Publication:
Tajikistan : Reinvigorating Growth in the Khatlon Oblast

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.14 MB)
1,166 downloads
English Text (258.36 KB)
97 downloads
Published
2013-04
ISSN
Date
2014-02-03
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report assesses the challenges and opportunities for the development of the Khatlon oblast in Tajikistan. The report argues that the rise in the strategic significance of Khatlon must be matched by responses in public policy and a strong upturn in private investment to strengthen economic prospects. The report identifies four key reform imperatives for stimulating growth in the oblast. These are: (i) promoting cities and internal connectivity to build labor skills, realize scale economies, and diversify output; (ii) harnessing the potential of agriculture for exports; (iii) reshaping public policies to encourage entrepreneurship and reduce corruption; and (iv) retooling free economic zones to build in internal supply chains and conform to modern management practices. The report also recognizes the critical importance of building security and antinarcotics defenses, but details in these areas lie outside the scope of the work. The underlying belief behind the assessment of the growth prospects of the oblast is that a rapidly prosperous Khatlon with rising private investment will itself be stabilizing.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2013. Tajikistan : Reinvigorating Growth in the Khatlon Oblast. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16789 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Competitive Cities : Reshaping the Economic Geography of Romania
    (Washington, DC, 2013-12-26) World Bank
    This document examines the geographic distribution of employed individuals across Romania, the implications, and recommendations. Under optimal conditions, cities concentrate economic resources and human talent in a virtuous cycle of increasing urbanization that generates a diverse range of opportunities, enabling people to find better-paying jobs, companies to recruit employees with the right set of skills, and capital and ideas to flow across space more efficiently. The benefits of agglomeration kick in rapidly, increasing the attraction of cities as living and working spaces. However, in the short term, uneven development across regions is both a normal and an inevitable phenomenon. Regrettably, many policymakers tend to resist growing internal divergence, trying to artificially spread the benefits of growth evenly across space. In practice, however, such policies rarely have the intended effects, often wasting resources and slowing down the economy. The basic solution for lagging areas is instead to connect people living there to opportunities in growing cities and offer them access to basic infrastructure for encouraging short-term working mobility and discouraging depopulation/ peremptory migration in favor of intra- and inter-county commuting. In the long run, convergence in living standards will occur as benefits from leading areas spill over to surrounding communities and people who had left lagging areas bring back capital, jobs, and ideas.
  • Publication
    Pakistan - Gilgit-Baltistan Economic Report : Broadening the Transformation
    (World Bank, 2010-12-02) World Bank
    Parts of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), the northeastern most administrative region of Pakistan, have been undergoing a dramatic transformation over the last three decades. Given the challenging environment, GB's development outcomes are impressive, built on the time-tempered resilience of the people of GB and facilitated by high levels of social capital. GB has also benefitted from the attentions of the national Government of Pakistan (GoP) (motivated in no small measure by geopolitical and national cohesion considerations) and the strong engagement of civil society organizations (CSOs). The structure of the report follows the storyline of seeking to overcome the odds and broaden the transformation, with a review of development performance to date, a discussion of the main challenges the GB faces, a set of discussions at the sectoral level (based on a series of background papers that are available separately and listed in annex two), and an appraisal of what it will take to follow through on some key policy options, in terms of capacity, consultations, political will, fiscal reforms, and additional resources. The sectoral narratives are arranged in three groups: sources of private sector led growth (agriculture, minerals, tourism, and trade), key public services (social protection, education, health, and water supply and sanitation) and essential infrastructure (irrigation, electricity, and transport), all of which are critical to enhancing development performance. Meaningful steps and actions that will promote progress in each sector are identified, separated into those that appear feasible now, and those that will need to await more favorable circumstances in the future. The rest of the executive summary mirrors the structure of the main report, concluding with a table listing the top 15 policy options for immediate action and for pursuit over the medium-term (the full set of policy options is compiled in annex three).
