Ratings of First, Second and Third Poverty Reduction Support Credit Project for Cote d'Ivoire were as follows: outcomes were moderately unsatisfactory, risk to development outcome was high, Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately unsatisfactory.
... See More + Some of the lessons learned included: (i) The trade-off between reform and disbursement objectives needs to be acknowledged; (ii) A programmatic sequence of reforms is helpful to ensure proper implementation for any one sector or issue; (iii) Triggers should be agreed with enough advance notice to allow the authorities to ensure smooth implementation; (iv) If sensitive sectors are going to be addressed, as they probably should, attention needs to be paid to risks of policy reversal; and (v) Greater care should be taken to define results indicators and targets.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3959 JUN 20, 2017
This review covers both Madagascar’s Country Assistance Strategy (CAS, FY07-FY11) and Interim Strategy Note (ISN, FY12-FY13). While the CAS was a joint WBG document, the ISN was an IDA only document.
... See More + The CAS implementation period was truncated due to the unconstitutional change in regime in early 2009 and the subsequent political crisis. Madagascar is a low-income country with a per capita income of $440 and a population of 22.9 million in 2013. Between 2002 and 2008, the economy grew at an average of 5 percent per year. The country’s GDP contracted sharply by 4.0 percent in 2009. With the annual population growth of 2.8 percent, Madagascar experienced consecutive years of negative GDP growth rates per capita with -6.7 percent in 2009, followed by -2.5 percent in 2010, and -1.4 percent in 2011. Absolute poverty in the country measured by $2 PPP per capita per day, rose from an estimated 88.9 percent in 2001 to 92.7 percent of the population in 2005, then declined slightly, but stayed above the 90 percent mark through 2012. The Gini index for Madagascar was at 40. 6 in 2010 but increased to 42.7 in 2012. The CAS was approved in March 2007 when Madagascar exhibited relative political stability and continued economic growth. Building on the sustained economic growth and improvements in social indicators from 2002, the CAS was designed to support Madagascar Action Plan (MAP), the government’s development plan and the second generation of poverty reduction strategy for 2007-2012. To help achieve the MAP objectives, the CAS was organized around two main pillars. The first pillar focused on activities that will help remove key bottlenecks to investment and growth. The second pillar brought together activities geared toward improving access to, and quality of, services. IEG agrees with the three main lessons in the CLR on: (i) the importance of being realistic and focused about what can be accomplished through lending, especially when the resolution to a political crisis is not in sight, (ii) a stronger understanding of the political economy environment is essential in volatile situations, and (iii) flexible and cost-effective delivery modalities, such as community-driven approaches, are crucial to sustain results on the ground in fragile states.
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The Dominican Republic has enjoyed one of the strongest growth rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) over the past 20 years. It also experiences high growth with limited poverty reduction.
... See More + The available evidence strongly supports the role of three distinguishing characteristics of the Dominican economy in explaining why prosperity has not been shared more broadly in a country that does not seem to have a growth problem. With this objective in mind, this book assembles a collection of empirical analyses that explore three complementary hypotheses that could help decipher the puzzle of growth with limited shared prosperity in the Dominican Republic. The analysis of three complementary hypotheses tested in this book yields interesting findings that reveal the complexity of the phenomenon of growth with limited poverty reduction in the Dominican Republic. This book is arranged as follows: (1) Chapter 1 addresses the adequacy of the methodology to measure price variation, focusing on whether the low responsiveness of the poverty rate to the strong, robust level of economic growth recorded by the Dominican Republic during the past decade may be partly explained by a price index that does not reflect differences in consumption patterns across income groups: (2) Chapter 2 examines the role of factor endowments, technology, and capital mobility in job creation, and investigates why in the face of outstanding growth performance, has the Dominican Republic not been able to generate enough formal jobs to absorb its abundant labor force; (3) Chapter 3 considers whether labor market outcomes in the Dominican Republic suffer from capital-biased technical change, providing additional insights into the questions addressed in the previous chapter; (4) Chapter 4 focuses on the wage effects of Haitian migration in the Dominican Republic, delving into the complex, sensitive debate on whether labor market outcomes in the Dominican Republic are affected by migrants from neighboring Haiti; and (5) Chapter 5 considers the labor market implications of immigration and emigration in the Dominican Republic, going one step further in this debate.
