Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9388

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How Did Countries Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis? Emerging Patterns on Jobs-Relates Policies

(World Bank, Washington DC, 2023-04-24) Contreras , Ivette ; Khamis, Melanie ; Newhouse, David ; Weber, Michael

This brief investigates the differences in countries’ jobs-related policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four main patterns emerge. First, the type of labor policies adopted by countries varied greatly according to their income level. Low-income countries were more likely to implement public works programs but not other policies, such as unemployment benefits, labor regulations, wage subsidies, training and placements policies, firm liquidity support, and cash transfers to workers. Meanwhile, countries with more formal workforce and existing unemployment benefits systems were more likely to implement policies such as unemployment benefits and labor regulations. Second, low- and lower-middle-income countries devoted a lower share of their gross domestic product (GDP) to expenditure on new job-related policies. Third, conditional on countries’ income group, the magnitude of the GDP shock did not have a statistically significant correlation with the adoption of different policies. This may reflect uncertainty in the the extent of the GDP shock when the policy response was determined or noise in the measure of GDP. Finally, countries that adopted more stringent COVID-19 restrictions were more likely to adopt changes to labor regulations, specifically changes in working conditions to try to soften the blow on workers. These results suggest that the policy response to the crisis in low- and lower-middle-income countries was constrained by the lack of resources, resulting in lower-cost policies with generally limited impacts on workers.
Ukraine - Human Development Update, February 2023

(Washington, DC, 2023-04-10) World Bank

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian casualties, internal displacement of millions of people, widespread destruction of infrastructure, and disruption of services that are essential to human capital formation and protection. This Ukraine Human Development Update summarizes the cumulative effects of the war, highlights recent government responses, and provides an overview of World Bank support.
Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor: 21 March 2023

(Washington, DC, 2023-03-21) World Bank

The economy resumed moderate expansion as private consumption and tourism improved at the beginning of 2023, after a disappointing Q4 outturn. However, lingering soft global demand continued to weigh on goods exports, manufacturing, and private investment. Inflation slowed amid easing global energy prices but remained above the Bank of Thailand’s target range of 1-3 percent. As a result, authorities extended energy-related subsidies while maintaining monetary policy normalization. The Thai baht depreciated the most among major ASEAN currencies in February as the current account turned deficit due to slowing export of goods while substantial portfolio flows exited the equity and bond markets.
Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor: February 2023

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-03-14) World Bank

Growth decelerated more than expected to 1.4 percent in Q4 2022 amid the global economic slowdown. Goods trade contracted while manufacturing production and investment weakened. However, robust private consumption and tourism recovery continued to strengthen the outlook. Headline inflation declined but the second-round impact on domestic prices remained. This prompted the Bank of Thailand to continue monetary policy normalization and the government to extend energy-related subsidies. The current account balance returned to surplus in Q4 2022 on the back of substantially improved tourism receipts, supporting the Thai baht.
Emerging Trends in National Financial Inclusion Strategies that Support Women’s Entrepreneurship

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-03-10) Bin-Humam, Yasmin ; Braunmiller, Julia Constanze ; Elsaman, Mahmoud

Starting a business is a way for women to generate income and become more resilient when dealing with shocks. However, large gender gaps in formal entrepreneurship impede women’s livelihoods and global development. The persistence of gender-based barriers-notably, unequal access to financial accounts, constrained credit, and normative roles that keep women in the role of primary caregivers underscores the need for broader support and regulatory reform, including reform of the financial sector. This brief presents data collected by the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law (WBL) project on selected contours of National Financial Inclusion Strategies that can support women’s entrepreneurship. In all, fifty-two economies worldwide had valid financial inclusion strategies in force as of June 30, 2022. An increasing number are now highlighting the need to promote women’s financial inclusion. However, as this initial foray shows, more could be done in National Financial Inclusion Strategies to promote credit to women entrepreneurs and enhance the national-level collection and reporting of financial data disaggregated by sex. The analysis also shows that the field for developing indicators at both the policy and regulatory level remains ripe for exploration by the WBL project and others.
Effectively Engaging the Private Sector in the Business Reform Process

