Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes
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Publication
Vietnam Macro Monitoring
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-27)This brief discusses the economic development of Vietnam for August 2023. While the export slump may have bottomed out, and domestic consumption remained resilient, credit growth continued to be slow, reflecting weak private domestic investment and investors’ confidence. Recent upward movements in global energy prices warrants close monitoring of CPI inflation. This may also prevent SBV from loosening monetary policy further. The continuation of tight global financial conditions warrants flexible FX management to accommodate external conditions. Further acceleration of public investment disbursement could support aggregate demand and economic growth in the short run while focusing on priority green and resilient infrastructure and human capital investments will help bolster long term economic development. -
Publication
Gender and Digital Development in Thailand
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-26)The wave of digital transformation has swept across the globe, with its pace significantly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which expedited the adoption of digital technologies by several years. However, this rapid digital metamorphosis is not without the risk of escalating gender inequality. The digital divide, defined as "the distinction between those who have access to and can utilize digital communication services and those who are excluded from these services", exhibits a gendered aspect. This gender digital divide reflects the inequalities between men and women in terms of access to and usage of digital technology. This document offers an overview of the gender equality issues in digital development in Thailand, drawing on a literature review, initial findings from research conducted in Odon Thani province in 2022, and findings and recommendations from the 2023 Adult Skills Assessment in Thailand (ASAT). -
Publication
Gender and Informal Work in Thailand
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-26)Thailand has made good progress in closing gender gaps in various dimensions, especially human capital development. However, the progress, though obvious, has not done much to get rid of the main deterrents discouraging Thai women from participating more actively in the labor market. Thailand’s labor force participation rate (LFPR) is 94 percent for men and 80.5 percent for women; both have been relatively stable since 2017. More than half of jobs in Thailand are considered informal, but though “informal worker” is in general use throughout the economy, what it refers to has no precise definition. The gender and informality study by the World Bank Bangkok team led to the recommendations covered in this report. -
Publication
On the Construction of the World Bank’s Subnational Poverty and Inequality Databases: Documentation
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-26)In many countries, large differences in poverty persist at the subnational level. In addition, global challenges such as climate change, fragility, economic crises, and food insecurity are often trans-border issues that pose significant risks for poverty reduction both across and within countries. Traditional poverty measures are generally presented at the national level, potentially obscuring local and regional variations of poverty and inequality. To overcome these challenges, this note describes the construction of two databases designed to provide a more granular perspective on poverty. The Subnational Poverty and Inequality Database (SPID) presents direct survey estimates of poverty and inequality from nationally representative household surveys over time. The Global Subnational Atlas of Poverty (GSAP) presents poverty estimates of survey-representative administrative areas projected to a common year. Both databases use the same underlying household survey data used by the World Bank to monitor global poverty. -
Publication
Building Climate Resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Health Systems in Africa: A Summary of Findings and Recommendations from Climate and Health Vulnerability Assessments (CHVAs) Funded by AFRI-RES Across Four Countries
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-06)This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program. -
Publication
Embedding Climate Resilience into Ecosystem and Water Projects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-05)This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023a) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program. -
Publication
Embedding Climate Resilience into Energy Projects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-05)The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES) is a partnership between the Africa Union, African Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the World Bank Group, established with support from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). The partnership seeks to assist governments, planners, and private developers in integrating climate resilience in project planning and design, thereby attracting funding from both development and climate finance sources. This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from AFRI-RES. It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023a) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program. -
Publication
Embedding Climate Resilience into Urban and Transport Projects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-05)This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023a) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program. -
Publication
Embedding Climate Resilience into Agriculture Projects
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-05)This note summarizes lessons and practices deployed in embedding climate resilience into the design of projects that received catalytic funds from The Africa Climate Resilience Investment Facility (AFRI-RES). It draws from application of the Resilience Booster Tool to specific projects, as relevant, Compendium Volume on Climate Resilient Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank (2023a) and Guidance, Standards, and Good Practice Notes developed under the program. -
Publication
The Value of Data: An Estimate of the Cost of (Not) Updating Brazil’s Consumer Price Index
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-01)Consumer price indices are central to monitoring, guiding, and defining a country's economic development path. By capturing how prices change over time, consumer price indices provide a measure of the evolution of the cost of living for households. The impact of price indices on the economy is very broad, affecting everything from the adjustment of pensions to the monetary policy of the Central Bank, from cash transfer programs to private sector contracts. The measurement of inflation has, therefore, real consequences for the country's evolution. In this note, authors study the Brazilian case and focus on the potential fiscal implications of the unavailability of a household budget survey in a timely manner. The note presents two hypothetical exercises that vary the timing at which the national statistical office incorporates updated information from a household budget survey into the CPI. Varying the timing of adoption of the expenditure information allows to create a counterfactual price index that can be compared to the true CPI at different points in time. Finally, using the actual and counterfactual CPI we answer the following question: what would have been the government expenditures should the CPI update have been delayed The note focuses on expenditures on pensions (aposentadorias) due to data availability. Recognizing that there are many other government policies that depend on inflation estimates, the estimates presented can be interpreted as a lower bound of the effect of interest.