Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCDs) analyze the most critical constraints and opportunities to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. The first SCD for Egypt was published in 2015. A lot has happened since then, so this SCD Update takes advantage of a...

This report examines the role of infrastructure in explaining why the region lags so far behind the rest of the country. More importantly, it looks at how improved infrastructure may help the region catch up. Infrastructure is examined here through its impact on social as well as economic...

Guinea is a country with a rich historical legacy, abundant natural resources, a privileged geographical location - and a rapidly growing population. A successful political transition and the emergence of a vibrant civil society have helped to ensure ethnic peace and the absence of civil wars in...

Solomon Islands is a small, remote archipelago in the South Pacific that faces a fairly unique set of development challenges. Solomon Islands is now at a critical juncture in its development trajectory. Neither the economic geography nor the present political economy of Solomon Islands is...

Liberia's status as a fragile state is deeply rooted in the political and economic exclusion practiced by the country's founders. Although they constituted just 5 percent of the population, freed American slaves and their descendants dominated the country's intellectual and ruling class from...

Macroeconomic management in Chad, Mali and Niger needs to account for a number of specific parameters. Very rapid population growth exerts immense pressure on the demand for education and health services. Economic activity and prices are strongly influenced by climatic variations, and exports...

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...

Mongolia made notable strides in reducing poverty from 2010 to 2014, but the pace of poverty reduction slowed significantly after the 2016 economic recession. The trend of declining inequality and inclusive growth seen in the first half of the decade changed course in the latter half. Greater...