Other ESW Reports

226 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2209

This includes miscellaneous ESW types and pre-2003 ESW type reports that are subsequently completed and released.

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The Big Push for Transformation through Climate and Development: Recommendations of the High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-02) World Bank Group ; International Monetary Fund ; London School of Economics and Political Science ; Brookings Institution

This report makes the case for a big investment push for EMDEs’ sustainable recovery and development, assesses the magnitude and composition of such investment, presents actions needed for an energy transition, looks at the role that innovations and state capacity can play in facilitating GRID, and proposes actions that governments, the private sector, MDBs, the IMF, and donors can undertake to mobilize financing at the large scale needed. The report summarizes the insights derived from the meetings of the High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth, jointly led by Mari Pangestu, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, and Nicholas Stern, and composed of experts from research institutions, the private sector, and governments, as well as senior World Bank Group and IMF staff members. The work of the HLAG, and thus this report, focuses on EMDEs and delves in greater depth into climate investment and financing, particularly for energy transition, as it is a less researched area. While doing so, it recognizes that policy and investment decisions in high-income countries, which accounted for only 16 percent of the global population in 2019 and yet for 32 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions (World Bank 2023a, 2023b), will be critical to whether the Paris Agreement goals can be reached. It also recognizes that these countries must play a key role in contributing financially to EMDEs’ transition to low-carbon economies.
GovTech Maturity Index, 2022 Update: Trends in Public Sector Digital Transformation

(Washington, DC, 2022-12) World Bank

The 2021 GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) report and underlying dataset provide opportunities to replicate the study, identify gaps in digital transformation by comparing the differences among economies and groups of economies, and track changes over time in a transparent way. The dataset will be updated every two years to reflect developments in the GovTech domain. This 2022 GTMI update report and the accompanying dataset and new data dashboard present the progress within the last two years, highlight some of the good practices, and identify existing gaps for possible improvements in countries at the technology frontier. As with the 2020 edition, economies are grouped, not ranked, to illustrate the state of GovTech focus areas globally. This overview report presents a summary of the approach, how the 2022 GTMI dataset update is different, improvements in the GTMI dataset contents and visualization tools and GTMI group calculations, and initial findings and key messages.
Fostering Rwanda Competitiveness and Resilience in the Post-COVID-19 Era

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-10) World Bank Group

Rwanda achieved rapid export growth in the decade before the pandemic. In addition, Rwanda has expanded business tourism by promoting the meetings, incentives, conferences/conventions, and events/exhibitions industry. Air transport services was another key export, as a growing number of international airlines are serving Rwanda. However, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic depressed goods and especially, services exports in 2020. Sustained growth in trade will be a key driver for achieving the government’s goal of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2035. While exports have increased significantly over the past two decades, Rwanda remains a less open country than the middle-income countries the government aspires to match. Regional integration can not only provide the needed economic scale for Rwandan firms to improve their productivity and competitiveness, but can also serve as a vital training ground for learning to export and produce higher-quality goods The aim of this report is to assess policy options to foster international trade, deepen regional integration, and reinforce the government diversification strategy through services. The first part of this report assesses Rwandan trade performances and trade potential in recent years, with a special emphasis on regional trade, trade in services, and the impact of the COVID-19. The second part of the report assesses the main drivers and challenges to international and regional trade in Rwanda including: i) trade policy, with special emphasis on non-tariff barriers and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement; ii) trade facilitation with special emphasis on Rwanda’s trade logistic ambitions; iii) supply side trade constraints at the firm-level; and iv) specific trade challenges to trade in service and data exchanges. The third part of the report discusses potential recommendations.
Cabo Verde Economic Update: Cabo Verde’s Potential Digital Dividends

