Sector/Thematic Studies

6,688 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2110

Economic and Sectoral Work are original analytic reports authored by the World Bank and intended to influence programs and policy in client countries. They convey Bank-endorsed recommendations and represent the formal opinion of a World Bank unit on the topic. This set includes the sectoral and thematic studies which are not Core Diagnostic Studies. Other analytic and advisory activities (AAA), including technical assistance studies, are included in these sectoral/thematic collections.

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

The Business Case for Gender-Responsive Climate-Smart Mining

(Washington, DC, 2022-08-08) International Finance Corporation

Transitioning to a low-carbon economy is critical to the sustainability of the planet. A recent World Bank report found that increasing demand for clean energy technologies can increase demand for minerals such as graphite, lithium, and cobalt by nearly 500 percent by 2050. Even though the authors expect recycling rates to go up in the future, mining will still be required to supply critical minerals: the shift to a low-carbon future will be mineral-intensive, and mining will remain a critical industry. It is in this context that the World Bank Group established the climate-smart mining initiative (CSM), which is sustained by a partnership between industry and country governments. The initiative supports the sustainable extraction, processing, and recycling of the minerals and metals that are needed for low-carbon technologies. The concept is built upon four pillars: (i) climate mitigation; (ii) climate adaptation; (iii) reducing material impacts; and (iv) creating market opportunities.
Fintech and SME Finance: Expanding Responsible Access

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) World Bank ; International Finance Corporation

This technical note is structured in the following manner. Section two provides an overview of the main barriers and frictions that SMEs face to access finance. Section three explores how digitization is an enabler for SME finance and how different fintech solutions address these barriers. The fintech solutions analyzed include digital credit, asset-based lending, and equity products. Also examined are innovative products such as digital payments, credit risk assessment using alternative data, tokenized assets, and electronic invoicing. Market enablers such as e-commerce and open banking, and the digitization of business processes, which contribute to addressing the barriers and frictions to SME access to finance, are also highlighted. Section four analyzes how the providers of these fintech solutions for SMEs impact traditional banks, financial institutions, and implications on the financial market structure. This section also discusses the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of digital financial products for SMEs. Section five then addresses some of the key risks and challenges involved in the adoption of digital financial products and key market enablers. Finally, section six presents policy and regulatory recommendations to address the different challenges.
World Bank Group Global Market Survey: Digital Technology and the Future of Finance

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) World Bank ; International Finance Corporation

This report documents the main findings of the Word Bank Group Survey on Digital Transformation and the Future of Finance. The survey was conducted between May 2020 and January 2021 and focused on the digital transformation of financial services and its impact on financial markets and regulatory environments across the world. The survey covered a wide range of market participants, with a focus on those from Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs). This survey of market participants complemented earlier surveys of the official sector by the World Bank Group, IMF, and Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance. As a follow-up to the IMF-WBG Bali Fintech Agenda, 3 the IMF and the WBG undertook a global fintech survey (GFS 2019) of central banks, finance ministries, and regulatory agencies, which underpinned the stock-taking paper ‘Fintech: The Experience So Far’ published by the IMF and the World Bank in 2019. GFS 2019 collected insights from 96 official-sector respondents worldwide related to fintech developments in their respective jurisdictions. It found that the official sector broadly expected fintech to increase competition, particularly in payments, and to further financial inclusion for both households and MSMEs. The results suggested the need to modify regulatory approaches and legal frameworks. The WBG-CCAF survey of regulators from 111 jurisdictions on alternative finance (WBG-CCAF 2019) corroborated regulators’ support for technology-driven finance and their plans to further develop regulatory frameworks covering P2P, equity crowdfunding, and initial coin offerings. Purpose-built regulations for these new sectors often impose more obligations than existing regulations. The CCAF-WB 2020 Global COVID-19 FinTech Regulatory Rapid Assessment Study reported regulators’ observations that due to accelerated adoption of fintech products and services during the pandemic, particularly in emerging markets, fintech regulation was a priority, along with concerns about rising cybersecurity, operational, and consumer protection risks. This survey largely confirmed the observations of regulators and market participants from previous surveys, reinforcing the competition and inclusion aspects of fintech and the need to continue to address emerging risks, adapt regulatory frameworks, and reduce barriers to innovation.
Consumer and Market Study in Southwest and West Nile Refugee-Hosting Areas in Uganda

(Washington, DC, 2021-12) International Finance Corporation

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) commissioned a consumer and market study to explore economic activities, employment trends, consumption levels, and consumer preferences of refugees and host communities in Uganda’s largest refugee-hosting areas in the Southwest and West Nile regions. The study covers a gap in existing research on the economic situations of forced displacement, which is often conducted from a humanitarian perspective and rarely offers the private sector view. The study presents the refugees’ economic activities in their distinct roles as consumers, producers, suppliers, and salaried workers from the view of a private sector firm entering the market. It builds on earlier research conducted by the Uganda Investment Authority, in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which produced investment profiles for refugee-hosting districts. The report is divided into eight chapters. Chapter one introduces the study. Chapter two outlines the study methodology. Chapter three provides socioeconomic baseline data, such as educational attainment, employment, and income, comparable by region and population group (refugees versus host communities). Chapter four explores access to telecommunication and financial services. Chapter five analyzes household consumption expenditure, the volume of economic activity, consumer preferences, and access to finance and telecommunication services. Chapter six discusses findings from the business survey. Chapter seven briefly looks at agricultural value chains in the Southwest and West Nile. Chapter eight presents investment opportunities in the refugee-hosting districts for the private sector.
Strategy for Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Jhelum Poonch River Basin Pakistan

(Washington, DC, 2021-06) International Finance Corporation

IFC has remained financer and development partner in hydropower projects in Pakistan. In this process, IFC has developed a comprehensive approach for developing sustainable hydropower as a cheaper and cleaner energy that benefits the environment as well as the communities in the area. A key part of the approach involves raising environmental and social standards in hydropower development through its advisory engagements. Strategy for Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Jhelum Poonch River Basin (JPRB) is one such IFC initiative implemented through a multistakeholder-engagement process to provide practical guidance for government, developers, and other stakeholders. The proposed strategy presents key lessons learned from hydropower projects in the Jhelum-Poonch River Basin as well as other related basins during construction and operation. It enhances the knowledge base of the Jhelum-Poonch Basin and provides recommendations for hydropower developers and government to implement best practice in their projects. This helps strike a balance between conservation and development by minimizing negative environmental and social impacts from hydropower projects in the basin. The strategy provides recommendations for government and regulators on how to improve policy and regulation to strengthen the hydropower sector. Developers can make good use of this report to strengthen their planning, systems, and business operations.
Small Business, Big Growth: How investing in SMEs creates jobs

(Washington, DC, 2021-03) International Finance Corporation

This report presents an updated methodology to estimate the number of SME jobs created as a result of SME loans.5 It analyzes job multipliers across developing countries through a firm-level regression of annual employment change on loan size. Put simply, the framework presented here analyzes the relationship between the size of loans to SMEs and the jobs these enterprises create. This methodology builds on previous papers that found an association between access to finance and job growth, including Ayyagari et al. (2016),6 and draws on data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (ES) and IFC’s own “tracer surveys” to develop a new SME jobs multiplier that would allow for the estimation of job creation effects that correlate with SME loan size.7 The use of tracer surveys has enabled IFC to analyze how the SME customers of a particular IFC partner financial institution have benefited from greater access to finance and generated positive developmental impacts such as greater SME growth, productivity, and female ownership.