Bhutan maintained solid growth and macroeconomic stability during 2016/17. The national poverty headcount rate fell from 12 percent in 2012 to 8 percent in 2017. However, the job challenges remained unaddressed. the youth unemployment rate increased from 10.7 percent in 2015 to 13.2 percent in...

Despite being the backbone of the Albanian economy, micro, small and medium sized enterprises(MSMEs) face difficulties in accessing finance which impedes their growth. MSMEs in Albania aresignificant contributors to the economy. In 2016, MSMEs comprised 99.9 percent of active enterprises and 81...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) was prepared in response to a request from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and is designed to inform Lesotho's fiscal consolidation due to a narrowing of its fiscal space. Lesotho is facing a tough macro-fiscal outlook due to a sharp decline in Southern African...

Somalia's economy grew by 2.3 percent in 2017. The economy remains vulnerable to recurrent shocks. Between 2013 and 2017, real annual GDP growth averaged 2.5 percent. Growth occurred despite adverse weather conditions that severely reduced agricultural output in late 2016 and early 2017. For...

The purpose of this Systematic Country Diagnostic is to identify the main constraints and opportunities the Kyrgyz Republic faces in continuing to progress towards the World Bank Group's twin goals. It analyzes trends and drivers of growth, poverty reduction, and income distribution, as well as...

Iraq's overall security situation has notably improved after the defeat of ISIS, but significant challenges lie ahead. Iraq has witnessed major political and security transitions in 2017 when Prime Minister Al-Abadi announced in December the victory over ISIS after a war that lasted three years....

This study seeks to understand the structure and workings of the labyrinth to propose a concrete escape. It attempts to answer the following questions. (1) Why is it that Chad could not translate the discovery of oil into structural development, economic diversification and sustainable growth?...

Mozambique is beginning to emerge from a period of elevated macroeconomic volatility two years after hidden debt revelations triggered a significant economic downturn, but with a reduced capacity for growth. Having averaged near 8 percent between 2005 and 2015, GDP growth dropped to 3.7 in 2017...

The World Bank prepared three background studies as inputs for the development of the Cambodia Logistics Master Plan led by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) in 2017-2018. These studies benefit from a close coordination and collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)...