While MENA has made strides in improving women and girls’ health, much more needs to be done. Understanding the impact of conflict on women and girls is critical for designing both preventive…

Fadia Saadah, Sameera Al Tuwaijri |

Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced low economic growth per capita, a very slow decline in poverty incidence, and the number of people living in extreme poverty has been rising steadily. As a…

Johannes Hoogeveen, Johan A. Mistiaen, Haoyu Wu |

Climate change effects are on the radar of central banks, financial regulators, and supervisors. Climate-related and environmental risks can affect financial stability, but they also provide new…

Irina Asktrakhan, Andrius Skarnulis |

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 |

Across the MENA region, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) play a major role in countries’ economies and in the delivery of essential services to the public. As a result of a comprehensive desk review…

Nazaneen Ismail Ali, Jocelyne Jabbour, Simeon Sahaydachny |

Most workers in developing countries are in informal employment-- that is, a job that does not come with social security benefits and leaving them with limited means to manage risks to their…

Nadir Mohammed, Roberta Gatti, Marco Ranzani, Gladys Lopez-Acevedo, Nistha Sinha, Adam Elsheikhi |

Firms play an important role in the impact of payroll taxes on their workers and different firms respond differently to payroll tax cuts. Findings suggest that governments need to consider the…

Anikó Bíró, Réka Branyiczki, Attila Lindner, Lili Márk, Daniel Prinz |

In 2021, the World Food Programme’s Impact Evaluation Unit teamed up with WFP’s School-Based Programme division and the World Bank’s Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) department to launch the…

Roshni Khincha, Florence Kondylis, Simone Lombardini, Astrid Zwager, Jonas Heirman |

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 |