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After a steady improvement in the fiscal position over the past decade, the standoff over clearance revenues has severely constrained the PA budget, leading to a significant expansion in expenditure arrears. Going forward, however, uncertainty about a resolution for the clearance revenue standoff will weigh on the economy. Over the last two decades, the Palestinian economy has been driven by large inflows of transfers as other sources of growth have been long-hindered by the ongoing Israeli restrictions on movement and access. Under a baseline scenario which assumes a continuation of the Israeli restrictions, persistence of the internal divide between the West Bank and Gaza and a decline in aid levels, the Palestinian economy is expected to slip into a recession in 2020 and 2021, even if additional, one-off transfers from clearance revenues are made. As financial buffers are depleted, the reduced revenues will require sizable cuts in public spending, which in turn would translate in reduced consumption and investment. The decline in growth implies a sizable decline in real per capita income and a rise in poverty. The Palestinian financial sector continues to face substantial risks against the backdrop of the fiscal crisis. The negative impact of the deepening fiscal crisis on the quality of loan portfolios across the banking sector has started to materialize as both non-performing loans and classified loans have been on an upward trajectory. With the severe liquidity shortage facing the PA, it has resorted to domestic banks to finance its needs raising the sector’s exposure to the PA for the first time in a number of years. Banks are also rescheduling outstanding loans held by PA employees who are receiving a reduced salary, compounding the destabilizing effect on the sector. However, the fact that the PA is simultaneously building up an asset in the form of tax revenues not received from the GoI ameliorates the situation as the increased exposure may be seen as a temporary trend. Another cause of concern is a possible disruption in Correspondent Banking Relationships (CBRs) between Palestinian banks and their Israeli counterparts due to de-risking by Israeli banks. The immunity and indemnity package given by the GoI to banks with CBRs are set to expire in May 2020 and February 2021, respectively, when a longer term and more sustainable intervention is expected to be in place. While resolving the fiscal crisis is an immediate priority there remains a broader reform agenda to improve the economy and Palestinian living standards.

This report was prepared as part of the World Bank engagement in the Philippines to support Islamic Finance and Financial Inclusion. It provides an overview on the context for the development of Islamic finance in the Philippines and is accompanied by two focused reports providing further detail and suggestions on enhancing financial inclusion in the Philippines through Islamic microfinance and assessment of the status of financial inclusion in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)and the proposed Bangsamoro territory. The term Islamic finance is used to refer to financial activities conforming to Islamic Law (Shari‘ah). One of the main principles of the Islamic finance system is the prohibition of the payment and the receipt of ribā (interest) in a financial transaction. A pure debt security is replaced with an “asset-based” security, direct financing of a real asset, and different forms of partnerships of which equity financing is the most desirable.The following key principles guide Islamic Finance: i) Prohibition of interest on transactions (ribā); ii) Financing must be linked to assets (materiality); iii) Engagement in immoral or ethically problematic businesses not allowed (e.g., gambling or alcohol production); iv) Returns must be linked to risks. Table 1 provides a summary description of basic financial instruments.Over the past decade Islamic finance has emerged as an effective tool for financing development worldwide, including in non-Muslim majority countries. Discussion and interest in Islamic finance has also appeared on G20 discussions. Major financial markets are discovering solid evidence that Islamic finance has already been mainstreamed within the global financial system – and that it has the potential to help address the challenges of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.In summary, Islamic finance is equity-based, asset-backed, ethical, sustainable, environmentally- and socially-responsible finance. It promotes risk sharing, connects the financial sector with the real economy, and emphasizes financial inclusion and social welfare.

This paper develops a multi-sector, small open economy Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model, which includes the accumulation of human capital, built via public expenditures in education and health. Four possible fiscal rules are examined for total public investment in infrastructure, education, and health in the context of a sustainable resource fund: the spend-as-you-go, bird-in-hand spending; moderate front-loading, and permanent income hypothesis approaches. There are two dimensions to this exercise: the scaling effect, which describes the level of total investment, and the composition effect, which defines the structure of investment between infrastructure, education, and health. The model is applied to Kenya. For impacts on the non-resource economy, efficiency of spending, and sustainability of fiscal outcomes, the analysis finds that, although investment frontloading would bring high growth in the short term, the permanent income hypothesis approach is overall more desirable when fiscal sustainability concerns are taken into consideration. Finally, a balanced composition is the preferred structure of investment, given the permanent income hypothesis allocation of total investment over time.

