From 2004 to 2012, Zambia experienced a
combination of good economic policies and high rates of
growth not seen since the early years after its
independence. While growth was mainly driven by rising
copper prices, other factors contributed to Zambia’s ability
to take advantage of this growth. The international debt
relief programs in 2004-2005 almost eliminated public debt
and provided the fiscal space for selective, high-priority

This report provides a short summary of
the recent history of the seed industry. Although the
informal seed system still accounts for an estimated 85
percent of planted seed, the formal sector has been
transformed in 20 years from control by a monopoly
parastatal to competition among 23 registered companies,
with at least 5 or 6 being serious players. Significantly,
the relief seed industry that dominated and distorted the

Bolivia’s distinct characteristics and
aspirations are a key for understanding its development
trajectory. Bolivia is one of the countries with the highest
share of indigenous population, representing a tapestry of
different groups with different historical, cultural and
economic features, with a significant influence in policy
decision making. The country is landlocked and one of the
most sparsely populated in the world. As a result, long

Cities exist, grow, and prosper because
they take advantage of scale economies and specialization
wrought by agglomeration. But output growth inevitably
stresses transport infrastructure because production
requires space and mobility. To prevent congestion from
crowding out agglomeration benefits and to expand the supply
of urban land, cities must invest in transport
infrastructure. Building more infrastructures, especially

From 2005 to 2013, a mining boom quickly
promoted Mongolia from a low-income to a middle-income
country. Although the World Bank Group strategy initially
overlooked the challenge of the mining boom, the new country
management team that came on board in 2005 decided to
prioritize mining issues in a more selective framework. This
involved taking a set of bold steps to support Bank Group
engagement in the extractive industry, including basing for

Real gross domestic product (GDP)
expanded by 6.7 percent in 2013, a modest deceleration from
the 7 percent recorded in the previous year, but well above
the average 4.9 percent rate of growth recorded over the
last ten years. The economy benefited from strong growth in
the agriculture (rebounding from last year's drought),
mining and services sectors, which largely offset weaker
activity in fishing activity. A continuation of these

As the result of past investments in gas
and mining sectors and high world commodity prices, the
Bolivian economy grew considerably during the last seven
years. Prudent macroeconomic policies and high taxes on
hydrocarbon revenues led to a significant accumulation of
fiscal surplus and external reserves. Under a state-led
development model, the government led by President Morales
pursued redistributive policies and invested heavily in road

Georgia: Seizing the Opportunity to
Prosper suggests a path towards sustainable and shared
growth. Georgia s story is associated with three stylized
facts: high growth with persistent unemployment currently at
nearly 15 percent after 10 years of annual growth that
averaged above 5.5 percent; a doing business rank of 8 out
of 189 countries achieved without recovery to 1990 levels of
per capita income suggesting a relatively difficult

In this issue: Facilitating labor
migration from the Philippines; Incentives and teacher
effort; Electoral accountability and local public spending
in Indonesia; Why don't poor countries do R&D?; How
effective are efforts to raise voluntary enrollment in
health insurance?; How insecure property rights affect
migration in China; the challenges of public service
delivery in the Pacific Islands.

This report provides an overview of the
World Bank Group’s engagement in the Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region, highlighting the new operating model
of the World Bank Group. In particular, the report provides
insight on the key challenges and strategic engagement of
each sector (Global Practice) in MENA and details some of
the key cross-cutting challenges that countries face. This
report serves as a basis to convene international thought

This assessment of Moldova current state
of compliance with the Basel core principles for effective
banking supervision (BCPs) was undertaken as part of a joint
International Monetary Fund (IMF) - World Bank mission in
connection with a broader financial sector assessment
program exercise. This version of the assessment has a
greater focus on risk management policies and practices
implemented by supervised institutions and their assessment

This report by the Independent
Evaluation Group (IEG) summarizes the experiences of and
draws lessons from the country program evaluations of four
natural resource-rich countries: the Plurinational State of
Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Zambia. It concludes that
although the challenges identified in these countries are
not unique, they manifest themselves with particular
intensity in three closely interrelated areas that need to