Cash transfers can effectively mitigate the impacts of energy subsidy reforms on vulnerable households. Our report explores successful experiences from various countries, providing insights into…

Anit Mukherjee, Defne Gencer, Mohamed Almenfi, Ugo Gentilini, Yuko Okamura |

One year since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of education became the main predictor of joblessness in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda. These four countries represent 34% of…

Ivette Maria Contreras-González, Gbemisola Oseni, Amparo Palacios-Lopez, Janneke Pieters, Michael Weber |

The Government of Malawi initiated the Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Scaling (FInES) project, with a $86 million credit from the International Development Association. Through this…

Efrem Chilima |

This working paper provides new, cross-country, nationally-representative insights regarding land rights among men and women in Sub-Saharan Africa, where inequalities in land ownership often go…

Ardina Hasanbasri, Talip Kilic, Gayatri Koolwal, Heather Moylan |

View from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / World Bank Published in digital portal El Dinero In the past, a company in the Dominican Republic facing financial difficulties, such as falling…

Andrés F. Martínez, Annabel González |

In the Africa Chief Economist’s Office, we seek to generate knowledge on key development issues around the continent. We also host the Gender Innovation Lab, which – as the name suggests –…

David Evans |

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 |

Aracelis owns a hair salon in Santo Domingo. Like all the other owners of the nearly 20, 000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Dominican Republic, she dreams about making her…

John Martin Wilson, Annabel González |

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 |

Across developing countries, only 63 percent of adults have a bank account, according to our friends over at the Findex.  And we’ve seen a couple of papers with targeted populations that suggest…

Markus Goldstein |