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The housing finance market in Mali remains small and under developed. Few banks currently offer a full mortgage product with Banque Malienne de Solidarite, Mali Housing Bank (BHM), Bank of Africa, and EcoBank being the main lenders although at minimal levels. The total annual housing need in Mali based on the household formation rate amounts to 82,500, split between 51,100 urban units and 31,400 rural units. Overall some social housing is constructed and support is provided by the state for low income housing through the Office Malienne de l’Habitat (OMH), but the numbers remain small. The Malien authorities have been working to strengthen financial sector stability which includes measures to stabilize the BHM and put it in a position where it begins to fulfill its mandate of providing credit for the housing sector. A strategy was approved by the council of Minister for a strategic disengagement by the state from the share capital of BHM. Initially the agreed plan was for BHM to be privatized. Overall progress in delivery of affordable housing will require a concerted effort among all stakeholders both in public and private sector. This should be supported through establishment of stakeholder coordination group to oversee change across the housing value chain.

This report is a synthesis of fieldwork findings and recommendations developed since October 2012 under this Technical Assistance (TA) carried out by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP). The recommendations have been developed through on-going consultations and meetings with the Directorate of Environmental Sanitation and Directorate General of Human Settlements, Ministry of Health, and Government of Indonesia. This report describes and assesses the performance of technical assistance TA-P143167, ‘rural sanitation market expansion of domestic private sector in Indonesia,’ provided by the World Bank through the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) carried out from October 2, 2012 to March 31, 2015 to support the development of a rural sanitation market in Indonesia. This technical assistance (TA) was implemented as parts of a larger effort to assist the Government of Indonesia achieve at-scale results in rural sanitation through its National Strategy for Community-Based Total Sanitation (Sanitasi Total Berbasis Masyarakat - STBM).

Very small enterprises (VSEs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) represent a broad and heterogeneous segment, often underserved by formal financial institutions. They are generally informal and often family businesses. The financial needs of these enterprises are typically overlooked by “downscaling” banks, which find larger and often more formal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be a more natural market for their products and services. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are starting to move upmarket to serve SMEs, and in particular, VSEs within this segment. However, they use varying definitions, methodologies and products to do so and to date there has been little research or documentation of their experiences. This report highlights the results of a recent study of the existing practices in Latin America of MFIs serving VSEs, where VSEs are considered to be those businesses with financing needs of between US$7,000 and US$30,000. It is a starting point for an institution considering entering the segment, or for one that finds itself having grown into the segment “organically” but with a view to strengthen its position. It includes several checklists for MFIs interested in expanding upmarket into the VSE space, as well as more detailed discussions and examples of the most relevant points.

Financial institutions (FIs) face a number of risks related to the activities of their clients. The impact of climate change, resource scarcity, environmental pollution and social issues such as involuntary resettlement are just some of the factors that might increase the risk incurred by FIs extending credit to clients. The potential impact can be substantial: FIs may face increased credit risk, reputational risk, or liability risk. In this context, IFC has observed a growing interest in Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) from the financial sector in emerging markets. Furthermore, FIs are increasingly aware of the opportunities of environmentally and socially sustainable banking. To provide an overview of the current state of ESRM, IFC has conducted a series of baseline surveys in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This paper provides a summary of the main findings of these market surveys and insights into the current practices of ESRM in emerging markets. In this paper, the scope of the baseline surveys will be presented, followed by a detailed analysis of the survey results and a summary of the main survey findings. The last section of the paper provides an overview of current ESRM guidance1 in the survey countries.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has moderated from 6.7 percent in FY11 to 6.3 percent in FY12 due to unfavorable external economics and internal supply constraints. Monetary policy remained accommodative for most of 2011 but gradual tightening is occurring. With the high fiscal deficit and domestic borrowing by Government, monetary policy is now bearing the brunt of macroeconomic policy adjustment. The balance of payments (BoP) is on a deteriorating track, with reserves falling to below three months of imports and export growth turning negative in March 2012. A coordinated policy response is required to ease macroeconomic pressures and improve growth prospects. Key actions include the need to create fiscal space, contain government borrowing to mitigate the risk of crowding out of credit to the private sector, better regulate the capital market, and stimulate investment and job growth in the export sector. Unlike in 2008, Bangladesh has insufficient policy space to avert the negative impact of a global slowdown through fiscal stimulus packages and monetary easing.

Banks in emerging markets are increasingly providing non-financial services to their SME clients, typically consisting of information sharing, training and consultancy. This study, published by IFC in partnership with the Austrian Government, is the first to explore reasons behind this trend, finding that banks' key motivations include attracting and retaining customers, and strengthening portfolio quality. The report consists of an overview followed by case studies of three banks, namely Türk Ekonomi Bankasý (TEB), Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), and ICICI Bank. It is estimated that there are 365 to 445 million formal and informal micro, small, and medium enterprises, with a subset of 25 to 35 million formal SMEs, in the developing world. Of these, 70 percent do not use external financing from financial institutions, although they are in need of it. Approximately 85 percent suffer from credit constraints.