(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022-05) World Bank

The second Economic Update for Cabo Verde focuses on the importance of returning to fiscal sustainability in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis and on the potential role of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in strengthening the foundations for a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery. The first chapter discusses the current macroeconomic situation, outlook, and risks the country faces over the medium term. The second chapter provides an overview of key challenges to transform Cabo Verde into a Digital Hub. The report offers a set of actionable policy priorities for a swift return to fiscal and debt sustainability and around the national digital transformation agenda, which include enhancing the ownership of the innovation agenda, strengthening digital foundations, investing in human capital, and mobilizing Diaspora resources to create a private ICT sector.
Municipal Mergers and Associations: International Experience and Reform Options for Croatia

(Washington, DC, 2022-05) World Bank

Croatia’s high degree of municipal fragmentation has been consistently recognized as a weakness and one of the main problems of its intergovernmental fiscal system. The report argues that the problem of fragmentation is in essence a problem of capacity. The objective of this report is to review international experiences and lessons in the promotion of local government mergers and municipal associations to inform efforts to advance institutional reform in Croatia and address the problem of low local government capacity. The report is organized into six sections. The first section is introduction, the second section reviews the fragmented territorial administrative structure in Croatia, and the third is devoted to unpacking the concept of local government units (LGU) capacity. The fourth section focuses on relevant international experience related to municipal fragmentation and capacity deficiencies, and the fifth examines incentive measures for Intermunicipal Cooperation (IMC) and the creation of associations or commonwealths. The sixth section lays out policy options and recommendations for Croatia, prioritized along a sequence for implementation.
Testing the Resilience of the Turkish Cypriot Economy: A Macroeconomic Monitoring Note - Special Issue : Enhancing Competitiveness and Promoting Economic Integration

(World Bank, Washington DC, 2022-03) World Bank

The Turkish Cypriot economy (TCe) has struggled to recover since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. With a contraction of 16.2 percent in GDP in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic first took hold, the TCe experienced the most severe recession in its history, and the most severe recession among the economies of Europe. Moreover, just as other economies were beginning to recover, in 2021 the TCe underwent a phase of exceptional political uncertainty and numerous exogenous shocks, testing its resilience. With the emergence of new variants of the virus, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to adversely impact the TCe throughout 2021, with cases reaching a new peak at the end of 2021 despite the Turkish Cypriot (TC) administration’s efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, together with its support for the health system, households, and companies. Furthermore, a new record low in average precipitation in 2021, a series of earthquakes at the beginning of 2022, and weak energy security, with a recent series of power outages experienced across the island, have all revealed the intrinsic vulnerabilities of the island to climate change and natural disasters. Building a competitive private sector would require reforming business regulations and procedures that are under the mandate of the TC administration, and that should be aligned with international best practices and the EU Acquis, irrespective of the broader context of the political economy. Special attention should be devoted to the regulation concerning imports and GL trade. Pre-permits and licenses imposed by the TC administration on imports, on top of regulatory uncertainty and other cumbersome procedures, contribute to increasing prices, penalizing consumers, and eroding domestic competitiveness. A dialogue framework between GC and TC private sectors could be established to support solutions to the long-standing constraints that have been impeding business cooperation across the GL, for the benefit of all Cypriots.
Preliminary Findings Report on Gender-Inclusive Approaches in Private Participation in Infrastructure

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) World Bank Group

The report is a unique investigation into how private investors perceive gender inequality and its importance for their investments. It examines perceptions of private investors and lenders related to gender equality and inclusion of women and girls in infrastructure services and facilities in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). As disclosure of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) information and sustainability reporting becomes more common in the private sector, understanding why and how gender inequalities matter within the sphere of social sustainability and inclusion is becoming increasingly important. The analysis below is based on original semi-structured interviews conducted with investors and lenders in the private sector that routinely invest in or finance infrastructure projects in EMDEs. It aims to understand: (i) how the investor community perceives the intersection between infrastructure and social sustainability and inclusion, particularly with respect to the inclusion of women and girls; (ii) what social issues investors and lenders feel are important; (iii) what actions they take in including women and girls in infrastructure projects and the challenges they face in doing so.
Drivers of Productivity Growth in Poland: A Firm-Level Perspective on Technology Adoption and Firm Capabilities