The Lao economy is estimated to have expanded by around 7 percent in 2015, a slight moderation from 7.5 percent in 2014. Similar to the last decade, the resource sectors (hydropower and extractives) continued to make an important contribution to growth. Power generation got a boost from the commissioning of the first two blocks of the 1,878 MW Hongsa lignite power plant and an additional 250-300 MW of installed capacity in the hydro sector. Furthermore, despite lower global commodity prices, mining output still increased as metal prices remained above the mines’ cost recovery levels. The revised State Budget Law, approved in December 2015, enhances the authority of the National Assembly in budget oversight and Ministry of Finance in budget management. In addition, with regards to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, the Government strengthened key regulations (including on forfeiture of assets, border declaration, penalties for non-compliant entities) recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which helped remove Lao PDR from the FATF’s list of ‘jurisdictions not making sufficient progress’. The outlook will depend on the progress in the implementation of the recommendations and agreed measures. GDP is expected to expand at around 7 percent per annum as a healthy pipeline in the power sector keeps investments strong and increases electricity production and exports by almost 40 percent. Stabilization of growth rates in China and some acceleration in Vietnam and Thailand should increase demand for Lao PDR exports. On the other hand, some gradual fiscal consolidation is expected, largely through broadening the revenue base and efforts to improve efficiency in spending and should help strengthen the outlook for public debt sustainability and lower the risk of debt distress from its current level of moderate, but borderline to high.

This report consists of two parts: Part 1 presents a review of recent economic developments and a macroeconomic outlook. Part 2 focuses in greater depth on a special, selected topic relevant to Malawi's development prospects. This report focuses on agricultural risk management. Malawi is now set to suffer a second year of poor harvests due to the effects of a drought that is sweeping Southern Africa. This drought has had a serious impact both on the economy and on food security, requiring a major humanitarian response. The current situation underscores Malawi's serious need to improve the resilience of the agricultural sector and to develop a better system of risk management. With the country expected to continue to face climate-induced shocks into the future, it is vital that the Government considers how best to mitigate the impact of such shocks. In 2015 Malawi recorded a GDP growth rate of just 2.8 percent, with this low rate the result of both adverse weather conditions and macroeconomic instability. Flooding in southern districts followed by a countrywide drought resulted in a contraction in agricultural production. Maize, the key crop in terms of food security, recorded a 30.2 percent year-on-year drop in production. As a result, an estimated 2.8 million people (17 percent of the population) were unable to meet their 2015/16 food requirements.

During 2015, and in the span of six-months, Nepal was hit by two major shocks. The first one was the April 2015 earthquakes that caused a huge loss of life and assets. The second shock has come in the form of a near complete disruption of external trade following the adoption of the new Constitution. Reflecting both the earthquake and trade related disruptions, inflation spiked to over 12 percent (y/ y) by mid-January rising 5 percentage points in just four months from mid-September 2015. This was the highest inflation level since FY2009, with increases in food and non-food prices contributing equally to the spike. As the trade disruptions ended, inflation has eased to back to single digits.

Growth in the six South East European countries (SEE6) rebounded to 2.1 percent in 2015, as investment revived. The SEE6 region is not only growing but also rebalancing to more durable sources of growth. While higher growth in 2015 brought new jobs in the private sector, and helped poverty reduction to resume, unemployment is still entrenched. In 2015, fiscal deficits continued to narrow in all SEE6 countries except Montenegro. With inflation at historic lows, accommodative monetary policy supported growth, and credit to the economy slowly began to grow. The near-term baseline outlook for the region is positive. Fiscal and current account deficits must decline further to support growth. Sustaining the nascent rebalancing requires unlocking the growth potential of the SEE6 economics by reversing productivity dynamics that have been deteriorating since 2008. The agenda for reducing the structural rigidities that impede growth is broad based and centered on five pillars: eliminate disincentives and barriers to formal; employment; improve the business climate and governance; reduce the size of government while improving quality of service delivery; deepen trade and financial integration; and ensure that natural resource use is sustainable.

