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Mauritania : Counting on Natural Wealth for a Sustainable Future

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-05) Mele, Gianluca

A data set of key macro-sustainability indicators, constructed after several fact-finding missions, and World Bank methodologies on estimating wealth accounting are used to study Mauritania's wealth, which is estimated to be between USD50 and USD60 billion. The country's produced wealth represents roughly 12 percent of total wealth, much less than in lower-middle-income countries; by contrast, natural wealth represents approximately 45 percent of the total figure. Renewable resources account for slightly less than two-thirds of natural wealth, with fisheries alone equaling about one-fourth of natural wealth. This is good news for Mauritania, as sound management of these resources may ensure a constant flow of resources in the future and therefore -- with adequate policies -- the achievement of the same or higher levels of welfare for future generations. On the negative side, however, the ratio of net adjusted savings over gross national income is estimated to have been negative since 2006, meaning that the wealth of the country is being depleted. Mauritania has recently joined the ranks of lower-middle-income countries, largely thanks to its considerable natural resources endowment. Over time the mining sector's contribution to gross domestic product has grown significantly and important discoveries continue to be made. The overarching objective of this wealth accounting exercise is thus to support Mauritania to measure its assets better and achieve a more complete picture of the prospects for future income, with a view to better orienting public policies toward sustainable growth and shared prosperity. The paper concludes with several indicative policy recommendations.
Implementing Consumer Protection in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies: A Technical Guide for Bank Supervisors

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-08-16) Dias, Denise

Financial consumer protection regulation reflects the regulator's and policy makers' concerns with the relationship between financial institutions and their clients. Most emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) researched for this guide have regulated at least one financial consumer protection topic. Each detail in the regulatory requirements impacts how the supervisor enforces them in practice and which tools and techniques will work best. For example, a rule simply requiring disclosure of an item will be checked by the field supervisor differently than a rule requiring the item to be disclosed at a specific moment and in a specified format. Ignoring the time dimension of this rule can jeopardize its core goal. This guide is an attempt to help bank supervisors enforce such regulations. It is divided into following sections: section one gives introduction. Section two details guidance points in eight areas of interest for supervisory staff and agencies, while section three suggests a prioritization framework for supervisors - particularly those in low-income countries with resource and capacity constraints - that adopt a gradual approach when implementing the guidance.
Microcredit Interest Rates and Their Determinants, 2004-2011

(CGAP, Washington, DC, 2013-06) Rosenberg, Richard ; Gaul, Scott ; Ford, William ; Tomilova, Olga

From the beginning of modern microcredit, its most controversial dimension has been the interest rates charged by micro lenders, often referred to as microfinance institutions (MFIs). These rates are higher, often much higher, than normal bank rates, mainly because it inevitably costs more to lend and collect a given amount through thousands of tiny loans than to lend and collect the same amount in a few large loans. Higher administrative costs have to be covered by higher interest rates. Many people worry that poor borrowers are being exploited by excessive interest rates, given that those borrowers have little bargaining power, and that an ever-larger proportion of microcredit is moving into for-profit organizations where higher interest rates could, as the story goes, mean higher returns for the shareholders. Section one looks at the level and trend of micro lenders' interest rates worldwide, and breaks them out among different types of institutions (peer groups). Section two examines the cost of funds that micro lenders borrow to fund their loan portfolio. Section three reports on loan losses, including, worrisome recent developments in two large markets. Section four presents trends in operating expenses, and touches on the closely related issue of loan size. Section five looks at micro lenders' profits, the most controversial component of microcredit interest rates. A reader without time to read the whole paper may wish to skip to section six, which provides a graphic overview of the movement of interest rates and their components over the period and a summary of the main findings. The annex describes our database and methodology, including the reasons for dropping four large microlenders6 from the analysis.
The World Bank Annual Report 2008: Year in Review

(Washington, DC, 2008) World Bank

The World Bank Group's work focuses on achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The goals call for eliminating poverty and achieving inclusive and sustainable globalization. The MDGs lay out a blueprint for the World Bank Group, setting its priorities and measuring its results. The World Bank is the world's largest funder of education; the world's largest external funder of the fight against HIV/AIDS; a leader in the fight against corruption worldwide; a strong supporter of debt relief; and the largest international financier of biodiversity, water supply, and sanitation projects. The recipients of the World Bank Group's fiscal 2008 financial commitments are using the funds in more than 670 projects, many of them collaborative efforts of two or more of the affiliates. The projects are designed to overcome poverty and enhance growth by improving education and health services, promoting private sector development, building infrastructure, and strengthening governance and institutions. They are practical plans to help developing countries move from poverty and become more competitive in a globalizing world. The Bank Group is also preparing a strategic framework on climate change and development - a plan for integrating climate change and development challenges without compromising growth and poverty reduction efforts. The framework will include priorities, approaches, and a road map for action in helping countries mitigate or adapt to climate change. In addition, the Bank Group has set a goal of scaling up its portfolio of investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects by an annual average of 20 percent through 2010.
Annual Review of Development Effectiveness 2008 : Shared Global Challenges

(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008) Independent Evaluation Group

This year's annual review of development effectiveness focuses on assessing the World Bank's development effectiveness, with special attention to global public goods. It notes some encouraging developments. Project performance has improved over the medium term; country programs have worked relatively well in several large nations that house a majority of the world's poor; and the Bank has increased attention to collective international action on global public goods and advocated effectively on some of those important challenges. But work is required to remedy weaknesses. Notably there is a need to go beyond the Bank's country- based model when tackling issues where the perceived local and national benefits of action do not match global benefits from collective action. Attention should be paid to improving weak performance of country programs in smaller states and those with extensive poverty, and redressing shortcomings in applying monitoring and evaluation in projects and country programs. Over the next decade and beyond, the success of the international community and the World Bank Group in rising to the shared global challenges of our time will be crucial to reducing poverty and, indeed, to solving the looming challenges the world collectively faces.
Development Results in Middle-Income Countries : An Evaluation of the World Bank's Support

