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The Tanzanian economy has grown at an average annual rate of around 6-7 percent for more than a decade. The rate of inflation has declined since January 2016, although it trended upwards in thepreceding few months due to increases in domestic food prices and the lagged impacts of the sharp depreciation of the Tanzanian Shilling during the first half of 2015. However, the Shilling stabilized in the second half of 2015, with the real exchange rate now close to the equilibrium level. The current account deficit has also improved, standing at around 8.7 percent of GDP in 2014/15. The level of aid inflows declined during 2014/15, although this was offset by increases in FDI and external non-concessional borrowing, maintaining the overall balance of payments in a stable position. Tanzania's infrastructure and social services deficits are already massive and projected to increase into the future. Traditional financing instruments are clearly insufficient to bridge the profound gap between existing public resources and financing requirements. By leveraging synergy between the public and private sectors, PPPs can mobilize additional sources of finance to fund the development of vitally needed infrastructure; to deliver on budget and on time to a greater extent than in the case of publicly financed projects; and to deliver higher quality services than in the case of publicly managed projects. Tanzania’s own policy documents identify PPP as a key instrument to attract new investment and to deliver infrastructure more efficiently.

In April 2014, the Government of Benin launched the entreprenant status, a simplified and free legal regime offered to small informal businesses to enter the formal economy. This paper presents the short-term results of a randomized impact evaluation testing three different versions of the entreprenant status on business registration decisions, each version including incremental incentives to registration: (i) information on the new legal status and its benefits, (ii) business training, counseling services, and support to open a bank account, (iii) tax mediation services. The study included 3,600 informal businesses operating with a fixed location in Cotonou, Benin, which were randomly allocated between three treatment groups and one control group. One year after the program launch, all versions of the program had significant impact on formalization rates. The impact was 9.1 percentage points in the first treatment group; 13 percentage points in the second group; and 15.8 percentage points in the last group. The program had a higher impact on male business owners, with more education, operating outside Dantokpa Market, in sectors other than trade, and that before being offered the incentives to formalization had characteristics similar to businesses that were already formal. Data from a second follow-up survey, which is expected to take place in March 2016, will explore the impacts on other outcomes, like business performances or access to banking.

GDP grew at a rate of 6.8 percent, year-on-year (y/y), between January and August, boosted by frontloaded gold production and a strong performance of the agricultural sector. Gold output grew by 46 percent (y/y), while the non-gold GDP growth rate reached 4.5 percent, up 0.9 percentage points from the same period in the previous year. However, gold production is projected to decelerate markedly during the remainder of 2015, while increasingly adverse external conditions and exchange-rate developments are expected to depress domestic consumption and private investment, as well as foreign demand. As a result, the overall growth rate for 2015 is projected to slow to 2 percent. As of August the headline inflation rate had fallen to 5.8 percent (y/y) from 10.5 percent at end-2014, but the combined effect of higher public spending and exchange-rate pressures are expected to drive up prices during the final months of the year, underscoring the importance of maintaining a tight monetary stance. Looking beyond 2015, the Kyrgyz economy is projected to recover over the medium term, and public finances are expected to stabilize, but this generally positive outlook is subject to significant downside risks. In the baseline scenario, growth is projected to accelerate to 4.2 percent in 2016, driven by higher gold production and an expected acceleration in regional economic activity. Growth in the non-gold sectors should be relatively robust at around 3.7 percent, but a slower-than-anticipated recovery in Russia and Kazakhstan could threaten this projection. Moreover, slower growth in both the domestic and regional economies could complicate the process of fiscal consolidation.

In September 2014, the Group of Twenty (G20) Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) requested the World Bank Group to undertake a survey in the G20 countries on the issue of commercial banks’ actions to de-risk their operations, specifically in relation to non-bank international remittance service providers or, as they are alternatively referred to throughout this report, money transfer operators (MTOs). The objective of the survey was to assess the status of the de-risking phenomenon in the G20 countries, and to collect evidence from which conclusions on the main drivers and the impact for the MTO market could be drawn. The key findings of this survey and the relative recommendations on potential actions are provided in this report to assist the G20 governments, standard setting bodies, private sector entities and the other relevant stakeholders in the financial sector on future discussions on this topic. In addition to working with the G20 on de-risking in the remittance market, the World Bank Group collaborated with the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) to conduct a global survey on access to foreign correspondent banking relationships. This survey is focused on banking authorities, large international banks, and regional/local banks. The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors endorsed this work in February 2015.

As part of its Global Policy Initiative, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) partnered with the Superintendence of Banks, Insurance and AFPs of Peru in late 2008, with the purpose of enhancing the understanding of the issues and trends in consumer relations when financial services are delivered through branchless banking, particularly through agents, which are used in ever increasing scale in Peru. The product was this joint report. Three other countries with relevant experience in branchless banking (Kenya, Brazil and India) participated in a similar exercise at approximately the same time. As in the case of Peru, the exercise gave an opportunity for regulators of each jurisdiction to look at their regulatory and institutional framework for protecting branchless banking users, evaluate their regulatory and supervisory actions, and identify areas for improvements. A forthcoming CGAP focus note complements the effort, by making an overall evaluation of the lessons learned in these countries and drawing on the knowledge from other pioneer countries such as South Africa, Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines. The focus note will point out and address priority areas of concern and possible regulatory and policy options to address them. The first part of the report outlines the financial inclusion efforts currently being undertaken by the Superintendence. The following section summarizes the most important points of the legal and regulatory framework for financial consumer protection, pointing out any specificity of branchless banking. The third part describes the branchless banking business in Peru and describes the issues and problems identified in the relationship between branchless banking clients and providers, and the supervisory and enforcement implications. The last section draws conclusions and makes recommendations for achieving a balance between openness to innovation and protection in a branchless banking environment.