Slovakia has one of the highest regional economic disparities among the European Union (EU) countries. Narrowing these gaps is essential for the country's economic growth.

Ellen Hamilton, Vladimír Benč, Grzegorz Aleksander Wolszczak, Dinara Muldabayeva |

Kazakhstani banks aren’t moving decisively enough to greener lending—lending that supports environmentally friendly activities. Part two of our blog series - Banking the transition to net zero…

Ismael Ahmad Fontan, Ganbaatar Jambal, Martin Melecky |

Digital public infrastructure can enable essential society-wide functions and services such as identification, payments, and data exchange.

Vyjayanti T Desai, Jonathan Marskell, Georgina Marin, Minita Varghese |

Countries across Europe and Central Asia should not forget about the long-lasting impacts that COVID-19 and new crises are having on human capital, and must learn the lessons from the pandemic to…

Anna Bjerde |

Private sector-led development can act as a complimentary force supporting long-term, sustainable economic growth. Private sector development (PSD) can not only help reverse the economic impact of…

Tania Ghossein, Ahmed Nauraiz Rana |

While infrastructure has been perceived as gender-neutral, it can be deeply exclusionary if masculine sensibilities solely determine the design. How can private investors incentivize gender…

Luciana Guimaraes Drummond e Silva |

Globally, women earn about 80% of what men earn on average. But the gap is larger in Central Asia: working women earn about 60% of what men earn in Tajikistan, 61% in Uzbekistan, 75% in the Kyrgyz…

Tatiana Proskuryakova, William Seitz |

The Western Balkan countries need to remain vigilant about the impact of climate change on their financial sectors by prioritizing green taxonomies, promoting prudential management of climate and…

Jane Hwang, Ismael Ahmad Fontan, Alper Oguz, Vahe Vardanyan |

A year has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine causing widespread devastation and suffering in the country and rattling the world economy. As a result of the invasion, 8 million more Ukrainians…

Anna Bjerde |

The gender gap in Serbia’s labor force participation is smaller than the average for upper middle-income countries—yet women still only occupy about one-third of senior and middle manager…

Jelena Lukic, Maria Manuela Faria |