Heading into COP28, the World Bank Group’s vision for a livable planet supported by climate-resilient infrastructure takes on urgency. PPPs accelerate sustainable infrastructure by allowing…

Emmanuel Nyirinkindi |

The impact of tropical cyclone Seroja impact on health services highlights a significant and ongoing challenge. How can Timor-Leste’s health system be strengthened so vital services are…

Bernard Harborne, Gregor Engelmann |

The Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens the uneven recovery of East Asia and Pacific. The invasion comes on top of the economic distress caused by the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, the financial…

Aaditya Mattoo, Ekaterine T. Vashakmadze, Ergys Islamaj |

It takes a lot to do a first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) well. In the past 12 months, we witnessed the successful financial close of two landmark PPPs: the Tibar Bay Port PPP—a first for…

Jemima Sy |

As recently as 2006, Timor-Leste was in crisis. Only a few years into independence, the country was torn by riots and political turmoil. Not surprisingly, its business climate was one of the…

Christopher Bleakley |

Nearly 50 years ago, books such as Asian Drama: An Inquiry Into The Poverty Of Nations, by the Swedish economist and Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal, offered a dire prediction of famine and poverty…

Axel van Trotsenburg |

In the last three decades, East Asia has reaped the demographic dividend. An abundant and growing labor force powered almost one-third of the region’s per capita income growth from the 1960s to…

Axel van Trotsenburg |

Also available in: Français | العربية   A boat trip from Port Elizabeth to Kingstown, in the Caribbean country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, is a one-hour trip that locals take several…

Valerie Lorena |

Photo: UN Photo/Bernardino Suares In late 2011, as part of our Institutions Taking Root (ITR) series, my colleagues and I visited some of the most remote villages in Timor-Leste to seek feedback…

Catherine Anderson |

In PDF: Korean | Khmer Every time I learn of another natural disaster – the people killed and injured, homes destroyed, livelihoods lost – I know we must act to reduce the tragic impact instead of…

Axel van Trotsenburg |