Sector/Thematic Studies

6,898 items available

Permanent URI for this community

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.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 37
  • Publication
    Closing Gaps, Increasing Opportunities: A Diagnostic on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-03) World Bank
    As Nigeria faces the immediate challenge of stimulating economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and corresponding economic shocks, it also can address the sizable gender gaps that undermine women’s economic empowerment and hinder inclusive economic growth. Gender disparities in earnings not only hold back the Nigerian economy, they also represent an opportunity: closing the gender gaps in key economic sectors could yield additional gains of US9.3 billion dollars or up to US22.9 billion dollars. Women’s economic empowerment will also be key to accelerating a demographic transition and reaping the gains of a demographic dividend. Drawing on data from the most recent Nigeria General Household Survey (2018-2019), this report makes five critical contributions: (1) highlighting the gender gaps in labor force participation; (2) documenting the magnitude and drivers of the gender gaps in key economic sectors; (3) diving deep into three contextual constraints: land, livestock, and occupational segregation; (4) measuring the costs of the gender gaps; and (5) offering policy and programming recommendations of innovative options to close the gender gaps.
  • Publication
    Of Roads Less Traveled: Assessing the Potential of Economic Migration to Provide Overseas Jobs for Nigeria’s Youth
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-07-12) Adhikari, Samik; Chaudhary, Sarang; Ekeator, Nkechi Linda
    Nigerians are not only creating a vibrant and dynamic society within Nigeria but are also leaving their footprint across the globe in diverse fields ranging from medicine to movies, and from literature to diplomacy. The main purpose of this report is to aid discussion on creating new labor migration pathways for overseas employment of Nigerians. It aims to support the Government of Nigeria in filling critical information gaps to comprehensively shed light on the issue of international migration. Using available data from secondary sources, it places international migration within the broader labor market context in Nigeria, carefully stressing the push and pull factors that lead to both regular and irregular migration and makes the case for why more structured regular migration will be one of the crucial ways in which Nigeria can support education to work transition for young and aspiring Nigerian jobseekers. The report synthesizes the available evidence to understand the stock and flows of international migrants from Nigeria, major countries of destination, and key areas of vulnerabilities while identifying gaps in evidence to inform decision-making. The final contribution of this report is that it comprehensively assesses the institutional framework governing labor migration at the Federal level in Nigeria, underscoring the various stakeholders involved in the process, and underlining key gaps that are hampering Nigeria’s ability to enhance the benefits and reduce the costs from international migration. This report is structured in three parts. The first part looks at the broader labor market setting in Nigeria, along with the economic and demographic context, to highlight specific drivers of increased migratory pressure in recent years before postulating that the recent surge in irregular migration is a direct consequence of worsening joblessness combined with lack of regular channels for youth to find employment in other countries. The second part presents an analysis of the trends and patterns of international migration from Nigeria to provide insights on the characteristics of international migrants and their contribution to Nigeria’s economy. The third and final part highlights how international migration is increasingly being used as an employment strategy by developing countries and how despite the significant increase in remittance inflows, there is lack of an organized structure that promotes better migration management and facilitates safe and remunerative migration from Nigeria.
  • Publication
    Expanding Legal Migration Pathways from Nigeria to Europe: From Brain Drain to Brain Gain
    (World Bank and Center for Global Development, Washington, DC, 2021-07-12) Adhikari, Samik; Clemens, Michael; Dempster, Helen; Ekeator, Nkechi Linda
    The world is currently at a crossroads. Low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria are seeing rapid growth in their working-age populations. Yet often, these increasingly educated and skilled young people cannot find meaningful work within their countries of origin, either because their skills are not well aligned to the needs of employers or because there is an absolute lack of roles available. This is creating emigration pressure, with many seeking opportunities elsewhere, leading to fears of brain drain within countries of origin. At the same time, high-income countries such as those in Europe are seeing rapid decreases in their working-age populations. Employers within these countries are facing significant skill shortages, which is reducing productivity and investment. Based on interviews with more than 100 stakeholders, this report applies the center for global development’s (CGD) global skill partnership model to the sectors of health care, construction, and information and communications technology (ICT), designing partnerships between Nigeria and select countries of destination in Europe. It outlines how countries of destination looking to fill labor shortages can provide high-quality and industry-relevant training to potential migrants and nonimmigrants within Nigeria, increasing the global stock of workers and contributing to brain gain.
