Publication:
Bulgaria Systematic Country Diagnostic

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (5.47 MB)
440 downloads
English Text (636.16 KB)
78 downloads
Published
2021
ISSN
Date
2022-01-19
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Systematic Country Diagnostic Update examines the key constraints to and opportunities for sustainably accelerating inclusive growth and boosting shared prosperity in Bulgaria. It builds on the first Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) published in 2015, entitled “Bulgaria’s Potential for Sustainable Growth and Shared Prosperity”. The analysis is organized in three components related to economic growth: strength, inclusiveness and sustainability. Although the earlier diagnostic remains valid for the most part, several contextual factors such as the health, social and economic repercussions of COVID-19, a drive to embrace the digital and green transformation, and a rapidly aging population— have emerged or gained prominence, creating new challenges or sharpening existing ones in all three growth areas. Alongside these mega-trends, institutions and governance continue to play a prominent role through their impacts on all segments of growth.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2021. Bulgaria Systematic Country Diagnostic. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36842 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Solomon Islands Systematic Country Diagnostic
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06-01) World Bank Group
    Solomon Islands is a small, remote archipelago in the South Pacific that faces a fairly unique set of development challenges. Solomon Islands is now at a critical juncture in its development trajectory. Neither the economic geography nor the present political economy of Solomon Islands is particularly conducive to the establishment of state institutions capable of managing upcoming socioeconomic change. Because of the weaknesses of state institutions, and consistent with Solom on Islands’ historical experience, a variety of non-state and international actors will need to play important roles in managing upcoming and potentially risky socioeconomic change. This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Solomon Islands identifies key challenges and opportunities for achieving inclusive and sustainable growth, to accelerate progress toward the World Bank Group’s twin goals of reducing extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity.
  • Publication
    Belarus Systematic Country Diagnostic
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-02-20) World Bank Group
    Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus has pursued a gradual transition path characterized by slow opening of the economy to the private sector and a limited reform of the governance system of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This systematic country diagnostic (SCD) demonstrates that there is a window of opportunity to proactively lay down foundations towards a new vision - a competitive, inclusive, and dynamic Belarus. At the core of this new vision is managing a transition to a new growth path that is sustainable and inclusive. The SCD has identified seven key priorities for achieving further progress towards the twin goals in Belarus. The report is structured as follows: chapter one describes trends in poverty reduction and in shared prosperity and examines the conjecture that economic growth was the main determinant of improvements in income distribution. Chapter two analyzes the sustainability of economic growth and income distribution gains. Chapter three sketches a vision of socio-economic development for Belarus in the next decade and formulates three pathways towards the sustainable and inclusive growth of an internationally competitive economy. Chapter four describes priority actions to achieve that vision.
  • Publication
    The World Bank Annual Report 2021
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-10-01) World Bank
    The Annual Report is prepared by the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)--collectively known as the World Bank--in accordance with the by-laws of the two institutions. The President of the IBRD and IDA and the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors submits the Report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.
  • Publication
    Azerbaijan Systematic Country Diagnostic Update
    (Washington, DC, 2022-06-27) World Bank
    The Azerbaijan Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) Update 2022 identifies the most critical challenges facing the government in the effort to achieve the country’s national goals and the twin goals of eradicating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. It also identifies policy priorities to address these challenges within a changing economic and geopolitical environment. The SCD is a comprehensive evidence-based analysis founded on the latest data and analyses available. The document benefited from comments and feedback provided by stakeholders in Azerbaijan, including national authorities, the private sector, and civil society. By reflecting voices on the ground, the SCD is intended to support the implementation of the country’s development agenda as outlined in “Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities for Socio-Economic Development” (Azerbaijan 2030) (President of the Republic of Azerbaijan 2021). The analysis is built on the findings of the first generation Azerbaijan SCD, which was published in 2015, and also updates the analysis to account for recent developments since 2015. The SCD likewise plays a crucial role in providing an analytical basis for the Country Partnership Framework (CPF), a document that will guide the World Bank’s engagement and partnership with the government of Azerbaijan over the next four to six years.
  • Publication
    Republic of Zambia Systematic Country Diagnostic
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-15) World Bank Group
    Zambia has successfully raised its average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate since the early 2000s. Between 2004 and 2014, it averaged 7.4 percent per year. This success was driven by an improvement in the macroeconomic indicators (relative to the 1980s and 1990s), debt relief, heavy investment in the social sectors (by the government and cooperating partners), and a large increase in mining and agricultural production since 2004. This success raised average p Rapid urbanization has been accompanied by a decrease in urban poverty incidence, but masks sluggish growth in small towns and cities. After a decade of de-urbanization in the 1990s, urbanization has been an important driver of change over the past 15 years. However, from 2000 to 2014, urban growth in Zambia has been significantly more focused on the capital city than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa. The annual population growth of Lusaka is over twice the average for Sub-Saharan Africa (1 percent). In contrast, the share of secondary towns in Zambia is growing more slowly than in the rest of Africa (by only 0.7 percent in Zambia compared with 1.8 percent elsewhere). These disparities may exacerbate uneven territorial development, as small towns and cities play a crucial role in strengthening the links among firms; between firms and consumers; and within local, provincial, national, and international supply chains. er capita incomes after decades of economic volatility since the country’s independence in 1964. The current development model being pursued has imposed environmental and resource liabilities. Agricultural growth has been based on increasing land use rather than improved productivity, leading to rapid deforestation. Mining activities have resulted in pollution, and Zambia also faces high and growing climate change impacts. Copper price volatility also continues to challenge macroeconomic and fiscal management. Debt levels have soared to risky levels only 12 years after the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) programs provided US$6.5 billion of debt relief from 2005.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022
    (Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank
    The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.