Access to reliable cross-country data on private sector development is crucial when formulating responses to economic crises. When downturns affect exports, investment, and growth negatively, making life easier for business is a significant step towards economic recovery. This has become obvious...

Access to reliable cross-country data on private sector development is crucial when formulating responses to economic crises. When downturns affect exports, investment, and growth negatively, making life easier for business is a significant step towards economic recovery. This has become obvious...

Countries worldwide face challenges of high unemployment, unsustainable public finances and lower potential output. It is pertinent therefore to understand future challenges and devise policies accordingly. This document contains the proceedings of a conference co-hosted by the Organisation for...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) introduced the Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP) in 2005 is to 'support the extension of trade finance to underserved clients globally.' The program has since expanded rapidly, and its authorized exposure ceiling was increased in three stages from...

In fiscal year 2013, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) issued 2.8 billion dollars in investment guarantees for projects in our developing member countries. At 1.5 billion dollars, representing more than half of new business, the bulk of MIGA's guarantees issued support investments...

Banking the Poor presents new data collected from two sources: central banks, and leading commercial banks in each surveyed country. It explores associations between countries' banking policies and practices, and their levels of financial access measured in terms of the numbers of bank accounts...

Access to financing is now widely acknowledged as a path to meaningful economic inclusion and reduction in poverty. Policy efforts to increase access to finance in Pakistan have taken time to bear fruit, but now access is indeed expanding quickly in certain financial sectors (microfinance,...