investment policy program (PTIPP). The PTIPP was designed to work on trade, competitiveness, and gender in Pakistan. This handbook focuses on two...

Experience from previous global and food crises provides some guidance for appropriate trade responses during the crisis and those that are likely to undermine effective national and global responses. However, the speed, scale and nature of this crisis are unprecedented which requires thinking...