Once concentrated among a few large
economies, global flows of goods, services, and capital now
reach an ever-larger number of countries worldwide. Global
trade in goods and in services both increased 10 times
between 1980 and 2011, while foreign direct investment (FDI)
flows increased almost 30-fold. A value chain is global when
some of these stages are carried out in more than one
country, most notably when discrete tasks within a

Three of sub-Saharan Africa’s central
economic realities motivate this study. First, agriculture
is the most important sector in most African economies, on
average accounting for nearly one-fourth of GDP. Second, the
private sector is increasingly active in transforming
African agriculture and economies. By 2030, agriculture and
agribusiness are anticipated to become a US$ 1 trillion
industry in Africa, delivering more jobs, income, and

The study represents a background study
for the proposed Uganda Country Economic Memorandum (CEM),
which seeks to address the issue of efficient use of oil
resources and examine synergies between the oil industry and
the rest of the economy, through growth poles or linkages.
The oil industry can help Uganda to promote robust growth in
the economy. However, it is important to keep in mind that
it will take a number of years until oil revenues start

The lessons learned from the
implications of the global crisis for the Armenian economy
led the Government of Armenia to refine its approach to
economic development policy. The business environment, the
market structure, and the incentive pattern had not fostered
reallocation of resources into more productive areas or the
emergence of internationally competitive products and
services. Despite numerous initiatives and multiple efforts,

Megacity Dhaka encounters various kinds
of natural disasters quite frequently owing to its
geographical location and a number of other physical and
environmental conditions including low topography, land
characteristics, multiplicity of rivers and the monsoon
climate. Climate and disaster resilience is not the same in
all parts of a city. Spatial variations in resilience
patterns result from differences in the strengths and

Correspondent banking services are
essential to enabling companies and individuals to transact
internationally and make cross-border payments. Recently
there have been indications that certain large international
banks have started terminating or severely limiting their
correspondent banking relationships with smaller local and
regional banks from jurisdictions around the world. To find
out whether this is indeed happening, the World Bank, with

Honduras’ recent economic performance
has been positive, especially taking into account the global
economic context. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
accelerated from 2.8 percent in 2013 to 3.1 percent in 2014
and 3.6 percent in the first half of 2015. Growth has been
supported by improved terms of trade, higher remittance
inflows and export demand driven by the on-going recovery of
the United States (US), and improved investor confidence.

Countries everywhere are divided into
two distinct spatial realms: one urban, one rural. Classic
models of development predict faster growth in the urban
sector, causing rapid migration from rural areas to cities,
lifting average incomes in both places. The process
continues until the marginal productivity of labor is
equalized across the two realms. The pattern of rising
urbanization accompanying economic growth has become one of

Bulgaria experienced strong economic
growth prior to and shortly after joining the European Union
(EU) in 2007. Under the better regulation program, the
government adopted over 100 measures to reduce the
regulatory and administrative burden, but no formal
mechanism was introduced to regularly monitor and review its
implementation at the national or municipal level. Some
areas, in which entrepreneurs expected to see improved

This study was undertaken in support of the World Bank
project, Agroweather Tools for Adapting to Climate
Change. The overall goal of this pilot project is to establish
community-based agro-weather risk management
tools. These tools are to be supported by a flow of weather
and climate information via information and communication
technology (ICT) delivery systems.
While some advice is provided on how farmers
can use meteorological and climatological information
in their operations, this is not the main thrust of the

In July 2013, the World Bank Group
launched its Strategy, outlining how it will partner more
effectively with clients to help them achieve the ambitious
goals of eradicating extreme poverty and boosting shared
prosperity through economic growth, inclusion,
sustainability and resilience. In April 2014, the World Bank
Group Corporate Scorecard was launched for the first time
and the World Bank Scorecard revised to monitor the

Like many organizations working in the tourism sector, the authors believe that private sector investment is one of the key drivers of development. Over the past few years, the private sector has been a central innovator in forging business partnerships with local communities for tourism purposes around the world. Having demonstrated some extraordinary development results, joint ventures increasingly need to demonstrate their commercial viability over the long term.