  • Publication
    Nigeria Development Update, June 2021: Resilience through Reforms
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) World Bank
    In 2020, Nigeria experienced its deepest recession in four decades, but growth resumed in the fourth quarter as pandemic restrictions were eased, oil prices recovered, and the authorities implemented policies to counter the economic shock. As a result, in 2020 the Nigerian economy experienced a smaller contraction (-1.8 percent) than had been projected when the pandemic began (-3.2 percent). As part of its response, the government carried out several long-delayed policy reforms, often against vocal opposition. Notably, the government (1) began to harmonize exchange rates; (2) began to eliminate gasoline subsidies; (3) started adjusting electricity tariffs to more cost-reflective levels; (4) cut nonessential spending and redirected resources to COVID-19 (coronavirus) responses at both the federal and the state levels; and (5) enhanced debt management and increased public-sector transparency, especially for oil and gas operations. By creating additional fiscal space and maximizing the impact of the government’s limited resources, these measures were critical in protecting the economy against a much deeper recession and in laying the foundation for earlier recovery. However, several critical reforms are as yet incomplete, which threatens Nigeria’s nascent recovery. In the baseline scenario, Nigeria’s economy is expected to grow by 1.8 percent in 2021. Despite the current favorable external environment, with oil prices recovering and growth in advanced economies, reform slippages would hinder the renewed economic expansion and undermine progress toward Nigeria’s development goals. In a risk scenario, in which the government fails to sustain recent macroeconomic and structural reforms, the pace of economic recovery would slow, and GDP growth couldbe just 1.1 percent in 2021.
  • Publication
    Nigeria Transforming Agribusiness for Inclusive Recovery, Jobs Creation, and Poverty Reduction: Policy Reforms and Investment Priorities
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-30) Mghenyi, Elliot W.; Dankers, Cora; Thurlow, James; Anyiro, Chidozie
    Modern economic policy making in Nigeria has placed enormous emphasis on diversification of the economy to non-oil productive sectors. With the aim to restore economic growth following the 2015-16 recession and lay the foundations for long-term structural change, the economic growth and recovery plan (ERGP) recognized the need to diversify the economy to non-oil productive sectors such as agriculture and agro-allied industries, in order to build an economy that can generate inclusive growth and create jobs. This report aims to improve understanding of the potential of the agribusiness sector (primary agriculture plus off-farm agribusiness) to accelerate inclusive recovery from the 2020 recession, create jobs, and reduce poverty. A key early finding of the report is that the agribusiness sector is critical to accelerating inclusive recovery and creating jobs. The report builds on this evidence to identify the specific value chain groups that have most potential to create jobs, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition outcomes. Next, the report offers to highlight the complex set of factors that mediate the performance of agricultural value chains, distinguishing between issues that pertain to upstream primary agriculture, those that affect downstream off-farm agribusiness and cross-cutting challenges. The agribusiness enabling environment takes center stage in this part of the report, focusing on policy reforms around seed regulations, fertilizers quality control, warehouse receipts, and agricultural trade. Finally, the report takes deep dives to identify reforms to increase competitiveness in the value chains that were found to have the most potential to create jobs, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition outcomes.
  • Publication
    Nigeria Development Update, December 2020: Rising to the Challenge - Nigeria's COVID Response
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12) World Bank
    This report highlights how the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis has impacted Nigeria’s economy. In 2020, Nigeria’s economy is expected to experience its deepest recession since the 1980s due to the COVID-19-related disruptions, notably lower oil prices and remittances, enhanced risk aversion in global capital markets, and mobility restrictions. In the baseline scenario—which assumes further macroeconomic reforms and a gradual recovery in oil prices—Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to contract by about 4 percent in 2020, growing modestly by 1.1 percent in 2021, and then recovering gradually towards the estimated population growth rate of 2.6 percent. With the rate of economic growth remaining below the population growth rate, per-capita incomes would continue declining and better full-time jobs will be much harder to find. This edition of the Nigeria Development Update takes stock of the recently implemented reforms and proposes policy options to both mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and foster a resilient, sustainable, and inclusive recovery. Managing the current crisis while strengthening the institutional and policy framework will require carefully sequenced reforms implemented over the immediate- and near-term. Robust mitigation and recovery policies would be based on five pillars: 1. Managing the domestic spread of COVID-19 until a vaccine is distributed; 2. Enhancing macroeconomic management to boost investor confidence; 3. Safeguarding and mobilizing revenues; 4. Reprioritizing public spending to protect critical development expenditures; and 5. Supporting economic activity and access to services and providing relief for poor and vulnerable communities.