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A severe slow-down in Afghanistan's economic growth characterized the period between 2012 and 2014, the so called Transition period leading to the 2014 election and handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces.
... See More + Afghanistan's economic malaise during this time can be attributed to the combined effects of the drawdown of international military forces and a sharp fall in associated international spending, reduction of aid, and increasing conflict and political instability. While aid fueled strong growth during the pre-transition period between 2007-2008 and 2011-2012, worrisome socio-economic dynamics already present intensified during the transition. Notably, the transition crisis magnified once again the many inequalities-between regions, cities and rural areas, rich and poor Afghans, and between men and women and girls and boys-that fracture Afghan society. The poorest and most vulnerable segments of the population benefited least from pre-transition growth, and the same groups suffered the most once the economy and the security condition deteriorated. This new edition of the Poverty Status Update series documents the evolution of poverty and socio-economic inclusion during the transition. It examines determinants of poverty and, with an eye beyond 2014, suggests policies to reduce vulnerability and inequalities.
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A severe slow-down in Afghanistan's economic growth characterized the period between 2012 and 2014, the so called Transition period leading to the 2014 election and handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces.
... See More + Afghanistan's economic malaise during this time can be attributed to the combined effects of the drawdown of international military forces and a sharp fall in associated international spending, reduction of aid, and increasing conflict and political instability. While aid fueled strong growth during the pre-transition period between 2007-2008 and 2011-2012, worrisome socio-economic dynamics already present intensified during the transition. Notably, the transition crisis magnified once again the many inequalities-between regions, cities and rural areas, rich and poor Afghans, and between men and women and girls and boys-that fracture Afghan society. The poorest and most vulnerable segments of the population benefited least from pre-transition growth, and the same groups suffered the most once the economy and the security condition deteriorated. This new edition of the Poverty Status Update series documents the evolution of poverty and socio-economic inclusion during the transition. It examines determinants of poverty and, with an eye beyond 2014, suggests policies to reduce vulnerability and inequalities.
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This program document presents the first Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth Support Operation (PRIGSO) in the amount of US$50 million equivalent to the Government of Mali (GoM).
... See More + The series is designed to support the implementation of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for the period 2016‐2018, known as the ‘Cadre Stratégique pour la Relance Economique et le DéveloppementDurable du Mali’ (CREDD). The CREDD, the 2015 Systematic Country Diagnosis (SCD) and the FY16‐FY19 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Mali are all closely aligned. The PRIGSO series supports the policies defined in the CREDD by fostering inclusive growth and supporting pro‐poor decentralized transfers and social protection. This is the first credit in the proposed series, which consists of two single tranche credits. The operation has two development objectives: (i) foster inclusive growth and (ii) support pro-poor decentralized transfers and social protection. The operation supports the first objective through a set of mutually reinforcing reforms that should lead to increased revenue of poor rural households following reforms in the provision of agricultural subsidies, the micro‐finance sector, and the legal and institutional framework of rural land. This objective is also supported by improved maintenance of rural roads, an expansion of the mobile phone network, and increased competition in the telecommunications sector. The second objective is supported by increasing the coverage and reducing the fragmentation of the social protection system and by funding accelerated decentralization. This is an important element of the Peace Agreement as reflected by the commitment to almost double the share of spending by non-central entities (collectivités territoriales) from approximately 16 percent of the budget in 2016 to 30 percent in 2018. As governance remains an area of concern, the Authorities have been notified that good governance is an important prerequisite for the PRIGSO series as is maintaining macro‐economic stability.
