The Republic of Congo is the third-largest crude oil producer in Sub–Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Angola and is heavily dependent on oil production and oil exports. With a population of 5.5 million, Congo is a lower middle-income economy, endowed with abundant natural resources. The...

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the infrastructure research done over more than three decades, using a database of over a thousand estimates from 221 papers reporting outcome elasticities. The analysis casts a wide net to include the transport, energy, and digital or information and...

The Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) provides an analysis of economic and structural development issues in Malawi. This 17th edition was published in July 2023 and is part of an ongoing series published twice each year. The publication intends to foster better-informed policy analysis and debate...

Potential output growth around the world slowed over the past two decades. This slowdown is expected to continue in the remainder of the 2020s: global potential growth is projected to average 2.2 percent per year in 2022-30, 0.4 percentage point below its 2011-21 average. Emerging market and...

Following a strong recovery after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, growth in the European Union (EU) is expected to sharply decelerate in 2023 as high inflation and increasingly tight monetary policy dampen economic activity. Despite considerable resilience, the EU economy is in a weakened...

Climate action is critical for development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The region contains countries among the most affected by climate change but least prepared to address it. This report introduces key findings of the World Bank Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs)...

The Cambodia Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) provides analysis and recommendations on how Cambodia can achieve sustained development while responding to climate change and the low-carbon transition. Cambodia has high development aspirations, aiming to become an upper-middle-income...

This paper revisits the link between FDI and economic growth in emerging and developing economies. Analysis of the early decades of the sample shows that there is no statistically significant correlation between FDI and growth for countries with average levels of education or financial depth. In...

International trade has been an important engine of output and productivity growth historically. But since the global financial crisis, world trade growth has slowed, reflecting cyclical and structural forces. The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have further disrupted...

Policy makers have long used investing in public infrastructure as a means of reducing geographical disparities and promoting growth. The goal of this paper is to provide insights to development practitioners on designing interventions to maximize the development impact of infrastructure. For...