This report provides data and insights on the role of grant funding and concessional financing in meeting the Sustainable Development Goal for water (SDG 6, known as the water SDG). These sources of funding are collectively referred to in this report as aid flows to the water sector. This report...

This paper shows that the increased policy-selectivity of aid allocations observed in recent years provides recipient countries an incentive to improve policies. The paper estimates that a change in the World Banks Country Policy and Institutional Assessment policy index from 1.5 to 2 for a...

The objective of this note is to provide insights into the potential effect of the adaptation protocol (AP) on imports of European Union (EU) agricultural, food and fisheries products into Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). We adapt and calibrate the Tariff Reform Impact Simulation Tool (TRIST), a...

There have been substantial improvements in development outcomes in Afghanistan since 2001, particularly in terms of improved access to basic services such as water, sanitation, and electricity, and increased human development in education and health. However, some gains are now being eroded due...

This background paper describes five different tools that can be used for the assessment of tax incentives by governments in low income countries' (LICs). The first tool (an application of cost-benefit analysis) provides an overarching framework for assessment. Evaluations of the various costs...

There is a need to further examine and enhance knowledge concerning the relationship among El Nino and La Nina cycles, drought events, and grain production in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Kazakhstan (RUK) region, which accounts for more than one third of total wheat exports. This report...

The focus of the Report Reconciling Carbon pricing and Energy Policies in Developing Countries is how the objective of reducing emissions can be pursued alongside the priorities reflected in the energy policies of developing countries. The Report for Practitioners summarizes the Report's main...

Should the China-U.S. trade agreement prompt relief because it averts a damaging trade war or concern because selective preferential access for the United States to China's markets breaks multilateral rules against discrimination? The answer depends on how China implements the agreement....

This paper discusses compensation mechanisms to strengthen incentives for lower-income countries to adopt carbon taxes through donor-funded support programs. The paper considers two cases: the provision of climate finance when the host country uses the additional mitigation to meet its own...

The severe conditions in Zimbabwe, which reached a nadir in 2008 and 2009, led to a collapse of basic systems including the reliability and safety of water supply and sanitation services, leading to an outbreak of cholera with more than 4,000 deaths and over 90,000 people infected. The World...