Real GDP expanded by 17.7 percent in 2022, with per capita incomes surpassing the pre-pandemic levels. On the supply side, accommodation, transport, and commerce explained 60 percent of growth. On the demand side, exports (mainly tourism) and private consumption accounted for growth. The rebound...

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can sometimes be perceived as a means for delivering infrastructure for free. A more nuanced but still inexact view is that they are a mechanism to overcome fiscal constraints. Some argue, perhaps rightly, that often governments enter PPP contracts without...

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 seasonal worker program (SWP) was formally introduced in 2012 following a four-year pilot scheme. The program maintains the dual objectives of: (i) contributing to the economic development of nine participating Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste; and (ii) filling labor shortages in the...

The Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) is a temporary migration scheme between Australia and selected Pacific Island Countries. It was introduced in 2012 and covers the agriculture, accommodation and tourism sectors. Extensive efforts have been made to evaluate the economic impacts of the scheme, but...

International migration for temporary employment is a critical component of South Asia's development path, from both the jobs and remittance flows perspectives. South Asian economies are at a stage of demographic transition where people of working-age are generally still increasing shares of...

Malaysia has experienced a rise in foreign labor inflows in response to steady economic expansion and demographic changes. The foreign workforce has been hovering around 15 percent of the total labor force in recent years according to Labour Force Surveys by the Department of Statistics Malaysia...