State-owned financial institutions (SOFIs) are often associated with poor corporate governance, political interference, crowding out of private sector resources, higher non-performing loans (NPLs…

Gunhild Berg, Mario Guadamillas |

An instructor at the Savar EPZ training center in Dhaka, Bangladesh, helps young women being trained to make shirts. Photo Credit: © Dominic Chavez/The World Bank Increasing economic prosperity…

Anabel Gonzalez |

Global competition to attract foreign and domestic direct investment is so high that nearly all countries offer incentives (such as tax holidays, customs duty exemptions and subsidized loans) to…

Harald Jedlicka, Yassin Sabha |

Sometimes, the drive comes from the senior echelons of government – a reform-minded government leader, an important minister or an agency head. At times, there is pressure from donors. Often, the…

Syed Akhtar Mahmood, Syed Estem Dadul Islam |

Also available in: Arabic | French National Bank of Abu Dhabi, UAE. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Gulf banking markets may have entered an important phase of consolidation, with the potential to…

Pietro Calice |

Value addition through manufacturing has been a major focus of economic policymakers across the world, and at times with remarkable success, most famously in East Asia. Initial ‘Asian miracles’ in…

Aref Adamali |

The spectacular recovery of a long-missing painting by Pablo Picasso – a canvas that had been stolen more than a decade ago, in a daring museum theft in Paris – offers a vivid reminder of the…

Christopher Colford |

  You’d probably be skeptical if I told you that the Western Balkans – a region that has long suffered from social and ethnic fragmentation – now has a strong opportunity to boost shared…

Paulo Correa |

"Project Greenback 2.0 – Remittance Champion Cities" was launched on October 29 in Turin, Italy. A team from the World Bank's service line on Financial Infrastructure, hosting the…

Massimo Cirasino, Marco Nicoli |

I pay through the nose for health insurance for my family, and I’m not happy about it. As a U.S. citizen, I don’t have the luxury of government-backed healthcare. Since I’m technically self-…

David Lawrence |