Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes
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Publication
Using Big Data to Expand Financial Services: Benefits and Risks
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11)Big data is transforming financial services around the world. Advances in data analytics and computational power are allowing firms to exploit data in an easier, faster, and more reliable manner, and at a larger scale. By using big data, financial firms and new entrants from other sectors are able to provide more and better financial services. Governments are also exploring ways to use big data collected by the financial sector more systematically to get a better picture of the financial system as a whole and the overall economy. Despite its benefits, the wider use of big data has raised concerns related to consumer privacy, data security, discrimination, data accuracy, and competition. Hence, policy makers have started to regulate and monitor the use of big data by financial institutions and to think about how to use big data for the benefit of all. -
Publication
Exporting Financial Services in Latin America and the Caribbean
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-09)According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), trade in services has become the most dynamic segment of world trade, growing more quickly than trade in goods. While travel remains the most exported service both worldwide and in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), other services are becoming relevant for both developed and developing economies. Among them, financial services is one of the most important categories in terms of value. Worldwide, the value of financial services exports rose in real terms between 2008 and 2017. Nevertheless, this global trend of rising exports of financial services was not reflected in LAC, where they contracted between 2008 and 2016. The economies of Latin America and the Caribbean have significant potential to export financial services. To take advantage of this opportunity, governments in the region can work on a variety of fronts to raise their economies’ competitiveness in this area. Two specific challenges are the availability of human capital and electronic infrastructure. The former refers to the limited number of professionals that, in addition to Spanish, speak the language of the importing economies and are adequately educated and experienced in the areas associated with services exports. The latter refers to the electronic infrastructure and digital systems that facilitate the export of financial services, but also the high cost to develop communication schemes in the region. Consequently, LAC’s export dynamism in financial services will depend on long-term public policies and public-private strategies with clear objectives for promoting human capital and a competitive digital ecosystem. -
Publication
Collecting Robust Real-Time High Frequency Price Data in Fragile Settings
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-03)To embark on a sustainable pathway toward development, effective policy responses must be implemented quickly and based on evidence. This requires reliable, timely data, which is often unavailable especially in fragile settings. An innovative High Frequency Survey (HFS) infrastructure offers a modern data collection system to fill critical data gaps. It can provide quantitative data to inform programs and policies, often linked to resilience in fragile settings. Using the cases of Somalia and South Sudan, this note describes the design and setup of such a HFS infrastructure and illustrates how high frequency price data can effectively support decision-making even in the event of an economic or humanitarian crisis. -
Publication
Seeds of Success: Stories of IFC’s Work to Improve the Lives of Women in Agribusiness Value Chains
(Washington, DC, 2019)According to the e Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women make up on average forty-three percent of the agricultural workforce in developing countries. Female participation in value chains is critical, yet they still face gender-specific constraints and challenges in owning, accessing, and controlling resources that affect their productivity, livelihood, and income. These are stories of collaboration, gender advancement, and women empowerment. IFC believes in creating and implementing Gender-Smart Solutions to close gender gaps in the sector, thus increasing agricultural yields and revenues, improving wages, and helping women expand to new, favorable markets. -
Publication
When is a Current Account Deficit Bad?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10)A current account deficit is sustainable when its underlying drivers support a smooth correction in the future. It is unsustainable when symptomatic of macroeconomic imbalances that would eventually trigger disruptive adjustments. Although a current account deficit in itself is neither good nor bad, it is likely to be unsustainable and lead to harmful consequences when it is persistently large, fuels consumption rather than investment, occurs alongside excessive domestic credit growth, follows an overvalued exchange rate, or accompanies unrestrained fiscal deficits. Even though a current account deficit is often paralleled by deteriorating net foreign assets, it may not be as informative about immediate-term financial vulnerabilities as the size, maturity, and currency composition of gross financial stocks. -
Publication
Outgrower Schemes
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)This note provides guidance on the design and implementation of outgrower schemes to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for investors and smallholders. Outgrower schemes have gained prominence as a business model that can benefit both smallholders and investors. Such schemes can improve smallholders’ access to markets, finance, infrastructure, and improved growing techniques; can enhance investors’ access to land, labor, and quality produce; and can improve investor-community relations. Associated risks include overdependency, exploitation of power differences, entrenchment of inequalities, lower-than-expected production, and side-selling. Achieving the potential benefits and minimizing the associated risks requires careful design and implementation. -