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El presente documento propone, para lograrlo, enfocar los esfuerzos hacia: (a) mejorar las capacidades y activos productivos de la población con mayor rezago para que ésta cuente con un piso mínimo de bienestar que le permita acceder a mejores y mayores oportunidades; y (b) identificar inversiones clave a realizarse en sectores estratégicos, que detonen el potencial productivo utilizando las capacidades de la población actualmente en pobreza.
... See More + De esta forma podrá desplegarse un círculo virtuoso de mayor productividad con equidad.
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Ukraine has tremendous potential that has not yet been reached. Ukraine is endowed with intelligent, energetic, and entrepreneurial people; extraordinary fertile land; considerable natural resources; and a geographic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.
... See More + There is no reason why Ukraine, under the right conditions, should not be among the league of prosperous and successful nations. The circumstances today, however, are of course, still far from that ultimate target. Ukraine’s GDP per person in 2015 was $2,115, while the corresponding figure was $12,500 for Poland, around $9,000 for Turkey and Romania, and $9,800 for Malaysia, and $13,000 for Argentina. The flip side of the current circumstances is that if Ukraine is able to put in place the right conditions, it will experience a period of strong economic growth as it catches up and converges to the levels of income of more prosperous nations. This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Ukraine is intended as an evidence based diagnostic of the constraints and priorities to reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity in a sustainable way. The SCD is intended as an evidence‐based and integrative analytical report, combining analysis of growth, inclusion, and sustainability. The SCD is not intended to be limited to expected areas of World Bank Group (WBG) engagement, but is instead intended to assess what the country itself should do to advance its growth, poverty reduction, and shared prosperity objectives in a sustainable way. This SCD is structured as follows. The next section covers the analysis of growth and sustainability. The third section covers the analysis of poverty and shared prosperity. The fourth section uses the analysis from the prior two sections to lay out the framework for the SCD, including the constraints and pathways to sustainable recovery and shared prosperity for Ukraine. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth sections elaborate on the pathways to achieving sustainable recovery and shared prosperity in Ukraine.
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This is a statement by Minister Gerd Müller, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, at the ninety-fifth meeting of the Development Committee held on April 22, 2017.
... See More + The challenges of our time are greater and more disruptive than ever before: climate change, inequality, poverty, crises and conflicts. These are no longer local challenges, they transcend borders and affect the entire world. These challenges can only be met through intensified international cooperation. It is in these times that our common multilateral institutions demonstrate their competence. The World Bank Group, the world's largest provider of financing for development, has a special responsibility in this regard. Its financial capacity and its wealth of knowledge and experience mean that it is an ‘innovation factory’ and a leader in the effort to achieve sustainable development. We should further enhance that leadership role. To that end, we developed and adopted a roadmap over the last two years for a better and bigger Bank. We are committed to that roadmap and will do our part to implement it. The progress made so far on voice reform and on the forward look. They provide a good basis for a set of measures to strengthen the Bank's financial capacity. We should further prepare these measures in the run-up to the annual meeting this fall.
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This is a statement by H.E. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance, Nigeria, at the 95th meeting of the Development Committee held on April 22, 2017.
... See More + He believes that the World Bank Group (WBG’s) continuous modernization and development of its vision should include a more detailed consideration of the contribution and role of Middle Income Countries (MICs) in economic development, particularly in the Africa Region. He also believes that the WBG can play a vital advocacy role in cooperation with other institutions in tackling illicit financial flows and helping to recover stolen assets. He encourages the Bank to ensure that this stage of the modernization process builds on the progress already made since Istanbul. He congratulates the Bank on the successful conclusion of the eighteenth replenishment of IDA. The policy package agreed between IDA and its donors involves a number of innovations, including the unprecedented step of debt financing which mobilizes additional resources. He appreciates the material contribution that this replenishment can potentially make in Fragile States and in the Africa Region. He was pleased that Nigeria joined the ranks of coalition of IDA contributing partners with a first ever contribution of 15 million US dollars to the current IDA 18 round of replenishment.
