01. Annual Reports & Independent Evaluations
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Publication
The World Bank Group’s 2018 Capital Increase Package - An Independent Validation of Implementation and Results
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-29)This report presents the Independent Evaluation Group’s validation of the World Bank Group’s 2018 capital increase package (CIP). It assesses the World Bank Group’s progress in implementing the CIP’s policy measures and achieving its targets, as well as the quality of management’s CIP reporting. The 2018 CIP boosted the Bank Group’s financial firepower with a $7.5 billion paid-in capital increase for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), $5.5 billion paid-in capital increase for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), $52.6 billion callable capital increase for IBRD, and internal savings measures. The CIP also included a policy package that committed Bank Group management to policy actions linked to the Bank Group’s 2016 Forward Look strategy. The CIP committed to reporting annually on its implementation and an independent assessment after five years. This report fulfills the commitment to an independent assessment. This validation builds on management’s own reporting and other complementary evidence to assess the World Bank Group’s progress in implementing the CIP’s policy measures and achieving its targets. The report also assesses the quality of management’s CIP reporting. The report points to lessons on developing, implementing, and reporting corporate initiatives and commitments, such as the importance of having clear strategies or action plans, explicit buy-in from senior management, and accurate reporting with meaningful indicators and realistic targets. -
Publication
The World Bank Group in the Kyrgyz Republic: Country Program Evaluation, Fiscal Years 2014–21
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-08-10)This report assesses the relevance and effectiveness of the World Bank’s engagement in the Kyrgyz Republic between fiscal years 2014 and 2021. The Kyrgyz Republic is a landlocked, lower-middle-income country that is highly dependent on remittances and natural resources. Poverty levels declined from 37% in 2013 to 20% in 2019. However, the country’s population remains vulnerable, and broad-based economic growth was elusive over the evaluation period. The Kyrgyz Republic faces major development challenges including weak governance, barriers to private sector development, and low quality of essential local public services. This Country Program Evaluation assesses the relevance and effectiveness of the World Bank’s engagement in the Kyrgyz Republic between fiscal years 2014 and 2021. It evaluates the Bank’s contributions to the country’s development in priority areas, focusing on support for governance, private sector development, and essential local public services. The evaluation distills lessons from Bank Group experience to inform future Bank Group engagement in the Kyrgyz Republic. -
Publication
International Finance Corporation Additionality in Middle-Income Countries: An Independent Evaluation April 17, 2022
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-05-03)Additionality is a core feature of private sector development finance institutions (DFIs). It is the unique contribution that a DFI or a multilateral/ bilateral bank brings to a private investment project that is not offered by commercial sources of finance. The key idea is that the investment project should add value without crowding out private sector activity. Identifying and articulating project additionality is particularly important in middle- income countries (MICs) since financial markets in MICs are more developed, and private investment far exceeds official development assistance. This evaluation report examines the relevance and effectiveness of IFC’s approach to additionality in MICs and seeks to explain the factors that contribute to or constrain its realization. While the evaluation focuses on IFC’s additionality on the level of the project, it also applies the lens of country and sector context to draw additional learning. Thus, it considers whether additionality can occur beyond the level of a single project—for example, at the country and sector level. Both at the project level and beyond the project, the evaluation derives lessons and offers recommendations on how IFC can further strengthen its additionality. -
Publication
The World Bank Group in Mozambique, Fiscal Years 2008-21 - Country Program Evaluation
(Washington, DC, 2023-03-22)Between 1993 and 2013, Mozambique became one of the fastest-growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa boosting incomes and living standards. Political and macroeconomic stability provided the foundation for robust growth led by a rebounding agricultural sector and significant donor support. Growth, however, decelerated beginning in 2016 in the face of low commodity prices, a hidden debt crisis, and natural disasters. In FY18, Mozambique was formally classified as a fragile country. The Covid-19 pandemic further eroded growth. In light of the country’s evolving context, this Country Program Evaluation (CPE) reviews the World Bank Group’s engagement in Mozambique over the period FY08 into FY21. The CPE assesses the extent to which the Bank Group’s support was relevant to Mozambique’s main development challenges and drivers of fragility as well as how Bank Group support evolved and adapted over time. The evaluation delves into four themes that are relevant to Mozambique’s pursuit of the Bank Group’s Twin Goals of Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity: (i) low agricultural productivity; (ii) unequal access to basic services; (iii) weak institutions and governance; and (iv) vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. The evaluation presents findings from each of the four themes covered and distills lessons from Bank Group experience in Mozambique to inform future strategies and engagements. -
