There is a worldwide growing effort to reforming and privatizing banking systems. The main motivation behind such trend has been that public ownership of banks tends to be associated with financial repression, poorly developed banking system, higher interest rate spreads, slower financial...

This paper assesses the mortgage and housing finance market in various MENA countries, in an attempt to identify the main impediments. The approach followed involves critical analyses through reviewing the economic and political conditions for a successful mortgage finance system, as well as the...

Recent economic and political developments have highlighted a challenge shared across the Arab region of generating employment, promoting inclusive growth, and improving competitiveness. In the short run, weakened macroeconomic fundamentals in the developing economies of the Middle East and...

The Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has brought to the forefront key challenges: the need to create job opportunities, equal access, a level playing field, transparency and accountability, and a fair and competitive environment. Crony capitalism, the privileged...

The core principles of Islam lay great emphasis on social justice, inclusion, and sharing of resources between the haves and the have nots. Islamic finance addresses the issue of "financial inclusion" or "access to finance" from two directions - one through promoting risk-sharing contracts that...

Logistics and supply chains are the wheels of trade, commerce and economic activity around the world. However, in developing economies and emerging markets there are numerous challenges that make access difficult. Most prominent are the lack of standardized addressing systems, and inefficient or...

This report presents the results of the 2017 Ideas for Action (I4A) initiative, a youth competition on financing for development that was jointly organized by the World Bank Group and the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. This is...

Ideas for Action is a youth competition on initiatives to implement the Sustainable Development Goals launched in November 2014 by the World Bank Group and the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The 2019 winners (3 top teams, 4...