Doing business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 10 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. In a series of annual reports doing business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. This economy profile presents the doing business indicators for European Union. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2011 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January December 2010).

Although a number of m-money businesses have emerged around the world, few have reached significant scale. Overall, m-money uptake is limited when contrasted with its apparent promise of reaching the unbanked and underserved, servicing existing banking clients, and being a means for realizing a cashless society. This study examines the following in more detail: existing major money flows and the critical mass of low-value, high-volume payment transactions and whether m-money can be used for them (i.e., potential demand); regulatory environment and major obstacles for m-money uptake; business models of partnering institutions; payment behavior of users and nonusers (banked and unbanked), in particular where they receive funds and how they use money, including alternative means; and existing and potential agents networks, their requirements to run m-money as a viable business, and their training needs. This report provides detailed information on Thailand regarding five main topics, business models, money flows and demand, potential user perceptions and behavior, regulation, and agent networks.

Sri Lanka's population is still largely rural, nearly 85 percent lives outside of cities. There will probably be rural-to-urban migration in the future, which represents a potential opportunity to m-money providers. People working in cities often wish to repatriate their savings to their rural families conveniently and at a low cost. Income is fairly evenly spread across Sri Lanka s provinces, with the exception of the Western Province where Colombo, the largest city, is situated. Its GDP per capita places Sri Lanka near the average of comparable Southeast Asian countries. Malaysia is clearly an outlier with a considerably higher GDP per capita, but Sri Lanka s GDP is higher than that of the Philippines, where m-money has taken off dramatically. Poverty is less of a problem in Sri Lanka relative to countries like Bangladesh or Cambodia, where GDP per capita is much lower. The key point is that Sri Lanka is at a different stage in its economic development and is unlikely to have the same socioeconomic conditions that made m-money in Kenya accelerate so rapidly.

The purpose of the report is to present the findings from IFC’s recent survey on risk and nonperforming loan management practices in financial institutions together with supporting benchmarks and global trends in risk management. Top tier financial institutions in their respective markets have participated in the survey, including 25 SME focused banks and 2 microfinance institutions in 18 countries (see Exhibit 1). The emphasis on credit risk in this report stems from credit risk being the largest risk taken by SME focused banks. The report aims to help emerging market financial institutions that participated in the survey: Better understand the current state of their risk management capabilities in credit risk, loan portfolio monitoring and nonperforming loan management. Be able to compare their current risk management capabilities in these areas with peers in emerging and developed markets. Provide a basis for identifying key areas where their risk management can be enhanced going forward.

Kenya may be at a "tipping point," the theme of the third Kenya economic update which has a special focus on the transformative impact of information and communication technology (ICT) and mobile money. Over the last decade, ICT has outperformed all others sectors growing at an average of 20 percent per year. The benefits of ICT are starting to be felt in other sectors, and have contributed to the conditions for Kenya to reach this tipping point. Kenya has entered the new decade with renewed and stronger than expected growth. The passing of the new constitution, continued strong macroeconomic policies, and a favorable regional environment have created a new positive economic momentum. Kenya may again be positioned to experience high growth. Over the last three decades Kenya has experienced only two short episodes when economic growth exceeded five percent and was sustained for at least three consecutive years: 1986-88, and 2004-2007. Is Kenya again at the verge of experiencing another growth spurt? Will it last longer and go deeper than the previous two episodes?

This study provides an overview of Arab official development assistance (ODA) over the past four decades. Trends in volume, composition, and direction are discussed in chapter two and the institutional framework is discussed in chapter three. Over 90 percent of Arab development assistance is provided by three countries: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

One of the problems in discussing one-stop shops is that everyone seems to have a different idea of what one is. There have been one-stop shops since at least the 1920s, mostly in the retail trade, epitomized by the development of supermarkets and, in recent years, internet sales outlets. This book is about one particular type of service, namely, business registration, and the various one-stop shops that exist now and might exist in the future. If there is confusion about what constitutes a one-stop shop, there are also a variety of views about business registration. In some countries all businesses have to be registered, in others, only those companies with a legal existence separate from their owners. In some countries, registration is the responsibility of the courts; in others, it is an administrative function handled by a government ministry, semi-autonomous agency, or chamber of commerce. Registration may be a function of a central institution or may be affected at a local level. In all these areas, there is change when it comes to implementing a one-stop shop. It is hardly surprising therefore that there are many different views about what constitutes, or should constitute, a one-stop shop.