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MIGA Annual Report 2024
(Washington, DC: Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, 2024-10-31) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
In fiscal year 2024 (FY24), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) issued a record $8.2 billion in new guarantees across 40 projects. Through these projects,MIGA remained focused on encouraging private investment to facilitate economic development in host countries by helping clients manage and mitigate noncommercial risks. In FY24, 95 percent of the 40 projects supported at least one of MIGA’s strategic priority areas: Its commitment to International Development Association (IDA)–eligible countries was substantial, supporting 26 projects (65 percent of total projects supported). MIGA’s engagement in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS) was also notable, supporting 10 projects, representing 25 percent of the total projectssupported. And climate finance initiatives were a significant focus this year, with MIGA issuing guarantees for 30 projects (representing 75 percent of the total projects). As a result, the FY24 issuances are expected to achieve the following: Provide 2.2 million people with access to mobile internet; add 12.2 million new subscribersto mobile money services; generate $657.8 million in tax revenueper year to host governments; and avoid more than 647,000 metric tons ofcarbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually.
The Economics of Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa: Institutional Solutions
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2023-04-26) de Waal, Dominick; Khemani, Stuti; Barone, Andrea; Borgomeo, Edoardo
Despite massive infrastructure investments, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continue to face unprecedented water scarcity due to climate change, population growth, and socioeconomic development. Current policy regimes for managing water across competing needs are primarily determined by state control of large infrastructure. Policy makers across the region understand the unsustainability of water allocations and that increasing investments in new infrastructure and technologies to increase water supply place a growing financial burden on governments. However, standard solutions for demand management—reallocating water to higher value uses, reducing waste, and increasing tariffs—pose difficult political dilemmas that, more often than not, are left unresolved. Without institutional reform, the region will likely remain in water distress even with increased financing for water sector infrastructure.The Economics of Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa: Institutional Solutions confronts the persistence and severity of water scarcity in MENA. The report draws on the tools of public economics to address two crucial challenges facing states in MENA: lack of legitimacy and trust. Evidence from the World Values Survey shows that people in the region believe that a key role of government is to keep prices down and that governments are reluctant to raise tariffs because of the risk of widespread protests. Instead of avoiding the “politically sensitive” issue of water scarcity, this report argues that reform leaders and their external partners can reform national water institutions and draw on local political contestation to establish a new social contract. The crisis and emotive power of water in the region can be used to bolster legitimacy and trust and build a sustainable, inclusive, thriving economy that is resilient to climate change.
Land Matters: Can Better Governance and Management of Scarcity Prevent a Looming Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa?
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023) Corsi, Anna; Selod, Harris
Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, land is a scarce and valuable resource. The projected increase in land demand due to demographic trends, coupled with decreasing land supply due to climatic and governance factors, indicate a looming crisis happening at a time when the region is also facing dramatic social and political transformation. Reserves for land cultivation are almost exhausted, while total built-up area will need to expand to accommodate high demographic growth. Yet, land remains inefficiently, inequitably, and unsustainably used. There are strong barriers to land access for both firms and individuals. Firms resort to political connections to access land, resulting in land misallocation. Women are 2 to 3 times more likely to fear losing their property in the case of spousal death or divorce, and their rights are not sufficiently supported by institutions and gender-imbalanced social norms. Refugees also face difficulties in accessing land; conflict in the region is causing the displacement of millions of people who lack necessary housing, land, and property rights. This report identifies and analyzes the economic, environmental, and social challenges associated with land in MENA countries, shedding light on policy options to address them. It focuses on two main constraints—scarcity of land and weak land governance—and how they affect land use and access, the resulting inefficiencies and inequities, and associated economic and social costs. It highlights the need for MENA countries to think about land more holistically and to reassess the strategic trade-offs involving land, while minimizing land distortions and serving economic development. It is also an attempt to fill major data gaps and promote a culture of open data, transparency, and inclusive dialogue on land. These efforts are important steps that will contribute to renewing the social contract, accompany economic and digital transformation, and facilitate recovery and reconstruction in the region.