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Ratings of Eighth and Ninth Poverty Reduction Support Credit Projects for Cabo Verde were as follows: outcomes were moderately unsatisfactory, risk to development outcome was moderate, Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately unsatisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included:(i) A Public Private Partnership (PPP) unit efficiently staffed with relevant expertise is a success factor in getting PPPs evaluated and negotiated; (ii) Performance Based Management contracts (PBMCs) are an effective vehicle in carrying out a broad variety of activities for the government; (iii) Presenting evidence of success for similar policy actions in other countries can be effective in convincing policy-makers to support certain reforms; (iv) In addressing the financial performance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), it is important to focus on making the core business viable rather than allowing non-core activities to subsidize core operations; (vi) The National Investment System (NIS) shows that capacity building requires three elements to be successful: newer technology, enhanced human resources and supportive laws and procedures; (vi) To improve reform outcomes in low capacity countries, there is often the need to supplement agreed reforms with technical assistance and address political economy issues; and (vii) In countries with limited capacity, program design needs to be particularly careful in the scope of reforms, even in a context of a broad range of development constraints.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3972 MAR 31, 2017
The rate of Burkina Faso’s progress towards the eradication of extreme poverty and the reduction of inequalities over recent years has been sub-optimal.
... See More + This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) is an analytical report prepared by the World Bank Group (WBG) in an attempt to identify and analyze the factors that can help Burkina Faso accelerate its quest towards the achievement of the twin goals of reduced poverty and shared prosperity. The SCD assesses Burkina Faso’s performance in order to identify the constraints and to formulate a set of key priorities to facilitate the achievement of these goals. By focusing on the most significant issues affecting theachievement of these goals, the SCD is intended to inform the formulation of the upcoming Country Partnership Framework (CPF) and thus to facilitate the optimization of the WBG’s assistance to Burkina Faso. The SCD is organized in three parts. Part One establishes a context for the analysis through an assessment of the state of Burkina Faso’s economy and the progress it has made towards the achievement of the twin goals of poverty eradication and shared prosperity. Part Two presents a unified analytical framework to identity the main constraints on the lack of Burkina Faso’s progress towards the achievement of these goals. This framework focuses on two key constraints, these being the limited extent to which productive jobs have been created and the limited degree of access by poor households to a minimal package of services and infrastructure. Part Three attempts to rank policy priorities in the context of the analysis of the key constraints, international experience, and the perceptions of key stakeholder groups in Burkina Faso.
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A severe slow-down in Afghanistan's economic growth characterized the period between 2012 and 2014, the so called Transition period leading to the 2014 election and handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces.
... See More + Afghanistan's economic malaise during this time can be attributed to the combined effects of the drawdown of international military forces and a sharp fall in associated international spending, reduction of aid, and increasing conflict and political instability. While aid fueled strong growth during the pre-transition period between 2007-2008 and 2011-2012, worrisome socio-economic dynamics already present intensified during the transition. Notably, the transition crisis magnified once again the many inequalities-between regions, cities and rural areas, rich and poor Afghans, and between men and women and girls and boys-that fracture Afghan society. The poorest and most vulnerable segments of the population benefited least from pre-transition growth, and the same groups suffered the most once the economy and the security condition deteriorated. This new edition of the Poverty Status Update series documents the evolution of poverty and socio-economic inclusion during the transition. It examines determinants of poverty and, with an eye beyond 2014, suggests policies to reduce vulnerability and inequalities.
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A severe slow-down in Afghanistan's economic growth characterized the period between 2012 and 2014, the so called Transition period leading to the 2014 election and handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces.
