After decades of turmoil and
instability, a period of calm and progress evolved in
Guinea-Bissau in 2009. A military coup in April 2012
interrupted it. A fresh start is needed to alter the
dynamics that kept Guinea-Bissau poor. In 2013, Gross
National Income per capita was US$590. Average economic
growth barely kept pace with population growth. In 2010,
poverty at the national poverty line of US$2 a day was 70

Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses fundamental issues in global development and
the World Bank Group's role in helping countries and
the private sector meet the greatest challenges in
development. He speaks
about the twin goals, to end extreme poverty
by 2030 and to boost shared prosperity. Due to television, everyone knows how everyone else lives. We must not remain voluntarily blind to the impact of economic choices on the poor and
vulnerable.

Fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) have become an important focus of World Bank Group assistance in recent years as recognition of the linkages between fragility, conflict, violence, and poverty has grown. Addressing issues of recurring conflict and political violence and helping build legitimate and accountable state institutions are central to the Bank Group's poverty reduction mission. This evaluation assesses the relevance and effectiveness of World Bank Group country strategies and assistance programs to FCS.

Many firms in the developing world --
including a majority of micro, small, and medium enterprises
-- operate in the informal economy. The informal firms face
a variety of constraints, making it harder for them to do
business and grow. Lack of access to finance is often cited
as the biggest operational constraint these firms face. This
paper documents the use of finance and financing patterns of
informal firms, highlights differences between use of

Agriculture and fisheries are the main pillars of Mozambique's economy, having contributed in the last few years to more than 25 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and around 7 to 11 percentage points of the rate of economic growth. Agricultural development in Mozambique has been part of the government agenda because it is crucial to reducing poverty within rural zones.

The accumulation of decent housing
matters both because of the difference it makes to living
standards and because of its centrality to economic
development. The consequences for living standards are
far-reaching. In addition to directly conferring utility,
decent housing improves health and enables children to do
homework. It frees up women's time and enables them to
participate in the labor market. More subtly, a home and its

This First Phase Report on Sierra Leone
growth poles is the result of a 9 months consultative
process led by the Office of the President which
specifically requested that the output of this diagnostic be
in an engaging format. The fundamental concept of growth
poles is that they exploit agglomeration economies and
spillover effects to spread resulting prosperity from the
core of the pole to the periphery. At the basis of this

This paper is a review of the experience of the Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA) Program operated by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR).

Women in post-conflict economies face a
number of challenges. Often their businesses stay at
embryonic stages only, due to three key limitations relating
to: knowledge of business vision and management; access to
finance and markets; and access to role models and networks.
Added to the complexity is the risk of having to start all
over again due to their countriesapos; political instability
and the limited infrastructure to make their businesses

The country profile for Sweden is based
on data from the enterprise surveys conducted by the World
Bank in 2014. The Enterprise Surveys focus on the many
factors that shape the business environment. These factors
can be accommodating or constraining for firms and play an
important role in whether a country will prosper or not. An
accommodating business environment is one that encourages
firms to operate efficiently. Such conditions strengthen

Industrial parks are as popular as they
are controversial, in India and globally. At their best they
align infrastructure provision and agglomeration economies
to jolt industrial growth. More often, they generate
negative spill-overs, provide handouts, sit empty, or simply
do not get built. This paper disaggregates how parks are
built and how they fail. It contextualizes parks in India,
followed by a thick case study of an innovative scheme that

Recent economic and political
developments have highlighted a challenge shared across the
Arab region of generating employment, promoting inclusive
growth, and improving competitiveness. In the short run,
weakened macroeconomic fundamentals in the developing
economies of the Middle East and North Africa are a key
challenge. The region's main challenge is to achieve
sustainable growth that delivers the quantity and quality of