Total public debt stands at an alarming 50-year high in low- and middle-income economies,
the equivalent of more than 200 percent of government revenues.
Tag Archives: Transparency
Tracking government debt is hard. Banishing secrecy clauses would make it far easier.
With a few taps on a smartphone, I can check the weather, send messages to friends
around the world, review my bank account, or even order food. But even in our hyper-connected, data-driven world, it’s exceedingly difficult to pin down government debt – even for researchers with advanced skills and access to big databases. And that’s not for lack of trying.
Such was the case in 2016, when the revelation of previously undisclosed debt derailed Mozambique’s development agenda, tainted its reputation as a growth and investment star, and sent its financial sector into crisis. More recently, Chad and Zambia’s debt restructuring negotiations were delayed when their respective debt offices couldn’t produce current and complete records of what was owed (and to whom).
Reversing the Inequality Pandemic: Speech by World Bank Group President David Malpass
World Bank Group President David Malpass: Speech at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
You can watch the replay of the event here
Introduction
Thank you, Jens. And thanks to Frankfurt School and the Bundesbank for hosting me virtually. I look forward to engaging with you and taking questions from students, who will be future business leaders in a post-COVID world. I’m here to set the stage ahead of the IMF and World Bank Group’s Annual Meetings, which will focus primarily on COVID and debt, and will also engage partners in urgent discussions on human capital, climate change, and digital development.
Working in partnership is key to fighting corruption
From massive theft of state assets to the low-level corruption that erodes productivity and weakens service delivery, corruption steals from the poor and erodes progress.
Legislating gender equality in the workplace through pay transparency
Author: Kathleen Beegle ;Lead Economist with the World Bank Gender Group
A number of recent posts on Development Impact have focused on gaps in labor market outcomes for men and women. This includes some posts in the job market series in late 2019 and, in 2020, a look at the ‘dismal statistic’ on female-to-male labor force participation rates in India and Pakistan, changing the way women think about themselves and what they can do as a means to closing gaps, and a summary of the World Bank’s Research Group recruitment. The latter was underpinned by goal setting in the shortlisting process with respect to between men and women applicants. Fun fact: such quota setting with respect to the composition of candidates to interview is known in the U.S. as the Rooney Rule — established by the U.S. National Football League in 2003 and named after the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers (and intended not in regards to women hires but with regards to ethnic-minority candidates in coaching and senior league jobs, though it is now used more generally in the private sector).
To balance debt and development, transparency and purpose are key
Unsustainable debt. Debt distress. Debt trap. These dire terms are once again back in the
headlines, just a decade after the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.
In the past five years alone, public debt in the poorest countries has increased from 36 percent of GDP to 51 percent of GDP. In addition, debt-service ratios in some countries are rising at an alarming pace, threatening countries’ ability to invest in much-needed infrastructure, education, health and many other needs crucial for lifting their citizens out of poverty and achieving the international community’s Sustainable Development Goals by their 2030 deadline.
World Bank Group Finances Mobile App
Transparency and accountability are essential to the development process at the World Bank Group and central to achieving the bank’s mission to alleviate poverty. The mobile app complements the World Bank Group Finances website.
With this app, you can:
- Access the World Bank Group’s development activities in one of nine languages (Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish) from any place in the world.
- Locate and follow the projects in your country of interest financed by the Bank, including the major awarded contracts.
- Check the disbursements data, updated monthly, and the contributions to Trust Funds.
- Get updates on pending projects in the pipeline, as well as latest approved projects.
- Receive procurement/tender notices and follow business opportunities in more than 100 countries.
- Engage with the Bank by sharing, following its projects and investments, or reporting back.
From ‘Aid to Trade’ agenda in Kenya: an embassy perspective (in Dutch)
This blog was published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website for entrepreneurs in developing countries (www.ondernemeninontwikkelingslanden.nl) on July 28, 2015 and written by First Secretary Robert van der Hum of the Netherlands embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Almost summer vacation, almost a year that I have 
lived – with family – and worked in Kenya. A beautiful country to live in, also exciting and adventurous. And certainly very dynamic to work in Kenya: the developments occur rapidly and there is so much to do! A good moment to look back on a first year of working on the ‘Aid to Trade’ agenda, at the economic department of the embassy in Nairobi. -Remainder of article in Dutch-
Netherlands for the World Bank 
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