Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

669 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 285
  • Publication
    Vietnam Macro Monitoring, January 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-02-04) World Bank
    Industrial production increased in December 2024. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) increased from 1.6 percent (m/m, SA) in November to 2.1 percent (m/m, SA) in December 2024, as businesses ramped up production to meet year-end consumer demand. The improvement is due to the increased production of key export products such as textiles, footwear, furniture, electronics, and electrical equipment. Manufacturing production for domestic consumption such as food and beverages also expanded. However, in terms of prospects, Viet Nam’s PMI was down from 50.8 in November to 49.8 in December, entering contractionary territory, as new orders growth slowed, while firms scaled back employment and inventories.
  • Publication
    Education Finance Watch 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-29) World Bank; UNESCO
    To achieve their national and international education goals, many countries need to invest more and better in their education systems. During the last decade, total education spending by governments, households, and donors globally has increased steadily, but this has not led to significant increases in allocations per child, especially in poorer countries with their growing populations. Total education spending per child has either decreased or stagnated globally. Additionally, the combination of the financial repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic plus escalating global debt is likely to be limiting the ability of countries to augment their investments in education. Moreover, the strain on public education budgets in recent years has coincided with a 4 to 8 percentage point decline in minimum reading and math proficiency among 15-year-olds compared to 2018 pre-COVID levels in middle-income countries (OECD, 2023). In low-income countries (LICs), where data on educational outcomes are scarce, simulations suggest that the incidence of learning poverty, which was already high before 2020, is likely to have risen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic (World Bank et al., 2023). The current challenge in education finance is the need to mobilize more resources while at the same time increasing the adequacy, efficiency, and equity of funding in the face of tight fiscal space and competing priorities. Tackling the spending inefficiencies and inequalities that are common to many education systems will be vital to enable countries to make better use of their resources and strengthen the link between spending and education outcomes.
  • Publication
    Vietnam Macro Monitoring, December 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-13) World Bank
    Industrial production improved in November 2024, driven by an increased production of key export and manufactured products. While staying in expansionary territory, Vietnam’s PMI inched down slightly from 51.2 in October to 50.8 in November as the growth of new orders softened. Exports and imports growth continued to slow, driven by a contraction of tech exports (phones and equipment) and a small deceleration of non-tech exports (including footwear and textiles) due to weaker global demand and lingering supply chain disruptions caused by typhoon Yagi. Year-on-year export growth moderated from 10.2 percent y/y in October to 8.2 percent y/y in November. Mirroring the moderation of export growth, import growth decelerated from 13.6 percent y/y in October to 9.8 percent y/y in November. The trade balance registered a small surplus of 1.1 billion US dollars in November 2024 and totaled US 23.8 billion dollars in the first 11 months of 2024. Revenue collection during the first 11 months of 2024 was 16.1 percent higher than during 2023 due to improved economic activities. Revenue collection reached 106.1 percent of what had been planned for 2024. The public investment disbursement rate accelerated from 52.3 percent of the Prime Minister’s approved budget allocation in October 2024 to 73.5 percent in November 2024. However, it remained slightly below the 76.5 percent disbursement rate from the same period of last year.
  • Publication
    Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor, October 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-24) World Bank
    The economy decelerated slightly. Manufacturing and private consumption weakened while exports and tourism continued to support growth. Growth is projected to accelerate to 2.4 percent in 2024, with further improvement expected in the second half of the year driven by increased budget execution and goods exports. Despite low government investment disbursement, the THB 10,000 cash handouts for low-income households may stimulate growth. However, flooding poses downside risks to growth and may add to price pressure. Inflation edged up due to fresh food and core inflation. The Thai baht appreciated due to expectations of a Federal Reserve easing cycle and a current account surplus. The Bank of Thailand (BOT) unexpectedly lowered the policy rate by 25 basis points to 2.25 percent.
  • Publication
    Education Finance Watch 2024: Key Findings about Education Financing
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-24) World Bank; UNESCO
    The Education Finance Watch (EFW) is a collaborative effort between the World Bank, the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). The EFW aims to provide an analysis of trends, patterns, and issues in education financing around the world.
