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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 ; Assen, Hoda ; Lotfi, Rana ; Mousa, Mennatallah Emam

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.
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.
Reversing the Inequality Pandemic

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10-05) Malpass, David

World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has already changed our world decisively and forced upon the world a painful transformation. He explained the World Bank Group’s approach that has been comprehensive by focusing on saving lives, protecting the poor and vulnerable, ensuring sustainable business growth, and rebuilding in better ways. He focused on four urgent aspects of this work: (i) first, the need to redouble efforts to alleviate poverty and inequality; (ii) second, the associated loss of human capital and what must be done to restore it; (iii) third, the urgent need to help the poorest countries make their government debt more transparent and permanently reduce their debt burdens, two necessary steps to attract effective investment; and (iv) finally, how we can cooperate to facilitate the changes needed for an inclusive and resilient recovery.
Opening Remarks During the Media Call on the Analytical Chapters of the June 2020 Global Economic Prospects Report

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-02) Malpass, David

These opening remarks were delivered by World Bank Group President David Malpass during the media call on the analytical chapters of the June 2020 global economic prospects report on June 2, 2020. He covered about Bank's support activities, the debt service moratorium for the poorest countries, the progress on debt transparency and some of the next steps. He spoke about how the World Bank Group resources are being scaled up dramatically, providing strong net positive flows, especially to the poorest countries. He highlighted on IDA and IBRD working with countries to expand the coverage of social safety net programs, IFC providing finances to the private sector in developing countries over fifteen months, and MIGA helping to provide a more stable environment for investment by mitigating and managing risks arising from uncertainty. He described the debt moratorium that the World Bank and IMF championed, where the Debt service payments by all official bilateral creditors were suspended on May 1, adding to the potential resources for the poorest countries. He stated that an important part of this initiative is to help governments in debtor countries increase the transparency of their debt and investment practices and disclose the amounts and terms of their debt. He spoke about the Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report which finds a deep global recession, accompanied by a collapse in global trade, tourism and commodity prices and extraordinary market volatility. He said that beyond coping with the immediate crisis to limit the harm, policymakers can make a robust recovery more likely by maintaining private sector systems and infrastructure and allowing markets to allocate resources toward productive activities. He stated that most of the export restrictions that were announced earlier this year have not been implemented and global food prices have mostly remained stable. He highlighted on the important advances that are being made in digital connectivity in developing economies. He concluded by saying that the World Bank Group will continue to take broad, fast action in our response to the needs of people in developing countries.
Role of Supreme Audit Institutions in Governments' Response to COVID-19: Emergency and Post Emergency Phases

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-01) World Bank

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an unprecedented public health emergency, with associated significant economic impact, affecting all developing and developed countries. As it unfolds and countries respond, the role of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) is being recognized as crucial to supporting the government response mechanisms through maintaining public financial management discipline and ensuring transparency and accountability. Past experience from SAIs' engagement in government responses to natural and human-made disasters, including health emergencies like Ebola, provides good lessons for SAIs confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic. This note seeks to propose ideas on how SAIs can respond to the crisis now and during the recovery phase. During the emergency stage, the primary focus of governments is on safeguarding livelihoods and public health. Auditors are themselves constrained both by their physical access limitations and the imperative to avoid impeding government's speedy responses to the pandemic. Under these circumstances, crucial oversight and key controls may suffer, especially as public financial management systems are adapted to be responsive and flexible.
Remarks to the International Monetary and Financial Committee

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-04-16) Malpass, David

World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke of the steps the Group is taking to provide unprecedented financing to help countries respond to the crisis. He expects to have COVID-19 (Coronavirus) related projects in one hundred countries. He thanked the shareholders for the capital and funding that they provided for IBRD, IDA, IFC, and MIGA. He strongly welcomed the G20’s announcement to allow the IDA countries that request forbearance to suspend repayment of official bilateral credit on May 1, 2020. He highlighted about how the IMF Managing Director and World Bank championed the debt initiative, and are committed to taking all the possible steps to support it. He mentioned that beneficiary countries will fully disclose their public sector financial commitments. He concluded by saying that he is certain that substantial progress on the crisis has been made this week from many different angles and that this fast action to provide support during the crisis will help during the downturn and strengthen the recovery.
World Bank Group Strategy for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence 2020–2025

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-02-27) World Bank Group

By 2030, more than half of the world’s extreme poor will live in countries characterized by fragility, conflict, and violence. Preventing and mitigating fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) is central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Bank Group’s (WBG) twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. The objective of the FCV Strategy is to enhance the WBG’s effectiveness to support countries in addressing the drivers and impacts of FCV and strengthening their resilience, especially for the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Jordan Economic Monitor, Fall 2015: A Hiccup Amidst Sustained Resilience and Committed Reforms

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-10-01) World Bank

The Jordan economic monitor provides an update on key economic developments and policies over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank work on Jordan. It places them in a longer-term and global context, and assesses the implications of these developments and other changes in policy for the outlook for the country. Its coverage ranges from the macro-economy to financial markets to indicators of human welfare and development. It is intended for a wide audience, including policy makers, business leaders, financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in Jordan.
Access to Information in the Middle East and North Africa Region: An Overview of Recent Developments in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015) Almadhoun, Said

The right to access and request information is enshrined in article 19 of the universal declaration of human rights. Access to information (ATI) plays an essential role for promoting accountability and citizens ability to monitor the actions of the government, and it contributes to participatory development. The goal of this report is to provide an overview of the situation of access to information in the Middle East and North Africa (MNA) region, in particular the cases of Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. This report looks at previous and current efforts for promoting ATI in the region in order to facilitate knowledge exchange among ATI practitioners across those countries and to help them identify areas for collaboration in the region. For each country, this report will first examine the legal and or institutional framework, including a range of factors such as constitutional provisions, restrictive legislation, relevant regional and international conventions, and key administrative bodies. Government initiatives affecting the right of ATI are then considered in detail for each country. This report examines the practice of ATI for each of these four countries, including the use and implementation of ATI legislation or other applicable transparency provisions. Finally, a summary of recent developments of the ATI coalitions and campaigns in these countries is provided.
Supporting Constructive Engagement between the Government of Yemen and CSOs : Partnership for Development Knowledge Conference

(Washington, DC, 2014-05-20) World Bank

This is a post conference summary of the Partnership for Development Knowledge Conference held in Yemen from March 4-6, 2014. The report summarizes the discussions that took place during various conference sessions and also some of the outcomes and agreements reached. Following a rich and open dialogue, important outcomes of the conference included a set of recommendations jointly formulated by the government technical teams and Civil Society Organization(s), or CSO representatives. They also agreed on a series of future actions, including the following: build on working group outcomes and discussions with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation to determine the 3-4 priority sectors in which more sector-specific dialogue needs to take place. Preparations and groundwork for sector-specific dialogue, building on the conference outcomes, will continue via technical discussions with relevant Sector Ministries. A possible knowledge visit to India by a small government technical team will be explored, with a focus on issues of social accountability. Sector dialogue sessions will be implemented after Ramadan 2014 and will focus on sectors that were recommended by the working groups. Dialogue sessions will support the development of sector-specific action plans that identify concrete opportunities for partnership between specific ministries and CSOs operating within the sector. In conclusion, the conference provided an ideal background to prepare for the sector-level dialogue sessions. These sessions will be facilitated under the next phase of the World Bank funded Government-CSOs Partnership Project.