Zambia provides a distinctive case of national identity management. Even from before independence in 1964 the identity card has played a prominent role and by 2010 the National Registration Card (NRC) covered more than 83 percent of the population of 16 and above. At the same time civil...

The latest economic brief highlights that Zambia's rising macroeconomic imbalances, high debt and associated costs of debt service are crowding out private sector growth. The economy is expected to expand by 3.3 percent in 2018 in 2018 compared to 3.4 percent in 2017. Agricultures offers Zambia...

Developing countries made considerable gains during the first decade of the 21st century. Their economies grew at unprecedented rates, resulting in large reduction in extreme poverty and a significant expansion of the middle class. But more recently that progress has slowed with an economic...

With this first Zambia economic brief, the World Bank is launching a series of short economic updates that will be produced twice a year. Each brief will include two sections: the Bank's assessment of recent economic developments and outlook in the short to medium term; and its analysis on a...

Developing countries made considerable gains during the first decade of the 21st century. Their economies grew at unprecedented rates, resulting in large reductions in extreme poverty and a significant expansion of the middle class. But more recently that progress has slowed with an economic...

The success of multi-faceted "graduation" programs at reducing poverty raises three questions: can the impacts of these programs be maintained when implemented by governments at scale, will positive effects be offset by negative spillovers, and can bundled programs be streamlined without losing...

Africa's Pulse is a biannual publication containing an analysis of the near-term macroeconomic outlook forthe region. Each issue also includes a section focusing upon a topic that represents a particular developmentchallenge for the continent. It is produced by the Office of the Chief Economist...

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to have decelerated from 2.5 percent in 2017 to 2.3percent in 2018, below the rate of growth of population for a fourth consecutive year. Regional growth in2018 is below the pace projected in 2018 October issue of Africa's Pulse {0.4 percentage...

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, remarked that the past-quarter century has to count as the most successful 25 years in history in the fight against poverty. The one region that has so far been conspicuously left behind by that progress is Sub-Saharan Africa. The people of Africa are...

Favorable global economic conditions supported a turnaround in economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2017, easing pressure on weak policy frameworks. Output growth rebounded to an estimated 2.6 percent after decelerating to 1.5 percent in 2016 amid challenging external and domestic...