A New State of Mind: Greater Transparency and Accountability in the Middle East and North Africa
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022-10-05) Belhaj, Ferid; Gatti, Roberta; Lederman, Daniel; Sergenti, Ernest John; Lotfi, Rana; Mousa, Mennatallah Emam; Assem, Hoda
The MENA region is facing important vulnerabilities, which the current crises—first the pandemic, then the war in Ukraine—have exacerbated. Prices of food and energy are higher, hurting the most vulnerable, and rising interest rates from the global tightening of monetary policy are making debt service more burdensome. Part I explores some of the resulting vulnerabilities for MENA. MENA countries are facing diverging paths for future growth. Oil Exporters have seen windfall increases in state revenues from the rise in hydrocarbon prices, while oil importers face heightened stress and risk—from higher import bills, especially for food and energy, and the depreciation of local currencies in some countries. Part II of this report argues that poor governance, and, in particular, the lack of government transparency and accountability, is at the root of the region’s development failings—including low growth, exclusion of the most disadvantaged and women, and overuse of such precious natural resources as land and water.
The World Bank Annual Report 2022: Helping Countries Adapt to a Changing World
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022) World Bank
The Annual Report is prepared by the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)--collectively known as the World Bank--in accordance with the by-laws of the two institutions. The President of the IBRD and IDA and the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors submit the Report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.
The World Bank Annual Report 2021: From Crisis to Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Recovery
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-10-01) World Bank
The Annual Report is prepared by the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)--collectively known as the World Bank--in accordance with the by-laws of the two institutions. The President of the IBRD and IDA and the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors submits the Report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.
MIGA Annual Report 2021
(Washington, DC: Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, 2021-10-01) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
In FY21, MIGA issued 5.2 billion US Dollars in new guarantees across 40 projects. These projects are expected to provide 784,000 people with new or improved electricity service, create over 14,000 jobs, generate over 362 million US Dollars in taxes for the host countries, and enable about 1.3 billion US Dollars in loans to businesses—critical as countries around the world work to keep their economies afloat. Of the 40 projects supported during FY21, 85 percent addressed at least one of the strategic priority areas, namely, IDA-eligible countries (lower-income), fragile and conflict affected situations (FCS), and climate finance. As of June 2021, MIGA has also issued 5.6 billion US Dollars of guarantees through our COVID-19 Response Program and anticipate an expansion to 10–12 billion US Dollars over the coming years, a testament to the countercyclical role that MIGA can play in mobilizing private investment in the face of the pandemic. A member of the World Bank Group, MIGA is committed to strong development impact and promoting projects that are economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable. MIGA helps investors mitigate the risks of restrictions on currency conversion and transfer, breach of contract by governments, expropriation, and war and civil disturbance, as well as offering credit enhancement on sovereign obligations.
Remarks at the World Health Organization Media Briefing on COVID-19 and Vaccine Equity
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-01) Malpass, David
World Bank Group President David Malpass stated that the immediate priority is for countries that have sufficient supply to quickly release doses to countries that have vaccination deployment programs. He said that by the end of June, the World Bank will have approved vaccination operations in over 50 countries. It is vital to speed up the supply chain. The World Bank is providing transparent access to very detailed information about projects through an online portal available at https://www.worldbank.org/vaccines. He urged other development partners to publish detailed information about their vaccine financing and deployment programs and their delivery schedules. The World Bank is also working to expand supply and will be making announcements of investments by IFC, the World Bank Group’s private sector development arm.
Climate Change Institutional Assessment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-14) World Bank
Climate change poses particularly difficult challenges for public sector institutions. Climate change impacts all sectors of the economy and society. Action to address climate change requires coordination among multiple government and nongovernment actors. The extended time frame over which climate change unfolds requires a capability to plan, implement, and sustain a credible commitment to increasingly ambitious policies over multiple political cycles. There will be winners and losers. Policies may be contested. The Climate Change Institutional Assessment (CCIA) identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the institutional framework for addressing these climate change governance challenges. The audience for the assessment is officials of center-of-government agencies responsible for policy, planning, and finance, agencies with leading roles in climate change policy, and inter-ministerial climate change bodies.
World Bank Group Press Conference at the 2021 Spring Meetings, April 7, 2021
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-07) Malpass, David
David Malpass, President of the World Bank, discussed vaccines, climate, and debt. The World Bank commitments grew a record amount both in percent terms and dollar terms in 2020. The Bank is providing financing for several of the countries and they can be large-scale programs, but the countries are working to arrange delivery schedules from the various vaccine providers. That will be an important part of the recovery. The Bank completed a big vaccination operation through Board, which makes financing available to Bangladesh and also technical assistance from the World Bank, which is very helpful to the countries as they try to enter contract discussions, and also as they work within their health systems in order to vaccinate people. The Bank is working actively on biodiversity and agricultural challenges facing Brazil.