  • Publication
    Airport Economics in Latin America and the Caribbean : Benchmarking, Regulation, and Pricing
    (World Bank, 2011-12-20) Serebrisky, Tomas
    This report presents the findings of a first-ever, comprehensive study of how Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region airports have evolved during a notable period of transition in airport ownership. It is an unbiased, positive analysis of what happened, rather than a normative analysis of what should be done to reform and to attract private sector participation to the airport sector. It takes the first step to respond to the need for more conclusive information about the influence of airport ownership on economic performance. The report centers on the study of three dimensions of performance: productive efficiency, institutional setup for the governance of the sector, and financing. This multifaceted report uses a range of advanced quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the relationship between airport ownership and performance in the LAC region. After a comprehensive overview, chapters 1 and 2 provide the necessary background for the air transport sector and the evolution of private sector participation and investment in airport infrastructure. In chapter 3, questionnaires submitted to airport operators and regulators led to the creation of the unique data sets, which were first used to compare performance across 14 partial performance indicators, and next used to develop aggregate measures of efficiency necessary for the benchmarking exercise. In chapter 4, a qualitative study of the relationship between type of regulating agency (independent or government-led) and transparency, accountability, and bureaucracy provides insight into how recent reforms have also affected the quality of regulatory governance. Chapter 5 provides an in-depth analysis of the evolution of tariff structures in the region as compared to a sample of international airports. Several important topics were not included in this report but should be the focus of future research. In particular, the evolution of the quality of services in airports deserves greater attention, as airports are increasingly becoming business centers and key gateways for trade competitiveness. The other main topic that requires detailed practical research is climate change and its relationship with the airport sector.
  • Publication
    Tajikistan : Reinvigorating Growth in Khatlon Oblast
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06) Bakanova, Marina; Carneiro, Francisco
    This report supports a joint World Bank-IFC initiative to review and evaluate economic growth prospects for Khatlon oblast in order to develop a private sector-driven strategy for accelerating the region's growth over the medium term.
  • Publication
    India - Uttarakhand Economic Assessment
    (Washington, DC, 2012-11) World Bank
    In 2010, Uttarakhand entered the second decade of its existence as a separate State. During the first decade, average individual incomes rose by eight ranks in relation to the other States in India. Although these incomes are still below the median for India, they are growing significantly faster, which is leading to rapid convergence with the richer States. Looking ahead, the State can build upon its existing growth momentum, the economic diversification that has resulted from its industrial promotion policies, its favorable location in the dynamic North Indian economy, and good natural resources and skills bases to raise standards of living. This report intends to provide inputs for development thinking that is underway during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period. It covers the subjects of growth, inclusion, sustainability, public finance and administration, responding to the Government s request for a discussion of these areas. It attempts to strike a balance between broad-brushed strategies and specific and practical recommendations, bringing to bear experience from other States and countries when needed. The overall message to policymakers is: Over the next decade, Uttarakhand should aim to become the preferred State in North India for (a) investing in the production of high value goods and in services; (b) livability; (c) greening; and (d) good government. The global community, including India s multilateral and bilateral development partners can be rich sources of knowledge about design, funds, and implementation support for the State Government s development program. Early actions to engage a wide variety of development partners is likely to help Uttarakhand effectively and efficiently traverse a challenging and unique development path.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Spring 2025: Accelerating Growth through Entrepreneurship, Technology Adoption, and Innovation
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-23) Belacin, Matias; Iacovone, Leonardo; Izvorski, Ivailo; Kasyanenko, Sergiy
    Business dynamism and economic growth in Europe and Central Asia have weakened since the late 2000s, with productivity growth driven largely by resource reallocation between firms and sectors rather than innovation. To move up the value chain, countries need to facilitate technology adoption, stronger domestic competition, and firm-level innovation to build a more dynamic private sector. Governments should move beyond broad support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and focus on enabling the most productive firms to expand and compete globally. Strengthening competition policies, reducing the presence of state-owned enterprises, and ensuring fair market access are crucial. Limited availability of long-term financing and risk capital hinders firm growth and innovation. Economic disruptions are a shock in the short term, but they provide an opportunity for implementing enterprise and structural reforms, all of which are essential for creating better-paying jobs and helping countries in the region to achieve high-income status.
  • 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
    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
    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.
  • Publication
    Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03) World Bank
    Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.