South Asia emerged as the fastest growing region in the world in 2015, posting GDP growth of 7 percent. Weak oil and commodity prices, slowing capital flows and shrinking global trade contributed towards a deceleration of growth in most of the world's economies. South Asia - as a net importer of oil - was an anomaly, growing significantly on the back of higher private consumption and public investment. Higher remittances and reserve buffers throughout the region offset the fall in exports caused by the drop in global demand. The region is set to maintain real GDP growth above 7 percent over the next few years. However, the tailwinds are now fading - capital flows have declined and remittances are starting to feel the reality of low oil prices. Pakistan, while not growing as quickly as its neighbors, has continued its steady growth recovery in H1FY16. Strong growth in consumption, rising foreign exchange reserves, fast-growing workers' remittances and a lower import bill compensated for a significant fall in exports. Low oil prices generated a significant boost, driving a 9.1 percent fall in the import bill and reducing inflation significantly, in turn creating scope to reduce the policy rate. Private sector consumption, propelled by higher remittances and a loosened monetary policy, is expected to account for over half of FY16 GDP growth.

This disaster risk financing country note for Serbia provides an overview of the way its government currently finances the costs imposed by natural disasters. Meanwhile, poverty deepened after the financial crisis and during the recessions of 2012 and 2014, mainly because of losses in employment and labor income. In an effort to overcome its fiscal challenges, the government of Serbia adopted an ambitious fiscal consolidation and structural reform program to halt the rise in public debt and send it on a downward trajectory by 2017. This program is supported by a three-year stand-by arrangement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Because of the growing frequency and severity of disasters, the government has faced the rising costs of responding to disasters as well as the challenges of financing emergency response and reconstruction costs. Having sufficient access to financial instruments and resources in order to respond to disasters is crucial for building the financial resilience of the country and minimizing the negative impact of natural disasters on Serbia’s economic growth. In this report, chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two provides the background and country context, including the recent economic impacts of disasters. Chapter three reviews the current institutional and legal framework for disaster risk management and financing. Chapter four is a review of the public financial management of disasters in Serbia, including ex ante and ex post disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) instruments currently in use for budget mobilization, and it looks at the 2014 floods in more detail. The chapter concludes with a summary of financial resources available and a look at the potential resource gaps.

This technical note discusses the current status of banking supervision and regulation in Montenegro in the context of select Basel Core Principles (BCP). This note has been prepared as part of a Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) update conducted jointly by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) in September 2015. As agreed with the authorities, the FSAP tea

This report sets forth details of a financial recovery plan designed to help Vietnam Electricity (EVN), and the Vietnamese power sector more generally, to address a series of complex and interconnected challenges over the next 3 to 10 years. These challenges are operational and institutional as well as financial, and will lead to fundamental changes over time in the way that EVN and the overall power sector operate.

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in Southern African Development Community (SADC). It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions: East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), European Union (EU), Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA). The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

Devastating earthquakes in April and May of 2015 took a huge human toll, destroyed homes, businesses, irreplaceable cultural heritage sites, and slowed economic growth. The Government of Nepal (GoN), through a post disaster needs assessment (PDNA), estimated the value of losses at United States dollar (USD) 7.1 billion (physical damage of USD 5.2 billion and economic losses, spanning several years, of USD 1.9 billion). Nepal’s political parties intensified their efforts to adopt a new constitution, after eight years of deliberations, spurred on by the shift in political priorities following the April and May earthquakes. A normalization was envisaged whereby the faster budget implementation and sustained reconstruction activities can lead to a surge in imports, which will have tipped the current account balance into deficit over the forecast period, despite large remittances. Similarly, increased government spending on capital expenditure, as national reconstruction authority speeds up reconstruction activities, will lead to a larger budget deficit. The aim of this report is to report on key economic developments over the preceding months, placing them in a longer term and global perspective and to examine topics of particular policy significance.

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business.This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in The g7 . It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in European Union (EU). It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions: East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), Europe and Central Asia (ECA), Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Latin America and OECD High Income.. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in OECD High Income. It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions: European Union (EU), East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), Europe and Central Asia (ECA), South Asia (SA) and Latin America.. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in Landlocked Economies. It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions: Europe and Central Asia (ECA), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) and OECD High Income.. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in Europe and Central Asia (ECA). It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions: European Union (EU), Latin America, East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and OECD High Income.. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

Financial infrastructure is the underlying foundation of a country’s financial system. It comprises all institutions, the rules, and standards of all the systems which enable financial intermediation. The quality of a country’s financial infrastructure determines the efficiency of intermediation, the ability of lenders to evaluate risk and of borrowers to obtain credit, insurance, and other financial products at competitive terms. For instance, the efficient and smooth functioning of the payment, and securities settlement systems facilitates the discharge of financial obligations and the safe transfer of funds across distances and institutions; hence, it support the stability of the financial system. This technical note contains the assessment of the national payment and settlement systems (NPS) infrastructure in Montenegro. The assessment was undertaken in the context of the IMF and World Bank (WB) joint Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) mission to Montenegro during September 1-15, 2015. The assessor was Gynedi Srinivas of the World Bank’s Payment Systems Development Group. The assessor will like to thank the counterparts in Montenegro for their excellent cooperation and hospitality during the mission.

