This country private sector diagnostic (CPSD) for the Kyrgyz Republic assesses the barriers and opportunities for a more forceful development of the private sector in the country. Between 2000 and 2019, gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate averaged 4.4 percent, enabling the Kyrgyz Republic's...

This report presents an updated methodology to estimate the number of SME jobs created as a result of SME loans.5 It analyzes job multipliers across developing countries through a firm-level regression of annual employment change on loan size. Put simply, the framework presented here analyzes...

Sri Lanka is a country of paradoxes. With the lowest poverty rates, best social indicators, and highest per capita income in South Asia, Sri Lanka's economic performance since independence had generally been hailed as a success before the current debt crisis. However, past performance occurred...

The rapid digital transformation underway in Southeast Asia has the potential to have an equally transformative impact on women entrepreneurs. Although Southeast Asia boasts a higher incidence of women entrepreneurs compared to men, women-owned (WO) businesses tend to be smaller, have lower...

The rapid digital transformation underway in Africa has the potential to have an equally transformative impact on women entrepreneurs. Although Africa boasts a higher incidence of women entrepreneurs compared to men, women-owned (WO) businesses across the continent tend to be smaller, have lower...

Workplace violence and harassment is pervasive, and it affects all countries, occupations, and work arrangements. This problem comprises a range of unacceptable behaviors that result in, or threaten physical, psychological, sexual, or economic harm, including gender-based violence and...

Since achieving independence in 1990, Namibia's remarkable growth has been fueled by foreign direct investment and enabled by prudent economic management. Since 2016, however, growth has declined steadily and the economy fell into recession, exposing the vulnerability of Namibia's economic...

Eswatini is facing multiple challenges. It was already experiencing weak economic growth before the COVID-19 pandemic, a reflection of longstanding, deeply rooted issues such as fiscal unsustainability, declining private investment, weakening productivity and competitiveness, and falling export...