As public and private financial institutions innovate and expand the range of financ
ial products that households and firms use, questions about how these services are affecting consumers, providers, and the economy as a whole have become central. A new policy brief by Abraham, Schmukler, and Tessada explores how evaluating the “additionality” of financial services can help answer such questions.
Tag Archives: World Bank Group
Remarks from World Bank Group President David Malpass at the G20 Leaders Summit, Osaka, Japan
Thank you, Prime Minister Abe, for being such a gracious host. 
It is a great pleasure to be here during the new era of Reiwa, “Beautiful Harmony.” And it’s a true pleasure that the World Bank and Japan have maintained harmony since the early 1960s, notably when the World Bank made a loan to help fund the construction of the bullet train ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. I’ll ride that train tonight as I go to Tokyo. The bullet train and Japan’s many other advances enhanced connectivity and helped lead to Japan’s fast growth and its successful graduation from World Bank lending soon after the Olympics in 1966.
Healthy people drive strong economies
Dieynaba Nioula Kane remembers vividly when, for the first time in her life, she was 
forced to ask friends and family for money. It was out of desperation after the birth of her fifth child, a little boy with a life-threatening condition that needed specialist treatment in the capital. Dieynaba was forced to leave her job teaching French and hurriedly relocate to Dakar, where she was able to find the health services he needed.
forced to ask friends and family for money. It was out of desperation after the birth of her fifth child, a little boy with a life-threatening condition that needed specialist treatment in the capital. Dieynaba was forced to leave her job teaching French and hurriedly relocate to Dakar, where she was able to find the health services he needed.But the expenses quickly piled up. Hospital bills, a tracheostomy, medicines, dressings, fees for nurses and doctors, plus the cost of food and transportation to and from the hospital. As she took a break from paid employment for four years to focus on her son’s health her family’s economic conditions deteriorated. It took the family years to recover.
eC2: Logistics Market and Business Analysis in Indonesia
Deadline: 16-Jul-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)
Assignment of developing:
A) A market overview of the logistics sector in Indonesia (traditional plus e-logistics) including a demand-supply analysis now and in the next 5 years.
B) A market share estimation for the Platform with estimated revenues, which necessarily includes an estimation of fares and Average Order Value (AOV) evolution.
C) An overall assessment of the Platform business plan, including growth assumptions, estimated necessary resources, Capex and Opex to achieve the objectives, like facilities, fleet, human resources and systems.
Save the Date: Climate-Smart Energy Solutions Business Opportunities Fair
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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.
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.
Netherlands for the World Bank 
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