Armenia is a small open economy of $3,937 GDP per capita (2017), a 3 million population and a parliamentary democracy with sound macro-fiscal and financial sector management.
... See More + Macro-financial vulnerabilities include high public debt, low FDI and high exposure to shocks coming from the Russian economy, through FDI, remittances and trade, and high dollarization. Social challenges include a declining and aging population, low formal employment, spatial disparities in living standards and skills mismatches. Other challenges are public and economic governance gaps such as justice reform and corruption, lack of competition and low productivity in both public and corporate sectors. Lack of connectivity illustrated by a low export growth and undiversified trade is a key constraint. Opportunities include a reform-minded government freshly appointed after a 2018 peaceful revolution, an appetite for ICT technological advances and a dynamic diaspora. Armenia can benefit from being a multi-club member, benefiting from Eurasian Economic Union membership and close links to the EU. Greater economic opportunities are key to poverty reduction and shared prosperity as highlighted by the increasing role of employment and wages as drivers of poverty reduction. In line with the above challenges and priorities, pipeline activities support: greater resilience, governance and competition, through a Development Policy Operation, to be delivered in 2019.
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The Financial Sector Advisory Center (FinSAC), in operation since 2011, is part of the World Bank's regional Europe and Central Asia (ECA) unit of the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation (FCI) Global Practice.
... See More + FinSAC supports client countries in the ECA region to build more resilient and more stable financial sectors. A dedicated Vienna-based technical unit of the World Bank, FinSAC delivers implementation-oriented technical advice to client countries with funding fromAustria’s Federal Ministry of Finance. It assists countries in the region in dealing with some of the legacy issues of the global financial crisis, including the resolution of non-performing loans (NPL) and fragmented crisis management frameworks, and in implementing new international and regional regulatory and supervisory initiatives. These activities have a special relevance for the ECA region, which despite recent improvements stands out as the World Bank region worst affected by the financial crisis. FinSAC's work is organized around three thematic pillars: pillar 1 - macroprudential supervision and crisis management, pillar 2 - microprudential oversight and NPL management, and pillar 3 - bank resolution. Bilateral technical assistance engagements with counterparts in eligible countries are the cornerstone of FinSAC's activities, but it also organizes technical workshops, conferences, and seminars and undertakes research projects. A distinguishing feature is the availability of in-house technical experts who take the lead in delivering FinSAC's work program. The FinSAC team bring applicable knowledge and hands-on experience of the stability themes that they cover. Their skills are critical to FinSAC's capacity to provide policy advice that is appropriately tailored to client countries' needs. Their proximity to beneficiaries of FinSAC support allows for frequent short and cost-effective missions, giving central banks and regulators in client countries easy access to technical expertise.
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Georgia is a lower-middle income small open economy and parliamentary democracy with a population of 3.7 million. Its tourism and services sector-led GDP is equal to per capita of $4,047 (2017), a solid increase from $750 in 2000.
... See More + Poverty stood at 10.9 percent in 20172. Georgia is vulnerable to geopolitical risks because of tense relations with Russia. This scope note has 3 brief sections. Section 1 lists context, challenges and opportunities. Section 2 briefs about current engagement. Section 3 outlines pipeline and future engagement opportunities. It concludes with completion timelines.
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This report provides an assessment of the current state of development of financial safety nets and bank resolution frameworks in eight countries in southern Africa (Botswana, Eswatini [formerly Swaziland], Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).
... See More + It has been prepared to inform ongoing and planned technical assistance projects in the southern Africa region and to provide a basis for engagement with the authorities in each of the countries covered by the study. This summary draws from more detailed material contained in a comprehensive study.
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This report provides an assessment of the current state of development of financial safety nets and bank resolution frameworks in eight countries in southern Africa (Botswana, Eswatini [formerly Swaziland], Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).
... See More + It has been prepared to inform ongoing and planned technical assistance projects in the southern Africa region and to provide a basis for engagement with the authorities in each of the countries covered by the study. This summary draws from more detailed material contained in a comprehensive study.
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