Author Archives: NL4WorldBank
Money sent home by workers now largest source of external financing in low- and middle-income countries (excluding China)
Article by Donna Barne & Florina Pirlea| www.worldbank.org.
The money workers send home to their families from abroad has become a critical part of many economies around the world. Based on the most recent data, remittances, as this money is called, will only grow in importance. Officially recorded remittances amounted to a record $529 billion in 2018, and are on track to reach $550 billion in 2019.
This money is flowing at about the same levels as foreign direct investment (FDI), but if China is excluded, they are the largest source of foreign exchange earnings in low- and middle-income countries, according to Migration and Remittances Brief 31, published by the World Bank Group and KNOMAD, the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development. In other words, if China is excluded from the analysis, remittances have already overtaken FDI as the biggest source of external financing.
Mashreq 2.0: Boosting growth & creating jobs through digital transformation
The force of digitalization is driving the global economy, creating distinct groups of 
leaders and laggards. Through institutional reform that leverages the advantages of digitalization, the Mashreq can become a vital hub in international data networks. Furthermore, digital transformation can assuage pressing challenges. It can deliver higher transparency, accelerate lackluster productivity and increase economic opportunities for all, especially the youth of this region. A new report, Mashreq 2.0, charts the roadmap for the region to capitalize on this rapidly emerging opportunity, and assesses the prospect of a digitally integrated regional market.
eC2: Training for e-commerce and export advisors in Lebanon, Djibouti, and Tunisia
Deadline: 17-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
This assignment specifically focuses on increasing women-led SMEs access to domestic 
and export markets through e-commerce, and to increase their sales from e-commerce in Lebanon.
There are two main sub-activities envisaged: (1) scoping and market analysis to understand where are the key challenges and constraints to e-commerce for womens SMEs; and (2) develop and deliver a package of support services to women-led SMEs, in partnership with local stakeholders, that will increase sales, markets and profits via e-commerce.
eC2: Assessment of economic circularity options in the plastics sector in Nigeria
Deadline: 17-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
The objectives of the market assessment are to understand the plastics sector in Nigeria, 
as well as scope out opportunities for impactful private sector interventions structured around circular supply chain for plastics. The assessment will specifically focus on the food & beverage and textile/garment value chains and associated packaging activities in Nigeria. It will look into overall market size for applicable types of plastics, current practices for the use of plastics material, as well as recycling, reuse and disposal practices. The study will scope out value chain players and opportunities to increase the circularity linkages, including through offset of the virgin raw materials.
High-Performance Health-Financing for Universal Health Coverage: Driving Sustainable, Inclusive Growth in the 21st Century
Just over a decade out from the SDG deadline of 2030, many developing countries are not
on track to meet Universal Health Coverage (UHC) targets to ensure access to quality, affordable health services to all. People in developing countries pay over half a trillion dollars annually out-of-pocket for health services, which is pushing about 100 million people into extreme poverty each year. The evidence is strong that progress towards UHC would spur not just better health but also inclusive and sustainable economic growth, yet this report estimates that in 2030 there will be a UHC financing gap of $176 billion in the 54 poorest countries. This threatens decades-long progress on health, endangers countries’ long-term economic prospects, and makes them more vulnerable to pandemic risks. This report, launched to inform the first-ever G20 Finance and Health Ministers session in Osaka, Japan in June 2019, lays out an action agenda for countries and development partners to bridge the UHC financing gap, and makes a strong case for a focus on innovation in health financing over the next decade.
Download Full report and Executive summary
Fighting climate change by planting trees in the sea
I started reading about the Aral Sea disaster in 1989 ahead of my first visit, as a student 
and tourist, to Uzbekistan, then still a Soviet republic. In Karakalpakstan, the autonomous republic in current-day Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea has all but disappeared. Where fishing communities once thrived, all that remains is a scarred, desert landscape. Rusted ships are perched precariously on piles of sand and salt, along with a potent, unhealthy mix of toxic pollutants from industrial agriculture.
Why measuring poverty impacts is more difficult than simply using score cards
Ending poverty is not only one of the twin goals of the World Bank, but also one of the 
Sustainable Development Goals. To design and optimize projects for poverty reduction, we need to measure their impact on poverty. This is quite difficult because changes in the poverty rate might take some time, and it is usually hard to attribute the impact to a particular project, especially without conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT). But even if we manage to overcome these challenges, we need to measure poverty before the start of the project – as a baseline and to understand whether the project adequately targets the poor – and at the end of the project to assess its impact. And that is also not easy.
Lifelines for Better Development
STORY HIGHLIGHTS 
- Resilient infrastructure is about people. Particularly in developing countries, infrastructure disruptions are an everyday concern that affects people’s well-being, economic prospects, and quality of life.
- There is a significant economic opportunity from investing in resilient infrastructure: the overall net benefit of doing so in developing countries would be $4.2 trillion over the lifetime of new infrastructure.
- For infrastructure investors, governments, development banks and the private sector the message is clear: rather than just spending more, also spend better
Save the Date:Climate-Smart Energy Solutions Business Opportunities Fair
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Netherlands for the World Bank 
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