Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation in Focus
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The series captures the experience, innovative approaches and solutions for development of the World Bank Group covering financial sector topics of relevance to both the public and private sectors. The series is comprised of short knowledge notes, policy notes, case studies, lessons learned or a combination therein. This series was formerly known as Finance in Focus.
Items in this collection
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Publication
Institutions for Investment: Establishing a High-Performing Institutional Framework for Foreign Direct Investment
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-12-31)A well-functioning institutional framework can result in higher levels of foreign direct investment. It requires several factors such as a shared strategic vision, solid institutions capable of delivering on their specific mandates and collaborating beyond their walls, and a strong political and financial support for all. The note describes key government functions for investment, suggests a process and principles for creating optimal institutional structures to deliver them, and provides examples. In particular, it examines the role of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) the agency usually tasked with operationalizing government FDI goals as well as the dilemmas that governments face in the context of institutional specialization versus function consolidation. -
Publication
How Countries Can Fully Implement the New York Convention: A Critical Tool for Enforcement of International Arbitration Decisions
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12-30)The year 2018 marked the 60th anniversary of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the most important international convention in the area of international commercial arbitration. The Convention is also said to be the most successful international treaty in the area of private international law. This note primarily targets policy makers and their legal advisors in countries looking at ways to improve their business environment, to become more attractive locations for trade and investment, through better dispute resolution options for international transactions. First, the note explains that international commercial arbitration, as part of countries' legally recognized dispute resolution options, is critical to cross-border contract enforcement. As countries strengthen their international arbitration regimes, they improve their competitiveness in international markets and increase investment and trade by reducing transaction risks and the cost of new infrastructure projects. Countries can improve their international commercial arbitration systems by passing modern legislation consistent with international best practice, ratifying international arbitration conventions, strengthening judicial capacity to enforce arbitral awards, and investing in local arbitration centers. -
Publication
Tanzania and Implementation of East Africa Mutual Recognition of Veterinary Medicines
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-03)Tanzania has the third largest livestock population in Africa (after Ethiopia and Sudan), but the competitiveness of Tanzania’s livestock sector faces many challenges, including lack of access to good-quality, effective, safe veterinary drugs and vaccines, especially for smallholders. Availability of good-quality, affordable, effective inputs (including veterinary drugs, vaccines, and compound animal feed) in the market is critical to increasing productivity and ensuring the safety of the animals. Taking these challenges into consideration, in 2017, the government asked the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries to establish measures and mechanisms to increase the availability of drugs and vaccines in the country. The TFDA has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Tanzania Veterinary Council to minimize overlap of functions between them and to increase the availability of quality regulatory services. Effective implementation of the mutual recognition procedures (MRP) will enhance faster registration and availability of good-quality, safe, effective immunological veterinary products (IVPs) and may lower IVP costs. -
Publication
Albania: Trade Impact of CEFTA
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-12)Regional free trade agreements (FTAs) have a sizable effect on exports and foster economic growth. While reducing tariffs in member countries, regional FTAs harmonize trade policy across regions and reduce regulation uncertainty for exporters. They are particularly important for supporting trade in isolated countries such as Albania, a transition economy in the Western Balkans. This policy note looks at the impact of membership in the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) on Albania's export growth. It finds that Albanian exports to CEFTA members have grown much faster than its exports to other countries. A large share of this growth is contributed by firms that did not export to CEFTA countries previously and via new exports that were among the least traded to CEFTA countries. We also measure the impact of CEFTA on Albanian exports using a gravity equation, which finds that CEFTA increased Albanian exports to member countries between 34 percent and 144 percent. -
Publication
Competitive Fruit and Vegetable Products in Albania
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-12)Albania is heavily dependent on its agricultural sector, which accounts for 20.3 percent of GDP, 49 percent of employment and 8.5 percent of total exports. The fruit and vegetable sector represents 20 percent of Albanian agriculture but contributes 36 percent of its exports and this share is expected to increase. The note posits an idea that as the domestic market for many of these products is saturated, Albanian fruits and vegetables have been gaining ground in the Western Balkans and are well positioned to make headway in the EU-28 market as well. However, Albanian producers face many constraints in meeting the rigid and complex demands of the EU market, constraints that an export strategy focused solely on identifying products for export is unlikely to change. The policy paradigm has shifted to approaches that focus on integrating local industries into global value chains that help facilitate technology transfer and create jobs. -
Publication
Which Countries are Better Prepared to Compete Globally in the Disruptive Technology Age?: A Rapid, Forward-Looking Analysis of Countries' Share of the Global Private Sector
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10-23)This note provides a rapid, forward-looking analysis of countries’ share of the global private sector. By using technology-enabled Unicorns as a leading indicator of the future’s global private sector, which is dominated by a technology platform business model of zero marginal costs and winner-takes-all dynamics, this analysis provides an indication of relative gains and losses of countries in the transition to a technology-driven new economy. The results are tested by comparing the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of countries and their relative position in this transition, which is then measured using a forward-looking approach. This analysis is a first approximation toward a predictive assessment and requires further research. However, the results provided in this note can help policy makers consider and assess new factors to deal with the uncertainties of disruptive technologies in their economies.