National systems for environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) are designed to improve the environmental and social performance of projects and support countries' sustainable development strategies. The objectives of this Literature Review are to identify trends, findings and gaps in...

Agricultural transformation that involves the production of high-value food products and post-harvest processing is high on the policy agenda in many developing countries. A surge in the demand for high value and processed food products observed in Asia and Latin America is also happening in...

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...

This report was commissioned by the World Bank Group's (WBG) financial inclusion support framework program, with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and with technical support from the East African Business Council...

Ghana has low levels of financial inclusion of individuals and access to finance for firms remains a major challenge; some of the key issues include low ownership and usage of accounts, dominance of cash, limited access points, limited electronic and mobile transactions, and high collateral,...

The Vietnamese economy has done well in 2019. In the context of increasing global uncertainty,Vietnam will most certainly be among the fastest growing economies in the world, with a GDP growth rate of approximately 6.8 percent. This rate is almost three times faster than the world average (2.6...

This report provides an overview of the demand and supply side of MSME finance as well as certain aspects of the enabling environment. A detailed analysis of the financial sector infrastructure for MSME financing and the secured transactions framework was outside of the scope of this report but...

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Albania are significant contributors to the economy. In 2018, according to the Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), 99.8 percent of active enterprises were MSMEs, employing 79.8 percent of the workforce and realizing around 69 percent of...

This review of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) finance support programs aims to enhance the efficiency of SME finance support in Chile. Chile's good economic policies have successfully promoted growth, but inequality has remained high. Supporting access to finance for SMEs is an...

The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have articulated a vision for sustainable economic development that highlights the need to diversify the productive base to reduce dependence on the hydrocarbon sector and create more employment opportunities for their young and growing...