This paper presents the main findings of the 2017 survey on national development banks that the World Bank conducted in collaboration with the World Federation of Development Financing Institutions. Sixty-four development banks from different parts of the world, mainly from middle-income...

Uganda's fiscal policy has remained mainly expenditure driven, with domestic revenue continuing to lag. This has resulted in a widening financing gap. In the 10-year period to 2017, the total valueof public expenditure increased from 15 percent of GDP to more than 20 percent. During this time,...

Solomon Islands is a small, remote archipelago in the South Pacific that faces a fairly unique set of development challenges. Solomon Islands is now at a critical juncture in its development trajectory. Neither the economic geography nor the present political economy of Solomon Islands is...

Liberia's status as a fragile state is deeply rooted in the political and economic exclusion practiced by the country's founders. Although they constituted just 5 percent of the population, freed American slaves and their descendants dominated the country's intellectual and ruling class from...

The report examines economic developments in Vietnam in 2018, including its strong trade performance, increased FDI inflows, and public debt stabilization, among others. It also includes a special section on the government's efforts to reduce trade costs and enhance competitiveness. A...

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...

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a classic example of the paradox of plenty, since the country is extremely rich in natural resources while its population is extremely poor. It is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with a total surface area of about 234 million hectares...

The rapid review confirms that Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are socially, culturally, and environmentally diverse, with some features in common, and which collectively make them unique to other regions of the world: Small island countries have uniquely fragile water resources...

The Afghanistan Development Update is a twice-annual publication providing analysis of recent developments and presenting the World Bank team's most-recent macroeconomic projections. The August 2018 edition focuses on the state of the economy in the context of upcoming elections, and the...