Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes
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Publication Vietnam Macro Monitoring, December 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-13) World BankIndustrial 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 BankThe 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 Case Studies of Successful Reforms to Address the Challenges of Financing Education Systems Effectively: Increasing the Adequacy of Education Finance through Private Sector Resource Mobilization - The Case of Côte d’Ivoire(Washington, DC, 2023-11-20) World BankMany low, and middle-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa face an education financing crisis. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid improvements in access place severe pressure on the adequacy of public education expenditure, with average per-student public expenditure in the region being less than one-tenth that in Europe and Central Asia (World Bank, 2022). Some countries have successfully mobilized private sector finance to support education beyond the financing provided by government. These efforts have been particularly common in technical and vocational education and training (TVET), where countries including Tanzania and Zambia have introduced skills levies on businesses, which are channeled into dedicated funds to support TVET. However, such efforts are much rarer in basic education, which typically relies on conventional taxation, public debt, and development assistance for funding. This case study presents the example of Côte d’Ivoire, where a partnership between the government, private foundations, and the cocoa industry has mobilized significant amounts of finance to support the provision of basic education in cocoa-growing communities.Publication What do We Know About Interventions to Increase Women’s Economic Participation and Empowerment in South Asia?: Financial Products(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-04-07) Javed, Amna; Zahra, Najaf; Boudet, Ana Maria MunozThe World Bank’s South Asia Region Gender Innovation Lab (SARGIL) is conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions with direct or indirect effects on measures of women’s economic empowerment. The review focuses on changes in labor market outcomes, income, and other empowerment indicators. The goal is to document what has and has not worked for women in the region (covering all countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), understand the types of interventions implemented, and identify gaps in knowledge and action. Interventions are organized into five categories: Skills, Assets, Financial Products, Care, and Empowerment. This brief summarizes the main findings from the financial products category.Publication Effectively Engaging the Private Sector in the Business Reform Process(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-12-09) Arlet, Jean Nicolas; Eknath, Varun; Popova, OleksandraThis 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.Publication Vietnam Macro Monitoring, December 2022(World Bank, 2022-12) World BankThis brief discusses the economic development of Vietnam for the month of December 2022.The two drivers of economic growth, exports and domestic demand, are moderating. Softer external demand has weighed on Vietnam’s exports. The post-covid consumption rebound also appears to be fading and tighter domestic financial conditions and rising inflation could affect domestic demand going forward. Reflecting weaker external demand, growth of industrial production moderated to 5.3 percent (y/y) in November, the lowest rate since February 2022. CPI inflation reached 4.4 percent (y/y) in November, compared to 4.3 percent recorded a month earlier, with food and housing being two major contributors. Credit growth fell from 16.5 percent (y/y) in October to 15.0 percent (y/y) in November as domestic financial conditions tightened after the State Bank of Vietnam raised key policy interest rates in September and October. The Vietnamese dong gained slightly in value in November 2022 although the dong’s appreciation is one of the smallest compared to major currencies and currencies of its neighbors. As of end November, the national budget registered a 12.1 billion surplus (about 3 percent of GDP). With global financing conditions expected to remain tight and weakening external demand, Vietnamese monetary authorities could consider allowing further flexibility in the exchange rate to absorb changes in the external environment. Fiscal and monetary policy coordination will be critical to ensure price stability in light of accelerating domestic core inflation. A more prudent and prioritized expenditure strategy could focus on ensuring investments in human capital and resilient and green infrastructure to help bolster economic potential and resilience.Publication Results from Myanmar Firm Monitoring: Round 13 Detailed Note(Washington, DC, 2022-09) World BankOn average, firms operated at 58 percent of their capacity in September 2022 - the lowest since December 2021. Almost half of all firms reported that volatility of the kyat was their most pressing concern, and 75 percent of all firms reported negative impacts of the kyat depreciation against the US dollar. In the three months to September 2022, 63 percent of firms raised prices, resulting in a 22 percent average increase in output prices over that period. Only 66 percent of firms were confident in remaining open for the next month - the lowest since December 2021.Publication Replicating Local Good Practices in Regulating the Business Environment at the National Level: What Italy’s Experience Reveals(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-06-04) Bettarelli, Luca; Rooms, TommasoExcessive bureaucracy at any time is a burden on companies. In the context of the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, it is an additional hurdle that jeopardizes the ability of small and medium enterprises to survive. Using the example of Italy, and drawing on primary data from the World Bank’s Subnational Doing Business studies, this brief highlights how identifying local good practices in regulating the business environment and promoting them to national standards is one of the most powerful tools policy makers have to sustain firms’ creation and growth, reduce spatial inequality, and help create economic opportunities.Publication COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea: Economic and Social Impacts - Insights from the Fifth Round of High Frequency Phone Surveys(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-05-31) World BankThe fifth round of the high frequency phone survey (HFPS) interviewed 2,630 households in June 2022 on the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19, including employment and income, community trust and security and COVID-19 vaccination. It follows four rounds of surveys conducted from June 2020 to December 2021. The previous round of the HFPS (round 4), found that recovery was weak in 2021, with household incomes falling, and highlighted persistently low COVID-19 vaccination rates. While the third wave of COVID-19 was over by June 2022, PNG remains the least vaccinated country in the EAP region and could be vulnerable to future outbreaks of COVID-19. The World Bank estimates that the PNG economy contracted by 3.5 percent in 2020 before returning to positive economic growth of 1 percent in 2021. Stronger economic growth is projected for 2022, of 4 percent. In particular, strong growth is projected for the extractive sector (6.8 percent). However, the trajectory of economic recovery remains highly uncertain.Publication Closing the Gender Leadership Gap: CRDB - Investing In Women To Increase Competitiveness(Washington, DC, 2022-03) International Finance CorporationThere is a strong business case for attracting and retaining more women in the financial sector from the board to the workforce. Women contribute to enhanced profitability, innovation, and risk management. Over the course of two decades, numerous studies have been undertaken by investors, corporate governance organizations, consultants, and financial institutions all over the world, which have found “a positive association between board diversity and company performance, investor protection, and/or enhanced decision making” (Zecca 2021). In April 2019, CRDB, a longstanding IFC investment and advisory client, joined the IFC-led Finance2Equal initiative. The program aims to increase women’s participation in the financial sector as leaders, employees, customers, and entrepreneurs, by expanding women’s access to financial services and strengthening career opportunities. Under the initiative, IFC and CRDB co-sponsored a training program to help the bank reduce its gender gap in leadership by preparing women for senior positions. The objective of the training was to enhance CRDB’s pipeline of future women leaders. This training was designed to encourage more women to apply for senior roles at CRDB, and in Tanzania’s financial sector, as a whole (IFC 2020).