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in Small Island States. It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions: Caribbean States, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), Latin America and Southern African Development Community (SADC).. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. Doing Business 2016 presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. This regional profile presents the Doing Business indicators for economies in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC). It also shows the regional average, the best performance globally for each indicator and data for the following comparator regions. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2014).

This report reflects significant changes in European Union (EU) corporate financial reporting since 2011. In June 2013, a new accounting directive was adopted, replacing the fourth and seventh directives on company law. A directive amending the 2006 audit directive and a new audit regulation addressing oversight of the most significant audits were adopted in April 2014. The new legislation, summarized in this guide, is a result of several years of drafting and discussions following the financial crisis of 2008 and it represent a landmark in the EU’s efforts to strengthen its corporate sector accounting and auditing. The accounting directive seeks to enhance the quality of financial reporting and expand it, especially with regard to public interest entities, while reducing the administrative burden for smaller companies. The new audit reporting requirements introduced by the regulation are expected to increase the usefulness of statutory audits of public interest entities, such as listed companies, credit institutions, and insurance undertakings, and reduce risks of excessive familiarity between statutory auditors and their clients, encourage professional skepticism, and limit conflicts of interest. The audit directive and the regulation will bring more consistency in audit oversight and quality assurance systems across Europe. Implementation will involve significant challenges and require increased resources to ensure systems function effectively.

The Indonesia Economic Quarterly (IEQ) has two main aims. First, it reports on the key developments over the past three months in Indonesia’s economy, and places these in a longerterm and global context. Based on these developments, and on policy changes over the period, the IEQ regularly updates the outlook for Indonesia’s economy and social welfare. Second, the IEQ provides a more in-depth examination of selected economic and policy issues, and analysis of Indonesia’s medium-term development challenges. It is intended for a wide audience, including policymakers, business leaders, financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in Indonesia’s evolving economy. This paper discusses about the economic conditions of Indonesia for the year 2015. Emerging market assets rebounded in October 2015 after the sharp losses recorded in August and September, when the uncertainty about the Chinese economic slowdown and the U.S. interest rate outlook was particularly high. Despite a more favorable market sentiment, capital flows to emerging economies have remained weak and borrowing costs relatively high. In addition to tight financing conditions, Indonesia faced subdued external demand for its exports in the near term and persistently low commodity prices over the medium run. In 2015, fire in Indonesia cost nearly twice that of reconstruction following the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. Agriculture and forestry have sustained losses and damages in trillions. Sustained exposure to haze could also lead to the volcano effect, i.e., a decrease in plant productivity in the short term due to limited sun exposure and a deleterious effect on plant physiology and photosynthesis. The recurring nature of Indonesia’s fire crisis is of particular concern. Another potential step in Indonesia’s new reform process was the country’s signaling its intention to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement in the near future. Whether membership materializes or not, the agreement is likely to have a limited impact on trade, because import tariffs in member countries are already low and Indonesia has trade agreements with most of them.

While the microfinance sector is extensively used in Mali (about 1 million members often based in rural areas), the sector has experienced a major crisis for over six years. The clean-up of the microfinance remains the most pressing priority for the Malian authorities and the adoption of the emergency plan for the microfinance sector is a key milestone to cleaning up the sector. While the plan addresses the main issues (restructuring or liquidation not viable MFIs; depositors indemnization mechanism; consolidation of active MFIs; reform and strengthening of the national supervisory body), but the implementation remains very challenging in a context of fiscal tightening and donor’s reluctance to intervene. It is only the Government of Mali that can restore confidence in the sector, and only by undertaking the recommendations highlighted in the emergency plan. One of the most sensitive issues will be to manage the liquidation of a few important distressed institutions together with the indemnization of their depositors.

