Group-based lending programs for the poor have become a focus of attention in the development community over the last several years. To date, there has been no comprehensive investigation of their impact on household behavior that has been sufficiently attentive to issues of endogeneity and...

The community of development partners in the Republic of Moldova would be honored to engage in the development policy dialogue with the new Government. This briefing book from development partners is offered as a first step in such a dialogue and is solely intended to assist the new Government...

The India Development Update for April 2015 has two main aims. First, it reports on the key developments over the past six months in Indias economy, and places these in a longer term and global context. Based on these developments and on policy changes over the period, it updates the outlook for...

The Country Opinion Survey in Mali assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders in Mali perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies, media, academia, the...

Growth rebounded in 2014 along with the lift of restrictions over credit and imports, tourism expansion, and the resumption of hydropower investment. Bhutan’s significant dissaving is illustrated by a large current account deficit. Priority will have to be given to private sector development...

Although Bhutan has made progress in recent years, notably by initiating the development of a domestic e-commerce ecosystem, gaps still remain. The Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) has prioritized information and communications technology (ICT) development to promote the vision of 'an...

Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCDs) analyze the most critical constraints and opportunities to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. The first SCD for Egypt was published in 2015. A lot has happened since then, so this SCD Update takes advantage of a...

This diagnostic has been conducted with the sole purpose of serving the ongoing development of social protection policy in the country. It is the Bank's hope that the report will be useful for social protection policy development as intended. The Bank has not agreed with the government to invest...

South Asia region's economies continue on a recovery path, with production and export having recovered to pre-COVID trend levels. But the recovery has been uneven across countries and sectors, and significant risks exist that could jeopardize short-term recovery and long-term growth. Over the...

Nepal has made significant progress across many human capital dimensions in the past twenty years, though shocks remain a threat to achievements. The current Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has adversely affected the economy and the delivery of essential services, which can have significant...