Foreign direct investment (FDI)—an important source of external financing for emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs)—has weakened since the global financial crisis, heightening the challenges of filling vast infrastructure gaps, reducing poverty, creating new jobs, and addressing climate change. This study provides a broad perspective on the evolution of FDI inflows to EMDEs since 2000, including patterns across regions and changes in sectoral composition.
Continue readingTag Archives: Business
Jobs: The Most Effective Pathway Out of Poverty
More than just a source of income, jobs provide dignity and purpose. Giving people the means to support themselves and their families can help lift entire communities out of poverty and foster economic stability.
Continue readingJobs: The Surest Path out of Poverty
At the World Bank Group, creating more and better jobs has long been central to our mission, and we will prioritize job creation as an explicit aim of everything we do.
Continue readingHeads of State Commit to Concrete Plans to Transform Africa’s Energy Sector, with Strong Backing from Global Partners
DAR ES SALAAM, January 28, 2025 — Thirty African Heads of State and governments today committed to concrete reforms and actions to expand access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity to power economic growth, improve quality of life, and drive job creation across the continent.
Continue readingPower for progress: a call from African leaders and partners to electrify Africa
For many of us, the simple act of flipping a switch to light up our homes or power our devices are taken for granted. Electricity fuels modern progress—it powers hospitals and schools, enables businesses, and connects us to the world.
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Event | Business Ready 2024 – New Data for a Dynamic Private Sector | World Bank Live

Event | Business Ready 2024 – New Data for a Dynamic Private Sector | World Bank Live
In developing economies, the private sector generates 90% of jobs, 75% of investment, and over 70% of output. A well-functioning and well-regulated private sector is essential to accelerating economic growth, boosting productivity, and reducing carbon emissions. Yet, as the world grapples with the slowest growth rate in three decades, this engine of growth struggles to regain its footing.
The World Bank’s Business Ready 2024 (B-READY) report assesses the business environment across the globe. Improving upon the Doing Business report, B-READY offers more comprehensive data and analysis that can guide policy reforms and foster private sector development that benefit firms, workers, markets, and society as a whole.
Join the conversation with #BusinessReady
Women, Business and the Law 2024: Breaking Down Barriers to Achieve Gender Equality
Women, Business and the Law 2022
Women, Business and the Law 2022 is the eighth in a series of annual studies measuring
the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. The project presents eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they move through their careers: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension. Amid a global pandemic that threatens progress toward gender equality, ‘Women, Business and the Law 2022’ identifies barriers to women’s economic participation and encourages reform of discriminatory laws. This year, the study also includes pilot research related to childcare and implementation of the law. By examining the economic decisions women make throughout their working lives, as well as the pace of reform over the past 50 years, Women, Business and the Law makes an important contribution to research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic empowerment. The indicators build evidence of the critical relationship between legal gender equality and women’s employment and entrepreneurship. Data in ‘Women, Business and the Law 2022’ are current as of October 1, 2021.
Coming out of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Doing business with the International Financial Institutions (IFI’s) / Multilateral Development Banks (MDB’s)
After a bit of a break we are excited to share this latest Newsletter with you and reintroduce
ourselves!
We hope all of you got through the COVID-19 pandemic safely and well. Although, life is getting back to (the new) normal, travel is still somewhat difficult and many offices are not fully open yet.
The World Bank Group Headquarters is currently at 50% capacity and slowly opening up to visitors again, the recent Spring Meetings were still held in a hybrid format. Nonetheless, business must go on albeit via email/Zoom/Teams etc.
World Bank Group Trust Funds and other Financial Instruments
In fiscal year 2021 The World Bank Group (WBG) disbursed about $3.6 billion dollars of
Trust Fund contributions through development partners, IBRD, IDA and the IFC. Trust fund resources complement World Bank operations, expanding their scope and reach and supporting their quality. They promote increased development effectiveness and enable the World Bank to provide assistance when its ability to lend is limited, including in fragile and emergency situations, and for countries in arrears and to non-member countries. Trust Funds also contribute to the World Bank’s knowledge agenda by financing close to two-thirds of its advisory services and analytics products as well as technical advisory services for clients. Trust Funds attract new sources of finance and promote innovative financial solutions in support of the global public goods agenda, including combating climate change and addressing the challenges of fragility, conflict, violence, forced displacement and pandemics.




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