Using a data set covering about 277,000 firms across 79 countries over the period 2004-11, this paper examines the evolution of firms capital structure during the global financial crisis and its aftermath in 2010-11. The study finds that firm leverage and debt maturity declined in advanced economies and developing countries, even in countries that did not experience a crisis. The deleveraging and maturity reduction were particularly significant for privately held firms, including small and medium enterprises. For small and medium-size enterprises, these effects were larger in countries with less efficient legal systems, weaker information-sharing mechanisms, shallower banking systems, and more restrictions on bank entry. In contrast, there is weaker evidence of a significant decline of leverage and debt maturity among firms listed on a stock exchange, which are typically much larger than other firms and likely benefit from the spare tire of easier access to capital market financing.

Sub-Saharan African countries as a group showed a considerable reduction in public and external indebtedness in the early 2000s as a result of debt relief programs, higher economic growth, and improved fiscal management for some countries. More recently, however, vulnerabilities in some countries are on the rise, including a few with very rapid debt accumulation. This paper looks at the heterogeneous experiences across Sub-Saharan African countries and the detailed dynamics that have driven changes in public debt since the global financial crisis. Borrowing to support fiscal deficits since 2009, including through domestic markets and Eurobond issuance, has driven a net increase in public debt for all countries except oil exporters benefitting from buoyant commodity prices and fragile states receiving post-2008 Highly Indebted Poor Country relief. Current account deficits and foreign direct investment inflows drove the external debt dynamics, with balance of payments problems associated with very rapid external debt accumulation in some cases. Pockets of increasing vulnerabilities of debt financing profiles and sensitivity of debt burden indicators to macro-fiscal shocks require close monitoring. Specific risks that policy makers in Sub-Saharan Africa need to pay attention to going forward include the recent fall in commodity prices, especially oil, the slowdown in China and the sluggish recovery in Europe, dependence on non-debt-creating flows, and accounting for contingent liabilities.

This economy profile for Doing Business 2016 presents the 11 Doing Business indicators for Ukraine. To allow for useful comparison, the profile also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator. Doing Business 2016 is the 13th edition in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business; for 2015 Ukraine ranks 83. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 189 economies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and over time. 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 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2015 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period from January to December 2014).

This paper builds on the findings of an earlier unpublished discussion paper titled ‘designing a model for networked carbon markets’, with its objective being to describe key elements of the mitigation value assessment process. The outcome of this paper will inform a model for the Networked Carbon Markets concept, to be prepared at a later date. The following section two acknowledges the subject matter of the NCM initiative, namely the diverse and heterogeneous trading schemes and other carbon pricing mechanisms that are being put in place by jurisdictions around the globe. As this is the subject of another World Bank paper, only a brief reference is included. Section three sets out a conceptual framework within which to consider the key elements described in the glossary of terms, addressed in section four and annexure ‘C’. This section also looks at different transaction scenarios, introducing the concepts of an international transaction unit and an index. Section five turns attention to the types of institutions that might be suitable to participate in the mitigation value assessment process, providing practical examples, and considering the types of expertise and tools those institutions might leverage. Section six considers options for regulatory supervision of the MV assessment process. Section seven looks in more detail at the relationship between mitigation value and the compliance value that might be attached to carbon assets and, in so doing, considers the role and function of the settlement platform. This section also considers the feasibility and potential benefits of an index. The concluding section eight looks at the next steps that might flow from this work.

The Malawi economic monitor (MEM) provides an analysis of economic and structural development issues in Malawi. The aim of the publication is to foster better informed policy analysis and debate regarding the key challenges that Malawi faces in its endeavors to achieve high rates of stable, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth. The focus of the special topic is on the effectiveness of public spending on primary education and the means by which this can be improved. With more than half of Malawi’s population under the age of 18, the country faces significant challenges in its efforts to provide quality education to a growing population of students. Malawi also faces ongoing fiscal pressures, so there is a need to find ways to maximize the development impact within the limits of the finite resources available for investment in education. The MEM consists of two parts: part one presents a review of recent economic developments and a macroeconomic outlook. Part two focuses in greater depth on a special, selected topic relevant to Malawi’s development prospects.

This seventh economic update goes to the heart of one of the main challenges faced by Tanzania: how can the country finance its development? This is a fundamental question when aid is coming down as a proportion of a growing GDP, and as access to financial markets remains limited. Oneoption would be to rely more on the private sector to deliver education, health, roads, ports and electricity. This is possible as demonstrated by many such experiences around the world, and therefore this approach needs to be one important part of the solution to finance development. The argument presented in this economic update is that higher tax revenues will come only if a comprehensive approach is adopted. The tax system has to be affordable, fair, simple, and transparent. The government also has to be accountable for the money it is receiving. It is onlywhen these basic conditions are met that tax compliance will increase. Because a strong social contract between the State and its citizens is not yet sufficiently in place in Tanzania, a number of suggestions are proposed in the update, with the objective of stimulating debate on possibleapproaches to increase tax revenue.

