Enhancing the Capabilities of Central Finance Agencies: Synthesis Report presents the findings of a study of the functions performed by CFAs, defined as government organizations that carry out financial management functions for the whole of government. Using a political economy approach to the analysis of CFAs in ten case studies of low-income countries, the report identifies the principal constraints on the capability of CFAs as: interventions by the head of the state, sometimes outside the provisions of the constitution and budget law, in executive decisions on the institutional...

Interest in biofuels began with oil shocks in the 1970 s, but the more rapid development and consumption of biofuel industry in recent years has been primarily driven by mandates, subsidies, climate change concerns, emissions targets and energy security.From 2004 to 2006, fuel ethanol grew by 26% and biodiesel grew by 172%. As biofuel production continues to expand, investments in capacity expansion and research and development have been made. The 2008 food crisis emphasized the need to re-examine biofuel consequences. Biofuels remain an important renewable energy resource to substitute for...

In the last 30 years, China s record economic growth lifted half a billion people out of poverty, with rapid urbanization providing abundant labor, cheap land, and good infrastructure. While China has avoided some of the common ills of urbanization, strains are showing as inefficient land development leads to urban sprawl and ghost towns, pollution threatens people s health, and farmland and water resources are becoming scarce. With China s urban population projected to rise to about one billion or close to 70 percent of the country s population by 2030, China s leaders are seeking a more...

The World Bank Group has remained an important partner for the government of Brazil in addressing many key policy challenges. The World Bank adapted its program effectively to meet shifting country needs, which moved to subnational government support in the mid-2000s. The overall outcome of the Bank Group program is rated as moderately satisfactory, with some important variability across themes. The Bank Group made significant contributions when it served as an advisor, providing analytical input and exchanging views on relevant policy issues. Advisory support for structuring public-private...

Fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) have become an important focus of World Bank Group assistance in recent years as recognition of the linkages between fragility, conflict, violence, and poverty has grown. Addressing issues of recurring conflict and political violence and helping build legitimate and accountable state institutions are central to the Bank Group's poverty reduction mission. This evaluation assesses the relevance and effectiveness of World Bank Group country strategies and assistance programs to FCS. The operationalization of the World Development Report 2011: Conflict,...

Republic of Iraq Public Expenditure Review: Toward More Efficient Spending for Better Service Delivery provides an integrated perspective on how Iraq needs to provide better public service delivery while maintaining macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline. These goals exist amid a challenging context of revenue volatility, the need to diversify the economy, weak accountability mechanisms, and residual conflict. Reflecting these challenges, key socioeconomic developmental indicators are stalled or are even declining despite rapid growth in public spending. Growth in spending has not been...

The science is unequivocal: stabilizing climate change implies bringing net carbon emissions to zero. This must be done by 2100 if we are to keep climate change anywhere near the 2oC warming that world leaders have set as the maximum acceptable limit. Decarbonizing Development: Three Steps to a Zero-Carbon Future looks at what it would take to decarbonize the world economy by 2100 in a way that is compatible with countries' broader development goals. Here is what needs to be done: -Act early with an eye on the end-goal. To best achieve a given reduction in emissions in 2030 depends on whether...

Somaliland's Private Sector at a Crossroads is the World Bank Group's first effort to undertake a consultative in-depth analysis of the private and financial sector in Somaliland in at least a generation. The objective of the report is to take stock of what has been achieved since the 1999 constitution was approved, provide an assessment of the current evolution of the private sector, and identify some priority policy options and related actions that would best enable the private sector to generate the growth and jobs sought under the Somaliland National Development Plan. The report is...

Over the last decade, a policy revolution has been underway in the developing and emerging world. Country after country is systematically providing non-contributory transfers to poor and vulnerable people, in order to protect them against economic shocks and to enable them to invest in themselves and their children. Social safety nets or social transfers, as these are called, have spread rapidly from their early prominence in the middle-income countries of Latin America and Europe increasingly to nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East - and today, over 130 developing countries have made...

Since the 2011 uprising that toppled the former regime, Libya has been mired in deep political strife. An economy in which agriculture once flourished was converted wholesale to an oil-based rentier state of the most extreme kind. Following the immediate post-revolution oil-consumption boom, in 2014 Libya's economy is in recession. Security is the greatest challenge to stability (World Bank 2014). Today, limited opportunities exist for reintegrating youth and ex-combatants into the labor market. This policy note provides an initial assessment of Libya's labor market and discusses policy...