As we marked World Poverty Day on October 17th, a blog published recently by World Bank staff highlights that poverty has finally receded to pre-COVID pandemic levels, which in essence means we…

Nadir Mohammed, Laura Moreno Herrera, Salman Zaidi |

The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) is the largest and most effective platform for fighting extreme poverty in the world’s lowest-income countries. As new IDA donors,…

Antonella Bassani, Akihiko Nishio |

As we keep hearing the term “inflation” in the news every day, it’s worth revisiting what that really means for MENA countries. Here are four policies that tackle high inflation and low growth…

Nadir Mohammed, Kevin Carey, Johannes Hoogeveen, Gladys Lopez-Acevedo |

Although life expectancy has risen to 75 years over the past three decades, Armenians are not generally healthier today. Compared to countries with similar socio-demographic profiles, Armenia has…

Christina Meyer |

The COVID-19 pandemic created a huge crisis, but also an opportunity for MENA countries to build more adaptive, resilient, inclusive social protection systems. There are many lessons to draw from…

Ferid Belhaj |

The Middle East and North African countries cannot wait until the end of the pandemic to begin rebuilding the post-COVID region.

Ferid Belhaj, Nadir Mohammed |

We know that fiscal policy can be harnessed to reduce inequality in low- and middle-income countries, but until now, we knew less about its ability to reduce poverty. Our recent volume looks at…

Gabriela Inchauste, Nora Lustig |

About this series More blog posts The social inclusion of disadvantaged groups is necessary for reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity, said government representatives, experts, and civil…

Lauri Sivonen |

"We’re the nation that just had six of our scientists and researchers win Nobel Prizes—and every one of them was an immigrant, " U.S. President Barack Obama recently said after the Nobel…

Bassam Sebti |