Publication
Access to Finance for Female-led Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)Female-led Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs), play a vital role as job creators, driving female participation in the economy, and boosting inclusive GDP growth. In addition to the direct economic impact of MSMEs, research shows that female-led enterprises employ more women, and that increased control over resources by women leads to improved health and education outcomes for children, among other socioeconomic benefits. Reducing poverty and boosting inclusive growth are therefore directly linked to the economic participation of women in general and women-led MSMEs. Gender equality, while essential and desirable on its own merits, also yields well-documented economic benefits channeled through female labor force participation and, relatedly, through women’s participation in entrepreneurship and leadership in MSMEs. Social norms, difficulties in balancing work and family time demands, and limited access to collateral, among an array of other multidimensional barriers, result in a low percentage of female-owned MSMEs among all MSMEs and constraints in realizing their full potential. Women-led enterprises are more likely to be smaller, informal, and home-based. The World Bank Gender Strategy identifies the multidimensional constraints that hold back women’s participation. Globally, female-owned MSMEs are 38 percent or less of all MSMEs, they are more likely to be smaller, informal, and home-based. They are concentrated in services like health, social work, hairdressing, and beauty treatment. Sectors dominated by women entrepreneurs show lower growth in value-added and turnover. -
Publication
Health Impact and Effectiveness of Distribution Models for Plastic Latrine Slabs in Kenya
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-03)Lack of sanitation is a huge development challenge in Kenya, but also a potentially sizeable market opportunity. The World Bank and IFCs ‘Selling Sanitation’ project worked with large plastics manufacturing firms in Nairobi to design, test, and support market development and distribution of a range of plastic latrine slabs. The products were designed from the consumer’s perspective using the Human-Centered Design approach and priced well below the cost of the prevailing concrete slab. This research brief summarizes baseline findings and monitoring results from an impact evaluation of the plastic latrine slab, evaluating its health impact and the effectiveness of niche distribution and financing mechanisms for reaching base-of-the-pyramid households. Baseline findings show that children in the study area suffer from high rates of diarrhea and many are underweight, but worm infections are rare. The majority of households at baseline had unimproved pit latrines with either no slab (49%), or a mud slab, and overall sanitation and environmental hygiene conditions are poor. Feedback on the plastic slab from monitoring visits is overwhelmingly positive, with respondents citing ease of cleaning, safety for children, and prestige. However several barriers to adoption were noted. Most participants perceive the slab as unaffordable for the target beneficiaries, while a lack of adequate follow-up and marketing from sales agents, and limited availability of the product in remote, rural villages are major obstacles to generating demand for the slab. Additional public sector resources will be needed to further support the development of distribution channels and financing mechanisms to reduce the price for base-of-the-pyramid households and increase adoption of the slab among target beneficiaries. -
Publication
BM and FBOVESPA Sustainability Index and the Responsible Practices of Brazilian Corporations: Issue Brief
(Washington, DC, 2017-01)BM and FBOVESPA, Latin America’s leading exchange in number of transactions and one of the world’s largest in market value, created the corporate sustainability index (ISE índice de sustentabilidade empresarial) in 2005 with financial support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The ISE was designed to create an efficient investment mechanism to group companies with superior performance that manage environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities. The ISE served as a reference guide for initiation of sustainability practices as well as for their continuous improvement. The firms that have been in the index (for some time or since its inception) report valuable benefits in terms of improved sustainability practices, better reputation, and, to some extent, positive impacts on their stock price, access to capital, and liquidity in the stock market. The ISE supported a rapid move to sustainable practices among listed firms, with most relatively large companies with liquid stocks eager to participate. As experience has been gained, the requirements for membership have been tightened, and fewer firms have been applying. IFC’s strategy in Brazil focuses on promoting access to finance and developing capital markets to reach low-income individuals, microenterprises, and small businesses. For more publications on IFC Sustainability please visit www.ifc.org/sustainabilitypublications. -
Publication
Supporting Effective Regulation and Supervision of Index-Insurance in Francophone Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017)The development of sustainable index-insurance markets requires enabling legal and regulatory environments. In addition to this regional regulatory change, the global index-insurance facility (GIIF) has supported national insurance supervision agencies with this transition. In particular, GIIF has assisted the Senegalese Insurance Supervision Agency with the development of supervisory and customer protection tools for index-insurance. This regulatory change has allowed the development of index-insurance pilots in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal. Today, the CIMA region has a population of more than 145 million people, 58 percent of them living under 2 million dollars a day and most of them depending on agriculture for their livelihoods (contributing to an average of 30 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).