The International Finance Corporation (IFC) annual report continues an approach pioneered last year, combining information on the investments and advisory services, sustainability, development effectiveness, and donor partnerships. The report covers fiscal 2008 (July 1, 2007, through June 30,...

International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international organization, established in 1956, to further economic growth in its developing member countries by promoting private sector development. IFC's principal investment products are loans and equity investments, with smaller debt securities...

The report covers several types of structured finance with such capital market instruments as mortgage-backed securities, structured bond issues for infrastructure financing, securitization of small and medium enterprises (SME)-related assets, and securitization of loans to SMEs. The report also...

The purpose of this note is to provide policy insights to decision makers, academics, and researchers on the trends in investment in Southeast Europe (SEE). A comprehensive assessment of what determines investment is essential to identify, to the extent needed, policy actions that stimulate it....

This book is about development and measuring development progress. While precise definitions may vary, development is, at heart, a process of building wealth, the produced, natural, human, and institutional capital which is the source of income and wellbeing. A key finding is that it is...

The world is in the midst of a sporadic and painful recovery from the most severe economic crisis since the 1930s Great Depression. The unprecedented scale of the crisis and the speed of its transmission have revealed the interdependence of the global economy and the increasing reliance by...

The multilateral trade system rests on the principle of nondiscrimination. The most-favored-nation (MFN) clause embodied in article one of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was the defining principle for a system that emerged in the post, Second World War era, largely in reaction...

This World Bank annual report focuses on the work of the World Bank Group as it relates to countries and people striving to overcome poverty in all regions, especially in Africa. The World Bank Group is working with partners on more than 620 projects: to give both boys and girls a chance to...

Petroleum has become an integral part of today's global economy and a key component of many national economies. Hence, the presence of petroleum in meaningful quantities can have important economic, developmental, and strategic consequences for a country. While a country's petroleum resource...

The little data book on private sector development coincides with the unfolding of the global financial crisis. There is strong evidence that crises can stimulate reform of the investment climate. A better investment climate makes economic adjustment easier and helps attract capital to create...