  • Publication
    Vietnam Macro Monitoring, October 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-23) World Bank
    Gross domestic products (GDP) growth registered 7.4 percent (y/y) in Q3-2024 at Viet Nam, its highest in two years, driven by non-tech exports and the ongoing domestic demand recovery. Typhoon Yagi hit northern Viet Nam in September, leading to significant economic damages of US 3.2 billion (0.7 percent of GDP). Agricultural production was the hardest-hit sector, accounting for 38 percent of the total economic losses. FDI investments expanded robustly, totaling US$ 24.6 billion in the last 12 months, an 8.3 percent increase compared to a year earlier. Inflation continued to moderate, registering 2.6 percent (y/y) in September 2024, from 3.5 percent in August 2024, as transport prices declined, food inflation remained stable and core inflation decelerated to 2.5 percent (y/y). Slow budget disbursement continues to remain a concern, with 59.3 percent of the public expenditure plan disbursed in the first nine months of 2024 (slightly below the disbursement rate of 59.7 percent at the same period last year), including 47.3 percent of public investments executed.
  • Publication
    Regional Poverty and Inequality Update Latin America and the Caribbean: October 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-20) World Bank
    This brief summarizes the main trends related to poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) using the latest round of harmonized household surveys from the Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean (SEDLAC) created by the World Bank and the Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Social (CEDLAS). This brief was produced by the Poverty and Equity Global Practice in the Latin America and Caribbean Region of the World Bank.
  • Publication
    Sex-disaggregating Tax Administrative Data: Experience from Colombia’s Tax and Customs Authority
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-06) Gamboa, Luis Fernando; Reyes, Luis Carlos; Tribin, Ana Maria; Komatsu, Hitomi
    This Knowledge Note aims to document National Tax and Customs Authority's (DIAN’s) experience in sex-disaggregating income taxpayer data and provide examples of the use of disaggregated data for policy analysis. It offers lessons for other revenue authorities and government agencies planning to sex-disaggregate and analyze administrative tax data. It summarizes the institutional strategies, methodologies used, and challenges encountered in this process based on interviews with experts and government officials. We use the term “sex” to mean biological sex at birth unless explicitly stated otherwise.
  • Publication
    Saving Lives While Raising Revenue: Opportunities in Brazil’s Reform of Indirect Taxes to Improve Tobacco, Alcohol, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) Excise Taxes
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-11-04) Maldonado, N.; Blecher, E.; Fleischhaker, C.
    Taxes and prices of tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in Brazil are low compared to international peers. The ongoing landmark reform of indirect taxes (PLP 68/2024 and forthcoming Ordinary Law) provides an excellent opportunity to put in place well-designed excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol and SSBs.If well implemented, reforms of the tax structure and increases in tax rates can make them more effective at improving population health and raising additional tax revenue. Global evidence to support reforms is strong, supporting the use of well-designed and administered health taxes.Following global best practices, it is recommended that health taxes are focused on specific taxes or, when applied in mixed systems, that the specific taxes comprise a larger component of the excise tax than the ad valorem component. Tax rates, particularly for specific taxes, need to be increased significantly to align Brazil with the prices of international peers, and indexed to inflation plus three percentage points to protect real values of tax over time, and to reduce the affordability of tobacco, alcohol, and SSBs.
  • Publication
    Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor, September 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-23) World Bank
    Economic activity improved, driven by external demand for exports and tourism. Manufacturing growth turned positive, supported by a surge in goods exports. However, internal drivers weighed on growth. Private consumption growth decelerated, impacted by stricter credit conditions. The acceleration of fiscal spending proved slower than expected, but a higher FY25 budget spending could support growth. The revised digital wallet is expected to boost gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Thai baht appreciated driven by expectations of the Federal Reserve’s easing cycle and a persistent current account surplus. Inflation remained among the lowest in emerging markets, falling to 0.4 percent, due to lower energy prices; core inflation remained subdued due to weak domestic demand.