Despite strong representation in national politics and their higher levels of enrollment in secondary and higher education, South African women face numerous constraints that prevent them from fully contributing to poverty reduction and shared prosperity. Many of these constraints are...

This paper establishes a simple theory-based real exchange rate (RER) Misalignment Index for countries around the world from 1950-2014, and shows that South Africa's RER has been undervalued over the last decade. For the most recent year of 2014, depending on the proxy for productivity, it is...

The firming of the economic recovery is putting the policy spotlight back on the longer term challenge of faster, more inclusive Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Modest investment rates despite attractive returns and low savings rates despite favorable demographics are important impediments....

The global financial roller coaster, with the Euro zone as its lead car, has hit economic prospects across the globe. The South African economy, with its close links to the world economy, has suffered, too, resulting in weakened growth prospects, lower fiscal revenues, lower and more volatile...

The 2008 financial crisis highlighted weaknesses in the risk management, control and governance processes of banks as well as in their statutory audit and financial supervision. This led to increased scrutiny of the respective roles and interactions of banking supervisors and external auditors...

The global construction industry is the world's largest consumer of raw materials, and constructed objects account for between 25 and 40 percent of total carbon emissions in the world. The industry is projected to grow at 4.2 percent annually between 2018 and 2023 in terms of market value, with...

This report examines how to design effective carbon pricing mechanisms (CPMs) for the construction industry. As the world's largest consumer of raw materials, it accounts for a significant proportion of final energy demand and is responsible for 25 percent to 40 percent of global carbon-related...

Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank, addressed the challenges and opportunities for World Bank Group cooperation with the African Union. He discussed the following topics: (i) Millennium Development Goals have become critical for social development in Africa; (ii) growth and...

This South African Agricultural Public Expenditure Review (AgPer) is one of a series of similar studies undertaken in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) of the African Union's (AU) New Partnership for Africa's...

Contingent liabilities create management problems for governments. They have a cost, but judging what the cost is and whether it is worth incurring is difficult. Except in the case of contingent liabilities created by simple guarantees of debt, governments usually can incur contingent...