After a strong start in early 2022, the largest COVID-19 wave in two years and resulting mobility restrictions have disrupted China's growth normalization. The global environment has also significantly worsened following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is...

This paper discusses issues and explores options related to the reform of the power sector regulatory system in China. It reviews the power sector's current situation and impediments to reform, examines the relationship between power sector structure and regulation, and suggests several...

Hydro resources are provided by nature. The exploitation of such resources can generate significant economic rent to the owners. In the past, governments have usually claimed ownership of hydroelectric resources and passed on the rents to their state-owned utilities, which have used them to...

Concerns about global warming and the availability of clean renewable sources of energy are increasing. However, as private companies take over state power utilities, the demand for profit has stifled those concerns. Currently the private sector is building over 40 megawatts of fossil-fuel...

Oil and energy markets have experienced dramatic changes over the past two decades-steep price increases in the 1970s and 1980s followed by a decrease in 1986 and large declines in demand in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. But despite considerable uncertainty about future...

A radical new strategy for dealing with the problems of energy and the environment in the Sahel is being implemented in Niger. Rather than have urban wood traders go into the countryside to cut the wood and truck it back to the cities, the government is giving village communities control over...

As the telecommunications sector evolves toward a more competitive environment in which the private actors become the main players, it is essential to develop policies that will reduce the disparities between urban and rural telecommunications services. This report provides a comprehensive...

This paper summarizes the World Bank assistance strategy for rural development in the ECA region. The rural sector includes the people; economic; development activities; institutional, economic, and social infrastructure; and natural resources in rural areas and is thus not confined to agriculture....

The World Bank has been supporting range livestock development since the 1960s, gaining experience that currently contributes to best practices in natural resource management (NRM) in pastoral areas. This report focuses on NRM in the arid rangelands used by pastoralists in Africa and the Middle...