Using the universe of all externally issued bonds by corporates and sovereigns in emerging and developing economies during 2000-14, this paper analyzes various issuance trends, including the unprecedented post-crisis surge. The paper focuses on external issuance at the country-industry and individual bond levels and finds that global factors matter greatly for emerging and developing economies issuance. A decrease in U.S. expected equity market (or interest rate) volatility, U.S. corporate credit spreads, and U.S. interbank funding costs and an increase in the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet (i) raise the odds that the monthly issuance volume of a country-industry is above its historical average; (ii) decrease individual bond yields and spreads; and (iii) raise bond maturities, after controlling for country pull factors, bond characteristics (for example, type of issuer, industry, and riskiness). Additionally, we document support that the risk-taking channel of exchange rate appreciation also operates for external bond issuance. Moreover, while the paper finds that country pull factors affect the impact of global factors, it does not find consistent evidence for this across the board. This result suggests that, during loose global funding conditions, flows are mostly driven by push factors and do not systematically discriminate between emerging and developing economies. Taken together, the findings suggest that although issuers might be able to benefit from benign international funding conditions, the large issuance volumes, currency risks, and high exposure to global factors could pose external and domestic challenges for policy makers, particularly when global cycles reverse.

How many and which firms issue equity and bonds in domestic and international markets, how do these firms grow relative to non-issuing firms, and how does firm performance vary along the firm size distribution? To evaluate these questions, a new data set is constructed by matching data on firm-level capital raising activity with balance sheet data for 45,527 listed firms in 51 countries. Three main patterns emerge from the analysis. (1) Only a few large firms issue equity or bonds, and among them a small subset has raised a large proportion of the funds raised during the 1990s and 2000s. (2) Issuers grow faster than non-issuers in assets, sales, and employment, that is, firms do not simply use securities markets to adjust their financial accounts. (3) The firm size distribution of issuers evolves differently from that of non-issuers, tightening among issuers and widening among non-issuers.

The aim of this report is to illustrate the steps court users take in order to protect their interests through procedures carried out by courts. The focus is on the difference between the procedure in the law and actual practice. In outlining these differences, the report shall identify procedural inefficiencies, bottlenecks and potential areas for improvement of the procedure. It shall also estimate the approximate costs of these procedures to the parties.

This report is an update to a public expenditure review (PER) for Bangladesh undertaken in 2010. It aims to analyze the major spending trends since (and before) the PER-2010. This includes the macro-fiscal stance (deficits, debt, etc.) and the allocation of resources within the budget on both a sectoral level (health, education, etc.) and a thematic level (wages, interest, etc.). It notes whether these trends are broadly in line with stated development objectives, and whether the revenue and spending stances are sustainable. It also aims to indicate any potential issues based on the evidence presented in this report and provide an indication of the areas in which improvements or set-backs have occurred since the PER-2010, as well as whether any new issues are emerging. This report also indicates where more in-depth analytical work can be undertaken, either to confirm the findings or to gain a better understanding of an issue.

Poland’s economic growth over the last 25 years has been spectacular. In that period, Poland has more than doubled its income per capita and became a European growth champion. It was the only EU country to avoid a recession in 2009. Its current GDP growth rate is strong. Poland seems to be on the brink of its new ‘golden age.’ Doing Business in Poland 2015 is the first subnational report of the Doing Business series in Poland. It measures business regulations and their enforcement from the perspective of a small to medium-size domestic firm. The idea is a simple one: if entrepreneurs spend fewer resources on regulatory burdens, they will have more time to devote to productive activities. If laws and regulations are clear, accessible, and transparent and, at the same time, enforceable before the courts, entrepreneurs will feel more confident to do business with people they don’t know, and expand their client and supplier network. The gap between the 18 cities benchmarked is significant. By adopting existing good practices found across the country in the four areas measured by this report, Poland would rank 24th out of 189 economies globally, eight positions higher than Poland’s current ranking according to Doing Business 2015, placing the country ahead of France and the Netherlands. Promoting convergence among regions and cities towards the top performers and thus improving the ease of doing business in the whole country is a challenge worth taking.