  • Publication
    Disability Inclusion in Nigeria: A Rapid Assessment
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-26) World Bank
    According to the World Health Organization, in 2018, about 29 million of the 195 million people who comprise Nigeria’s national population were living with a disability. Data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey reveal that an estimated 7 percent of household members above the age of five (as well as 9 percent of those 60 or older) have some level of difficulty in at least one functional domain, seeing, hearing, communication, cognition, walking, or self-care; and 1 percent either have a lot of difficulty or cannot function at all in at least one domain. These estimated rates, while significant, are probably even higher because currently available data likely underestimate the prevalence. This rapid social assessment was undertaken to document the current socioeconomic status of persons with disabilities in Nigeria. Findings indicate that persons with disabilities lack access to basic services and that attitudinal barriers represent a major impediment to their socioeconomic inclusion. Inclusive policies are either nonexistent, weak, or inadequately implemented. There is an urgent need to improve the current socioeconomic situation of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
  • Publication
    Nigeria Digital Economy Diagnostic Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12-01) World Bank Group
    As the biggest economy in Africa with one of the largest youth populations in the world, Nigeria is well-positioned to develop a strong digital economy. This would have a transformational impact on the country. In order to reap the benefits, Nigeria needs to focus on accelerating improvements in five fundamental pillars of a digital economy: digital infrastructure, digital platforms, digital financial services, digital entrepreneurship and digital skills. The Nigeria Digital Economy Diagnostic report identifies key challenges and opportunities of leveraging the digital economy for diversified and sustained growth. It provides an assessment of the state of Nigeria’s digital economy around the five foundational pillars. The report also offers specific, actionable recommendations to the government and private sector stakeholders to further Nigeria’s development of each pillar. The report was produced in the context of the Digital Economy (DE4A) initiative, an African Union initiative supported by the World Bank Group, which aims to digitally connect every person, business, and government in Africa by 2030.
  • Publication
    Nigeria Economic Update, Fall 2019: Jumpstarting Inclusive Growth - Unlocking the Productive Potential of Nigeria’s People and Resource Endowments
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-12-01) World Bank Group
    Nigeria continues its recovery from the 2016 recession, sustaining an estimated 2 percent growthrate in 2019. The collapse of global oil prices during 2014–16, combined with lower domestic oil production, led to a sudden slowdown in economic activity. Nigeria’s annual real GDP growth rate, which averaged 7 percent from 2000 to 2014, fell to 2.7 percent in 2015 and to -1.6 percent in 2016. Growth rebounded to 0.8 percent in 2017, 1.9 percent in 2018, and then plateaued at 2 percent in the first half of 2019, where it is expected to remain for the rest of the year. Services, particularly telecoms, remained the main driver of growth in 2019, although trade started contracting amidst increasing use of policy measures aimed at import substitution. Agricultural growth picked up slightly but remains affected by insurgency in the Northeast region and ongoing farmer-herder conflicts. Industrial performance was mixed: growth in the oil sector remained stable, but manufacturing production slowed in a context of weaker power sector supply. Overall, the slow pace of recovery in 2019 is attributable to weak consumer demand and lower public and private investment. The annual headline inflation rate fell from a peak of 15.7 percent in 2016 to a projected 11.6 percent in 2019 but remains high and above the central bank’s target of 6–9 percent. The focus section of this report analyzes the evolution of productivity in Nigeria and identifies policies and institutions that can leverage productivity growth to accelerate Nigeria’s economic expansion and create new job opportunities. The analysis highlights four key priorities. First, ensuring policy transparency and predictability will be critical to reduce investment risk and promote growth outside the extractive industry. Second, investing in infrastructure, strengthening land tenure security, improving educational outcomes, and liberalizing the trade regime and enhancing trade and transport facilitation would help develop value chains and facilitate the efficient reallocation of factors of production, making Nigeria more cost-competitive. Third, reducing regulatory discretion would help attract foreign and domestic investment to the nonoil sector, encourage competition, and promote formalization.And fourth, improving access to finance could enable new firms to compete with incumbents and allow more productive firms to scale up their operations. Actions in these areas would lay the groundwork for Nigeria’s transition to a new economic model that more effectively utilizes its large, young population and abundant natural resources to support sustainable growth and poverty reduction.
  • Publication
    Nigeria Biannual Economic Update, April 2019: Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene – A Wake-up Call
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04-01) World Bank Group
    Nigeria's emergence from recession remains slow: real GDP grew by 1.9 percent in 2018. While this was above the 0.8 percent growth of 2017, it was below the population growth rate, government projections and pre-recession levels. The oil and gas sector reverted to contraction from the second quarter of the year and the non-oil economy was thus the main driver of growth in 2018. While agriculture slowed down significantly due to conflict and weather events, whose effects were not counteracted by direct interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), non-oil, non-agricultural growth, which remained negative up to the third quarter of 2017 strengthened through 2018 - but remained weak – with services (primarily ICT) resuming as the key driver. As the oil sector is not labor-intensive, and the non-oil economy was still relatively weak, nearly a quarter of the work force was unemployed in 2018; and another 20 percent under-employed. With 3.9 million net entrants into the labor force (now 90.5 million people) during 2018 (up to September) (4.5 percent growth), but virtually no growth in the stock of jobs, unemployment rose by 2.7 percentage points since end-2017, and more than doubled compared to the pre-recession levels (9.9 percent in Q3 of 2015).