The outlook for the global economy has darkened amid elevated trade tensions. International trade and investment are moderating, trade tensions remain elevated, and financing conditions are tightening.
... See More + Global growth is projected to moderate from a downwardly revised 3 percent in 2018 to 2.9 percent in 2019 and 2.8 percent in 2020-21, as economic slack dissipates, monetary policy tightens in advanced economies, and global trade gradually slows (World Bank Global Economic Prospects, January 2019). Despite external shocks to trade and tourism, growth of the Thai economy is estimated to have accelerated to 4.1 percent in 2018. The economy proved to be resilient in the face of strong global headwinds due to strengthening domestic demand stemming from an upswing in private consumption and private investment. Domestic consumption expanded by 5 percent in 2018Q3, posting the highest growth rate in 22 quarters in a low-inflation environment and record-low unemployment. In addition, private investment grew by 3.9 percent in the third quarter supported by increased spending on construction, machinery and equipment. Strong domestic demand offset partially adverse global factors—the China-US trade dispute—as well as domestic and idiosyncratic factors—such as the Phuket boat tragedy and the high-base effect of gold exports. The Thai economy also owed its resiliency to strong and stable macroeconomic fundamentals.
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The MNA region has rich marine ecosystems that can play a key role in eroding extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity through the Blue Economy—the sustainable use of marine resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, jobs, and overall ecosystem health.
... See More + The Blue Economy includes a wide range of activities, from fisheries and aquaculture to other ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, coastal protection, and biodiversity. For example, MNA has large coastal areas important to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people, many of them poor and vulnerable. These include fisheries and aquaculture, much of it small-scale and increasing substantially in recent years, from 2,484,644 and 393,987 metric tons, respectively, in 2000 to 4,743,814 and 1,820,983 metric tons in 2016. Many MNA countries rely heavily on imports for food and fisheries and aquaculture supplement the food supply, impacting food security and nutritional diversity. These ecosystems also play a role in climate change mitigation and adaptation as seas absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and coastal habitats, like mangrove forests and sea grass beds, sequester carbon and help to protect coastlines, preventing erosion from floods and storms. Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM)—which coordinate policies, activities, and investments impacting coastal and maritime resources—are critical to capturing the opportunities of the Blue Economy.
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The First, Second and Third Programmatic Resilience-Building Development Policy Financing of Grenada had a moderately satisfactory overall performance, a moderately satisfactory performance by the Bank and the monitoring and evaluation quality was satisfactory.
... See More + The lessons learned were: (1) The use of a programmatic instrument is appropriate when supporting a multi-stage program with a longer-term horizon, but even this approach requires realism in what is achievable over the implementation of three operations. (2) Public employment management (and downsizing) requires time. (3) Small countries have different dynamics that need to be considered when developing reform programs and selecting indicators and targets. (4) While appraisal of reform programs normally identifies sources of analytical and technical work that helped define the priorities together with sources of ongoing assistance in the respective fields, the analysis needs to consider carefully those areas in which hands-on, just-in-time technical support will be required to compensate for weak institutional capacity. (5) Policy operations that support fiscal consolidation and a reduction of the public sector should be cautious of requiring the establishment of separate new units or agencies to implement policies.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR4551 DEC 21, 2018