Publication
The Development Effectiveness of the Use of Doing Business Indicators, Fiscal Years 2010-20 - An Independent Evaluation
(Washington, DC: Independent Evaluation Group, 2022-03-15)IEG began preparing the evaluation in June 2020, in response to a request from the World Bank Group Board’s Committee on Development Effectiveness. In March 2021, IEG produced an Issues Paper identifying lines of inquiry for the main evaluation, distributed it for internal and management reviews, and submitted it to CODE in June 2021. In September 2021, as the evaluation was undergoing final revisions, World Bank Group management decided to discontinue the Doing Business report. In announcing its decision, the Bank Group stated that it intended to work on a new approach to assess business and investment climates. In February 2022, the Bank published a pre-concept note introducing the Business Enabling Environment project (BEE), a new benchmarking exercise to “measure the business enabling environment in economies worldwide.” In this context and given the use of multiple other global indicators in reforms, the learning from this evaluation report is highly relevant. A cover note extends its findings to the use of other global indicators, including the successor Business Enabling Environment Project. The evaluation seeks to guide any new approach using evidence-based indicators so that it builds on the many good practices observed in Doing Business and considers the substantial power that these indicators have to motivate and engage client countries in business environment reform. It calls for indicators to be used in a balanced and accurate manner guiding the choice of reform priorities in client countries with the greatest development benefits for their socio-economic situation. The following generalized lessons can be drawn from the report: (i) Recognizing the powerful motivational effect of reform indicators, this evaluation notes the limitations in the coverage and guidance offered by any single indicator set on its own and advocates integrating them with complementary analytic tools and indicators. (ii) Recognizing the granularity and specificity of individual reforms in any given country context, the findings suggest that it is better to avoid using business regulatory or similar global indicators as explicit reform objectives or monitoring indicators in Bank Group projects and country strategies focused on improving the business environment. This does not preclude the use of primary data to track and measure agreed targets critical to Bank Group institutional commitments. (iii) Global indicators coverage and specifications are improved if, at regular and predictable intervals, they are updated to reflect learning from research and field experience to (i) improve links to important development outcomes; (ii) strengthen relevance to the experience of the subject of coverage; and (iii) adapt to technological changes in the areas covered by the indicators. (iv) The DB experience indicates the need for mechanisms and safeguards to assure the accuracy and validity of World Bank Group global indicator-based reports and related communications, using robust and transparent standards of evidence. -
Publication
The International Finance Corporation’s and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’s Support for Private Investment in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations, Fiscal Years 2010–21: An Independent Evaluation
(Washington, DC, 2022)The World Bank Group estimates that, by 2030, up to two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor will live in countries characterized by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV). The Bank’s FCV strategy emphasizes the critical role the private sector plays in providing jobs and income in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS) and its importance in contributing to sustainable development in FCS countries. Supporting investments in FCS has been a strategic priority for both the Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) for over a decade. In fact, IFC and MIGA adopted ambitious volume targets for investments and guarantees in International Development Association (IDA) and FCS countries. For instance, IFC committed to delivering 40% of its business volume in IDA and FCS countries, and 15–20% in low-income IDA and IDA FCS countries by 2030. MIGA committed to increasing the share of the volume of guarantees issued to projects in FCS and IDA countries to 30– 33% of its guarantee volume by FY23. But despite gradually deploying new tools and instruments in FCS, increasing investments in FCS has been challenging. This evaluation assesses IFC’s and MIGA’s effectiveness in supporting private investment and development impact in Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations (FCS) and identifies key factors constraining private investment in FCS and possible trade-offs that practitioners and policy-makers need to consider. Based on its findings, IEG makes three recommendations to strengthen the relevance and effectiveness of IFC’s and MIGA’s support to investments and private sector development in FCS. -
Publication
Doing Business and Country Reforms - An Independent Evaluation Group Issues Paper
(Washington, DC: Independent Evaluation Group, 2021-06-29)This Issues Paper draws together evidence and initial analysis to propose a foundation and testable lines of inquiry for the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) evaluation of the relevance and effectiveness of Doing Business (DB) for country reforms. The paper reviews six major sources of evidence on the use and influence of the World Bank Group’s DB indicators and reports and their relevance for client country policy reforms. It then marshals the evidence to formulate six lines of inquiry that will augment evaluation questions laid out in the Approach Paper to guide the evaluation.