Efficient energy services are essential for economic growth, competitiveness, and human development. Globally, energy markets are undergoing a transformation: fossil fuel prices are responding to new and unpredictable dynamics, and new energy and information and communication technologies (ICT)...

Over the years, the demand for seamless and inexpensive cross-border payments has grown in parallel with growth in international e-commerce, remittances and tourism. Yet, cross-border payments have not kept pace with the intensive modernization that has characterized domestic payment services...

In recent years, due to innovations in technology, the concept of digital currency has emerged out of the desire of some private entities to replicate specific properties of cash in the digital space. Digital currencies have been issued in various electronic formats and value propositions, and...

Payment and settlement systems and services have become vital components of the economic life of contemporary societies. Over the last decades, they have gone through several waves of reforms that have changed the landscape of the national payments system (NPS) in virtually every country in the...

Emerging technology curation series aims to capture and share Korea experience and lessons learned in regard to exploration and adoption of emerging technologies like blockchain, AI, edge-computing, internet of things (IoT), 5G, et cetera Korea blockchain ecosystem is the first of the series and...

The World Bank Treasury's Reserve Advisory and Management Partnership (RAMP) conducted its third survey on reserve management practices in 2021. One hundred and nineteen central banks, from different regions, income groups, and reserve levels, contributed to the survey, which included questions...

Implicit contingent liabilities, such as those generated by natural disasters, are often not quantified in the government balance sheet. However, when they materialize, they place pressure on government finances that may raise interest expenditures and financial risks. Understanding the impacts...

In the context of Romania's push toward sustainable and inclusive development, the government has asked the World Bank to support the harmonization of public investments financed by the European Union and the state budget. The current report describes the national program for local development...

The high-level Investor Forum will take place on November 29, 2018, in Buenos Aires, hosted by the President of Argentina, this year's chair of the G20, and co-organized with the World Bank Group. The Forum will bring together leaders from the public sector and the global investment communityto...

The global housing deficit in both developed and developing countries is increasing - driven by demographic and other mega-trends including urbanization and income inequality. Global pension fund assets, on the other hand, are both growing and increasingly looking for long-term, productive...