Maldives is an island nation scattered
in the Indian Ocean comprising 1,190 small coral islands of
which 190 are inhabited by a local population of 341,000.
Maldives’ unique archipelagic coral island provides the
country with an extremely rich and diverse marine ecological
system. With more territorial sea than land, marine
resources have played a vital role shaping the contours of
economic development, with nature-based tourism being the

This paper is one of a series aimed at
deepening the World Bank’s capacity to follow through on
commitments made in response to the World Development Report
(WDR) 2011, which gave renewed prominence to the nexus
between conflict, security, and development. Nigeria is a
remarkable illustration of how deeply intractable the cycle
of poverty, conflict, and fragility can become when tied to
the ferocious battles associated with the political economy

Since the industrial revolution, the
economic development of Western Europe and North America was
characterized by continuous urbanization accompanied by a
gradual phasing-in of urban land property rights over time.
Today, however, the evidence in many fast urbanizing
low-income countries points towards a different trend of
“urbanization without formalization”, with potentially
adverse effects on long-term economic growth. This paper

The Philippines is among the strongest performers in the region, bucking the trend. In the first half (H1) of 2015, among the major economies in the region, the only countries to accelerate their quarterly growth rates were the Philippines, from 5 to 5.6 percent, and Vietnam. In spite of this acceleration, for the two quarters combined, Philippine growth rate came out at 5.3 percent—its lowest half year growth rate since 2011. On the demand side, the strong performance of private domestic demand at 8.1 percent, supported by record low inflation and robust remittances, drove GDP growth.

This Country Partnership Framework (CPF)
is designed to support the forthcoming Chad Five-Year
Development Plan (2016-2020). It succeeds the Interim
Strategy agreed with the Government of Chad in March 2010.
The Interim Strategy Note (ISN) set out the World Bank
Group’s (WBG’s) support to Chad for the period 2010-2012.
The strategy was composed of three main pillars:
strengthening governance; improving livelihoods and access

This Country Partnership Framework (CPF)
presents the World Bank Group (WBG) program for Côte
d’Ivoire (CIV) during the period FY16-FY19. The CPF comes at
an opportune moment to accelerate and scale up the WBG
engagement. The program will take advantage of CIV’s current
climate of renewed stability to modernize the economy and
eliminate long-standing disparities aggravated by a decade
of multifaceted crisis, during which the World Bank Group

Between 2002 and 2012-13, most of the
reduction in poverty was due to increased earnings, as
opposed to higher employment or higher transfers. Although
it is hard to be certain, increases in earnings are
associated with: (i) a slow structural transformation away
from agriculture and into industry and services that led to
productivity increases; (ii) agglomeration around key urban
areas that supported this structural transformation; (iii)

Prior to the political and security
crisis of 2012, Mali, a large landlocked country in West
Africa already ranked among the poorest countries in the
world. In early 2012, the vast northern regions fell under
the control of extremist forces, while a coup d’état in
Bamako threw the country into political instability and
turmoil. A strong international military response in early
2013 prevented further destabilization, though part of the

Central America is undergoing an
important transition, with urban populations increasingat
accelerated speeds, bringing pressing challenges as well as
opportunities to boost sustained,inclusive and resilient
growth. Today, 59 percent of Central America's
population lives in urban areas, but it is expected that
within the next generation 7 out of 10 people will live in
cities, equivalent to adding 700,000 new urban residents

The new Country Partnership Framework
(CPF or framework) presents the engagement of the World Bank
Group (WBG) in Sri Lanka over the next four years (fiscal
years 2017-20 (FY17–20)). The CPF aims to support the
achievement of some of the government’s medium-term goals in
areas that are critical for reducing extreme poverty and
promoting shared prosperity, and that are consistent with
the WBG’s comparative advantage. Notably, the CPF provides

Bulgaria experienced strong economic
growth prior to and shortly after joining the European Union
(EU) in 2007. Under the better regulation program, the
government adopted over 100 measures to reduce the
regulatory and administrative burden, but no formal
mechanism was introduced to regularly monitor and review its
implementation at the national or municipal level. Some
areas, in which entrepreneurs expected to see improved

In July 2013, the World Bank Group
launched its Strategy, outlining how it will partner more
effectively with clients to help them achieve the ambitious
goals of eradicating extreme poverty and boosting shared
prosperity through economic growth, inclusion,
sustainability and resilience. In April 2014, the World Bank
Group Corporate Scorecard was launched for the first time
and the World Bank Scorecard revised to monitor the