This report discusses strengthening the provision of payment services in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as an essential step to integrate their economies into the world of 'digital finance and digital economy' and to support economic development. The report...

This is a semi-annual report series on recent economic developments and economic policies in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). The report looks at the economic performance and outlook for the Western Balkans region and specific...

This report stems from the work initiated in the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) forUzbekistan in May 2016, which identified the quality of job creation as a central, cross-cuttingtheme. The SCD emphasized that "over the medium term, creating high-productivity, high-paying jobs for...

Jordan's economy achieved a relatively strong rebound, registering 2.2 percent growth in 2021. The nascent recovery was led by a broad-based expansion of the services and industrial sectors, while the rebound in the travel and tourism also exceeded expectations. This robust economic recovery was...

After a long period of economic transformation that included introducing a series of market-oriented reforms and joining the European Union (EU), Poland was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world by 2020. This report investigates differences in productivity dynamics across economic...

Igniting farm productivity can support growth and job creation in Kosovo. Agricultural production, in real terms, has been decreasing in Kosovo since 2009 but employment has not changed much. This note examines drivers of agricultural productivity and its growth in Kosovo, and implied...

To boost economic growth and foster sustained formal job creation in Kosovo, igniting firm productivity is crucial. Based on detailed micro-data, this note examines the characteristics and recent evolution of firms in Kosovo, with particular attention to firm productivity. For the last decade,...

What is the future for agriculture in Peru? Once the principal source of employment and income for much of the population, Peru's agricultural sector has declined in importance as the national economy has grown and urbanized. Economic activity in the sector has continued to grow, but economic...

As Malaysia continues to strive toward high-income status, accelerating productivity growth has become the country's central economic policy challenge. Productivity growth has become increasingly important as the country's traditional economic engines have slowed. Declining oil and gas output,...

This report aims to provide policy makers in Albania with new evidence to inform the design and implementation of public policies on post-secondary education, vocational education and training (VET) system labor market information and intermediation, and labor policies. The STEP Employer Survey...