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-12-09) Arlet, Jean Nicolas ; Eknath, Varun ; Popova, Oleksandra

This brief discusses critical considerations for engaging the private sector in the process of reforming and implementing business regulations, along with channels and mechanisms that have been successfully used around the world. Using novel data from the Business Reform Committee project (BRC) covering 160 economies, the Brief presents global trends across income groups on the existence of reform committees and stages of engaging the private sector while reforms are being implemented. The brief further draws from experiences across countries on making policy decisions and the implementation of reforms more consultative, while providing critical caveats so that policy makers can determine what mechanisms are best suited for their country.
Connecting the Dots: Toward a Social Protection Interoperability Framework in Fiji

(Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank

Both the public and private sectors rely on intensive data use in the 21st century. While data is everywhere, accessing that data is difficult. Accessing that data then requires permission, the ability to access and receive the data, and finally, the ability to use that data to produce useful information for citizen servicing. Interoperability aims to resolve these challenges by ensuring coordination across different systems. Interoperability in e-Governance is defined as the ability of different systems from various stakeholders to work together, by communicating, interpreting and exchanging the information in a meaningful way. The Republic of Fiji is home to one of the most sophisticated economies in the Pacific Islands. The recent economic shocks triggered by Coronavirus (COVID-19) as well as several rounds of significant tropical weather events between 2020 and 2022 have highlighted critical systematic challenges in Fiji’s Social Protection (SP) system. The Government of Fiji (GoF) has initiated the social assistance policy reform agenda to address these challenges. In parallel, Technical Assistance (TA) was provided to the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation (MWCPA) and the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) by the World Bank, which includes an IT assessment with recommendations for enhancing the Social Protection IT infrastructure in the DSW and the SP sector in the country and a roadmap for the gradual introduction of an Integrated Social Protection Digital Platform (ISPDP) in Fiji. Interoperability is a key enabler of a more adaptive and gender-inclusive social protection system in Fiji.
Floods in Pakistan: Human Development at Risk

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-11-01) Baron, Juan ; Bend, Mary ; Roseo, Elena Maria ; Farrakh, Izza ; Barone, Andrea

This note assesses the effects of the 2022 floods on human capital in Pakistan. It focuses on the results of a Pakistan-wide phone survey that gathered information on the experiences of approximately 4,000 families with children ages 3 to 17. The survey was originally designed to track children’s return to school after school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the team adapted the survey methodology to ensure that it could better document and understand the challenges families with children are facing during the 2022 floods and that the country is experiencing as it seeks to protect and rebuild human capital for the future.
Public Services and COVID-19: Reflections from the Pacific - Trust

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-10-24) World Bank

The purpose of this note is to identify good practice in public sector management drawn from Pacific Island public service experiences of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. These experiences were brought together through a World Bank engagement with Pacific Island countries in 2021 and 2022. The engagement identified five core aspects of Pacific Island public service management in response to COVID-19: trust, preparation, adaptable system settings, adaptable operating models, and sustainable wage bills. This first note in the series of five focuses on the importance of trust. The primary audience is public service leaders in Pacific Islands. The note will also be of interest to anyone working on designing and leading public sector management systems through rapid change, uncertainty and crises.
Economic and Social Impacts of the Recent Crises in Tonga: Insights from the April-May 2022 Round of High Frequency Phone Surveys

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-10-21) World Bank

This report includes: the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HT-HH) volcanic eruption (January 15, 2022) and a subsequent tsunami, COVID-19 outbreak and the associated lockdown (starting on February 2); to assess and monitor the economic and social impacts of the crises, the World Bank launched household-level HFPS with a plan to collect 6 rounds of surveys until mid-2024; surveys interview the same households across rounds to monitor various socio-economic outcomes and inform policy and government programs; and similar HFPS have been implemented in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands with Vanuatu and Fiji in the pipeline, under the World Bank Pacific Observatory initiative