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007) Independent Evaluation Group

This IEG evaluation brings a fresh perspective to the debate by assessing the development effectiveness of the Bank's recent work. It presents evidence -- including views from the client countries themselves -- about the outcomes of the Bank's support to individual countries over the past 12 years. It also spotlights three growing dimensions of the Bank Group's role -- sharing knowledge across countries, engaging countries in global programs, and combining support to the public and private sectors
The World Bank Annual Report 2006

(Washington, DC, 2006) World Bank

This World Bank Annual Report for FY2006 notes that the past year saw both progress and continued challenges in the global fight against poverty and inequality. The Report discusses the following topical highlights: Debt relief for the poorest countries; targeting development in Africa; addressing governance and anticorruption issues globally; improving partnerships with the international community; quick responses to potential avian flu outbreaks; and disaster relief. There were 112 IBRD projects totaling $14.1 billion. The top three sectors for lending were Law and Justice and Public Administration; Transportation; and Energy and Mining. As for IDA concessional lending, 167 projects totaled $9.5 billion. The top three Sectors were Law and Justice and Public Administration; Transportation; and Health and Other Social Services. Non-lending Activities comprises 307 technical assistance activities; and 601 economic and sector work products. There were 16 major evaluations by the Independent Evaluation Group reviewing the Bank's performance on a range of activities including country assistance, debt relief, development effectiveness, middle-income countries, post-disaster assistance, and trade. More than 150 publications were issued, including Global Development Finance 2006, Global Monitoring Report 2006, World Development Indicators 2006, and World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development. While country-led poverty reduction and national development strategies continued to be important mechanisms for defining country priorities and aid strategies, several additional issues moved to the forefront of the Bank's activities during fiscal 2006. These diverse issues included improving governance and accountability, implementing a new Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, expanding initiatives undertaken within the 2005 Africa Action Plan, developing a framework for middle-income countries, supporting agriculture in the poorest countries, cooperating with other international organizations to combat avian flu, searching for new approaches to deal with climate change, and strengthening partnerships to put in place a monitoring plan for the March 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The Bank also responded to emergencies, including the October 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan and the May 2006 earthquake in Indonesia.
IFC Annual Report 2006 : Increasing Impact, Volume 1

(Washington, DC, 2006) International Finance Corporation

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), in its 50th year, is the largest provider of multilateral financing for private sector projects in the developing world. In fiscal 2006, it committed $6.7 billion in funds from its own account and mobilized an additional $1.6 billion through syndications and $1.3 billion through structured finance. Based on the total costs of the private sector projects it helped finance this year, each $1 in IFC commitments for its own account resulted in an additional $2.88 in funding from other sources. Altogether, IFC supported 284 investment projects in 66 countries. This year nearly a quarter of IFC commitments were in low-income or high-risk countries, demonstrating the viability of private enterprise even in difficult environments. IFC's investment commitments to firms operating in the Middle East and North Africa more than doubled in fiscal 2006, and commitments for private sector projects in Sub-Saharan Africa increased nearly 60 percent. IFC introduced a new development outcome tracking system for investment operations to measure and track results throughout the life of a project; a similar system was implemented to monitor the development impact of all active technical assistance and advisory projects.
The World Bank Annual Report 2005: Year in Review, Volume 1

(Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank

This World Bank Annual Report highlights the focus of the Bank activities in addressing worldwide poverty, describing the Bank work in promoting sustainable, economic growth, and in channeling needed services to poor people. Also detailed is the Bank's work toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); its institutional and global efforts toward effective development; and, its outreach to clients through Public Information Centers, and on the Web. Regional Perspectives are reviewed, through a breakdown of the Bank's lending and activities across the developing world, featuring highlights of projects in borrowing countries within each of the Bank's six regions. The Summary of Fiscal Year Activities provides a description of the Bank's development knowledge-sharing over the fiscal year 2005; a discussion of the Bank's approach to lending in low income, and middle-income countries; the Bank's resources; and a summary of the Bank's lending by region, theme, and sector, such as environmental programs and infrastructure projects. This section also describes the Bank's partnerships with public, private, and civil society stakeholders. The fiscal 2005 financial statements, organizational information, income by region, new operations approved in fiscal 2005, and various lending data are included on a CD inserted inside the back cover of this report.
IFC Annual Report 2005 : Investing in Progress with Experience, Innovation, and Partnership, Volume 1

(Washington, D, 2005) International Finance Corporation

The International Finance Corporation is at the forefront of private sector development: it is redefining how poverty can be reduced and lives improved through a stronger private sector in emerging markets. Accomplishing this goal means reaching people, regions, and sectors that have not yet shared in the overall growth of emerging markets. It means innovation-forging new partnerships with governments and other multilateral institutions, identifying new roles for the private sector, creating products that develop financial markets, and making it easier for disadvantaged people to launch a business or own a home. It means building on significant strengths in many countries and industries-helping established enterprises become more competitive and sustainable as they expand their operations or extend their reach into new markets. It also means bringing to developing economies proven products and techniques, both from industrialized countries and, increasingly, from other developing countries. Above all, it means tailoring global expertise to local needs. This annual report outlines the strategic objectives of the institution in expanding access to finance, increasing private participation in key sectors, helping successful enterprises grow, focusing where needs are greatest, and ensuring sustainability.