The global economic crisis that began in 2008 threatened to erase years of progress in developing countries. In response, the World Bank Group increased lending to unprecedented levels. The World Bank posted a large increase in middle income countries (MICs), and a much smaller one in low income...

Doing Business (DB), the annual World Bank- International Finance Corporation (IFC) benchmarking exercise launched in 2004, is one of the Bank Group's flagship knowledge products. It aims to measure the costs to firms of business regulations in 178 countries and ranks the countries along 10...

A series of global initiatives have been launched over the last decade by the international community to accelerate progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals. These initiatives entailed commitments to provide more aid and efforts to strengthen aid effectiveness. They culminated in...

The aim of this report is to inform the design and the implementation of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA's) new Strategic Directions FY12-14 by drawing lessons from recent experience with one of the main pillars of the MIGA, financial sector guarantees, the fastest growing...

Fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) have become an important focus of World Bank Group assistance in recent years as recognition of the linkages between fragility, conflict, violence, and poverty has grown. Addressing issues of recurring conflict and political violence and helping build...

The World Bank Group promotes small and medium-size enterprise (SME) growth through both systemic and targeted interventions. A critical challenge is to root the many activities now undertaken in this broad space in a clear understanding of the characteristics and dynamics of SMEs role in the...

The World Bank Group (WBG) commends the independent evaluation group's (IEG) evaluation of the Group's support to public-private partnerships (PPP). Under its new strategy, the WBG intends to work with the public and private sectors to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity and seeks...

This is the Global Program Review (GPR) of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The objectives of the Facility are: (a) to assist eligible Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) countries in their efforts to achieve emission reductions from deforestation...

The global extreme poverty rate has fallen by half since 1990, but progress within the developing world has been uneven. Extreme poverty remains widespread in most low-income countries while many middle-income countries also continue to have substantial levels with many people there who have...

Private firms are at the forefront of the development process providing more than 90 percent of jobs, supplying goods and services, and representing a significant source of tax revenues. Their ability to grow, create jobs, and reduce poverty depends critically on a well-functioning investment...