... See More + Afghanistan's economic malaise during this time can be attributed to the combined effects of the drawdown of international military forces and a sharp fall in associated international spending, reduction of aid, and increasing conflict and political instability. While aid fueled strong growth during the pre-transition period between 2007-2008 and 2011-2012, worrisome socio-economic dynamics already present intensified during the transition. Notably, the transition crisis magnified once again the many inequalities-between regions, cities and rural areas, rich and poor Afghans, and between men and women and girls and boys-that fracture Afghan society. The poorest and most vulnerable segments of the population benefited least from pre-transition growth, and the same groups suffered the most once the economy and the security condition deteriorated. This new edition of the Poverty Status Update series documents the evolution of poverty and socio-economic inclusion during the transition. It examines determinants of poverty and, with an eye beyond 2014, suggests policies to reduce vulnerability and inequalities.
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This report is the first of a two-part volume on poverty in Africa. This study documents the data challenges and revisits the core broad facts about poverty in Africa; the second report will explore ways to accelerate its reduction.
... See More + The report takes a broad, multidimensional view of poverty, assessing progress over the past two decades along both monetary and nonmonetary dimensions. The dearth of comparable, good-quality household consumption surveys makes assessing monetary poverty especially challenging. The report scrutinizes the data used to assess monetary poverty in the region and explores how adjustments for data issues affect poverty trends. At the same time, the remarkable expansion of standardized household surveys on nonmonetary dimensions of well-being, including opinions and perceptions, opens up new opportunities. The report examines progress in education and health, the extent to which people are free from violence and able to shape their lives, and the joint occurrence of various types of deprivation. It also reviews the distributional aspects of poverty,by studying various dimensions of inequality. To shed light on Africa’s diversity, the report examines differences in performance across countries, by location, and by gender. Countries are characterized along four dimensions that have been shown to affect growth and poverty: resource richness, fragility, landlockedness and income status. To conclude, a portion of inequality in Africa can be attributed to inequality of opportunity, circumstances at birth that are major determinants of one’s poverty status as an adult.
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This note summarizes the findings of the analysis carried out regarding the poverty and inequality impacts of the ongoing economic crisis in Brazil in 2016 and 2017.
... See More + The first objective is to get an estimate of the extent to which the deteriorating macroeconomic conditions and shrinking labor markets in Brazil will impact on poverty and inequality. The second objective is to generate a detailed profile of the new poor associated with the crisis. The third and final objective is to get estimates of the additional budget needed for the Bolsa Familia Program to effectively mitigate the poverty impacts of the crisis and protect the past achievements of Brazil in poverty and inequality reduction until the necessary structural reforms take place in Brazil and the engines of growth are reignited.
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The Bangladesh economy is weathering persistent global uncertainties relatively well. Poverty reduction is expected to have continued. Growth remained resilient, aided recently by recovery in exports and private investments.
... See More + Inflation has decelerated benefitting from soft international commodity prices and prudent macroeconomic management. The outlook for Bangladesh’s main export destinations is projected to improve, although downside risks remain elevated. More recently, falling export growth and decline in remittances are emerging near term concerns. According to our model, increased capital accumulation can contribute significantly to boosting growth, but alone cannot deliver a sustainable and accelerated growth path. More is needed, including closing the inter-sectoral productivity gap through increased resource mobility, easing the constraints on firm level productivity and increasing female labor force participation in the formal sectors. In addition, poor infrastructure, inadequate energy supply, and inefficient financial intermediation combined with high cost of doing business remain the key obstacles hindering the realization of Bangladesh’s vast economic potential.
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This report talks about poverty reduction in the Latin American (LA) region came to a halt in 2015, as the region’s economy contracted, and middle class growth stagnated.Poverty rates were effectively unchanged in 7 out of 13 countries as most countries faced an economic slowdown, and thus convergence towards low poverty reduction continued.Income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the LAC income distribution turned negative in 2015, but the income drop among the richest 10 percent was even larger, driving an overall decrease in inequality.
... See More + Preliminary data suggests poverty outcomes are likely to continue to deteriorate into 2016.
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