(Washington, DC, 2022) World Bank

This report provides detailed knowledge on firm-level technology sophistication in Poland, and, by identifying the main barriers and drivers to adoption, it delivers evidence-based policy recommendations to foster technology adoption across different firms and sectors. The analysis based on the TAS is divided into two parts. The main report first describes the new approach to measuring technology sophistication, the structure of the Technology Adoption Survey, and its implementation in Poland. Second, chapter 2 provides key insights from the results by linking technology adoption with productivity, managerial skills, and firms’ capabilities. It also investigates heterogeneity in technology sophistication across firms with different characteristics and the main drivers and barriers to adoption. The analysis is enriched by providing an in-depth comparison of technology sophistication between Poland and Korea. Chapter 3 briefly explains the heterogeneity of technology sophistication across sectors in Poland. This report concludes with a policy recommendation chapter that is based on the results of the TAS and the assessment of current policies supporting technology adoption (chapter 4). The second separate report entitled Sectoral approach to the drivers of productivity growth in Polish sectors. A firm-level perspective on technology adoption and firm capabilities complements this report and focuses on the sectoral differences in technology adoption. Each sector, agriculture, food processing, wearing apparel, automotive, pharmaceuticals, trade, financial services, and land transport, is analyzed in detail, not only through the lens of the TAS but also from the perspective of the general economic situation in the sector. Moreover, the series also includes a policy note Do usług (At your service) The promise of services-led development in Poland that describes the role that the service sector can play in spurring productivity growth.
The Long Term Growth Model: Fundamentals, Extensions, and Applications

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) Loayza, Norman V. (ed.) ; Pennings, Steven (ed.)

The Long-Term Growth Model (LTGM) and its extensions are a suite of models and spreadsheet-based toolkits for analyzing future growth paths in developing countries, based on the Solow-Swan growth model. This volume, The Long-Term Growth Model: Fundamentals, Extensions, and Applications, is a collection of ten chapters that summarize the development of the LTGM over the last decade, and how it has been applied in practice. The volume starts with a description of the Standard LTGM, the simplest and easiest-to-use component of the LTGM suite. It then outlines several extensions to the basic model in important areas such as the implications of growth for poverty (built into the Standard LTGM), the effects of public capital, the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) growth, and how growth drivers differ in natural resource rich economies. The final part of the book covers six case studies which apply the LTGM in a diverse range of countries: Malaysia, South Korea, Bangladesh, Syria, Egypt, and Sri Lanka. Although growth performances, constraints, and opportunities vary across country contexts, the LTGM framework outlined in this volume, analyzing future growth in terms of TFP, human capital, physical capital, and labor, is universally relevant. The chapters in the volume typically find that popular investment-led growth strategies are unsustainable in the long-run (including those growth strategies relying solely on high rates of public investment). This is mostly due to a declining marginal productivity of capital, though financing high investment rates without high savings rates is also a practical concern. Instead, they find that the most important driver of sustainable rapid long-run growth is productivity (TFP) growth.
South Africa - Financial Sector Assessment

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-01-01) World Bank

The South African financial system has weathered the shock of COVID-19 but faces growing risks emanating from a weak macroeconomic outlook. The pandemic crisis hit South Africa hard, with nonresident capital outflows accelerating and the domestic and global slowdown precipitating a6.4 percent GDP contraction in 2020. A brief period of liquidity stress was managed with new central bank facilities and a lowering of liquidity requirements; and banks proved resilient thanks to sound capital and liquidity buffers. Asset management and pension assets saw falling valuations, but redemption pressures quickly dissipated as markets stabilized. The intensification of the sovereign financial system nexus emerging from the crisis poses risks going forward, and a resurgence of the pandemic could deteriorate asset quality. Banks are resilient in the FSAP’s baseline; however, amedium-term adverse stress scenario would cause a significant decline in capital although most banks would remain sufficiently capitalized. Under stress, banks could face some liquidity gaps, particularly at very short maturities, highlighting the importance of continued close monitoring. The impact of COVID-19 on insurers has thus far been contained, but prudential rules should be strengthened to ensure the measure of capital is sufficiently robust.