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This paper investigates the use of early warning tools as part of Ethiopia's Disaster Risk Management framework. Analyzing, in particular, the Livelihoods, Early Assessment and Protection tool, Livelihood Integrated Assessment and Hotspots Assessments, the paper delineates the scope and objectives of existing early warning tools, their commonalities and limitations. From a disaster risk financing and insurance perspective, the paper investigates possible enhancements in the existing early warning framework and its use that could facilitate greater timeliness of drought response. The paper argues that based on the existing early warning instruments and continued improvements to the early warning systems, it is possible to enable early action during the onset of a drought.

This paper addresses the question whether and how co-benefits, through disaster resilience building, can be further promoted. Co-benefits are defined as positive externalities that arise deliberately as a result of a joint strategy that pursues several objectives synergistically at the same time, such as disaster risk management and development goals, or disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. Of particular interest is the question of how the economic and broader benefits of disaster risk management can be recognized and realized by those in charge of fiscal policy decisions. The paper considers the interplay between public disaster risk management investment and fiscal policy, and provides an overview of the current debate as well as assessment methods, tools, and policy options. In fiscal budgeting, it has been standard practice to focus on direct liabilities and recurrent spending. Costs of disasters are often dealt with after the fact only, rather than being considered as contingent liabilities. As a consequence, the full costs of disasters have often not been budgeted for, and, with a price signal missing, there is lack of clear incentives for investing in disaster risk management. Overall, the paper identifies four steps and three dividends to be harnessed: (i) understanding fiscal risk; (ii) protecting public finance through risk financing instruments, the first dividend; (iii) managing disaster risk comprehensively, the second dividend; and (iv) pursuing a synergistic, co-benefits strategy of concurrently managing disaster risks and promoting development, the third dividend.

Pakistan is vulnerable to a number of adverse natural events and has experienced a wide range of disasters over the past 40 years, including floods, earthquakes, droughts, cyclones, and tsunamis. The World Bank is supporting the Government of Pakistan (GoP) in building capacity in the area of disaster risk management (DRM) in order to build resilience from both humanitarian and fiscal shocks associated with natural disasters. The World Bank is providing technical assistance to the GoP for the development of a national disaster risk financing strategy. This non-lending technical assistance aims to: (i) assess the fiscal exposure of the GoP to natural disasters; (ii) present options for the development of a national strategy to improve financial response capacity for natural disasters; and (iii) promote property catastrophe risk insurance for both public and private dwellings. Disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) is one of the five pillars in the proactive and strategic framework for DRM promoted by the World Bank. The World Bank has been promoting a proactive and strategic framework for DRM based on five pillars: (i) risk identification; (ii) risk reduction; (iii) preparedness; (iv) financial protection; and (v) resilient recovery. Chapter one is introduction. Chapter two presents an overview of the budget processes for the financing of natural disaster losses during each of the three post-disaster phases. Chapter three provides a preliminary financial disaster risk assessment for Pakistan, focusing particularly on the fiscal impact of natural disasters. Chapter four presents an overview of the private catastrophe insurance market; and chapter five reviews the options for future financing of natural disaster recovery and reconstruction expenditures.

This note aims to build understanding of the existing disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) tools in use in The Marshall Islands and to identify gaps where potential engagement could further develop financial resilience. The likelihood that a hazardous event will have a significant impact on the Marshall Islands has risen with the increasing levels of population and assets in the urban areas of Majuro and Ebeye. The low-lying atolls are at risk of damage to both assets and people as a result of storm surges and tsunamis. The Marshall Islands is expected to incur, on average over the long term, annual losses of US$3 million due to earthquakes and tropical cyclones. In the next 50 years, the Marshall Islands has a 50 percent chance of experiencing a loss exceeding US$53 million. The government takes an ex-ante approach to financing the cost of disasters, but the resources available are limited. The Marshall Islands has a maximum amount of US$15.6 million potentially available in ex-ante instruments to facilitate disaster response. The government s post-disaster budget execution process relies on a variety of financial tools, but the size of the economy limits access to immediate post-disaster cash resources. A number of options for improving disaster risk financing and insurance are presented here for consideration: (a) develop an integrated disaster risk financing and insurance strategy; (b) assess the domestic insurance market for both public and private assets to establish what products are currently offered and to determine their level of uptake; (c) carry out a quantitative analysis to determine whether contingent credit could be an effective tool to access additional liquidity post-disaster; and (d) investigate the possibility of establishing policies for financial assistance to disaster victims in remote communities.

This assessment reviews the regulatory and supervisory developments in the insurance sector of Moldova. The current assessment is benchmarked against the insurance core principles (ICPs) issued by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) in October 2011 and revised in 2012. The ICPs apply to all insurers, whether private or state-owned. Specific principles apply to the supervision of intermediaries. The assessment covers the supervisory practices of the Comisa Nationala a Pietei Financiare (National Commission for Financial Markets (NCFM)) which began operations in 2007. The recent decision to move from a pure compliance approach to a more risk based methodology needs to be gradual and carefully staged given the technical capacity constraints in Moldova. Insurer risk management is not universally developed so insurers will only be able to effectively move toward a more risk based approach in a series of small and quite specific steps, supported by regulatory clarity. Many shortcomings in the observance of the ICPs will be addressed by a well-structured transition to risk-based supervision (RBS). Group supervision, particularly operational level cooperation and communication with other supervisors, is also an opportunity and a priority. Ensuring the credibility of the regulatory regime will rely on transparent and sustained enforcement.

The Pacific Region is one of the most natural disaster prone regions on earth. The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are highly exposed to the adverse effects of climate change and natural hazards, which can result in disasters affecting their entire economic, human, and physical environment and impact their long-term development agenda. The average annual direct losses caused by natural disasters are estimated at US$284 million. Since 1950 natural disasters have affected approximately 9.2 million people in the Pacific Region, causing 9,811 reported deaths. This has cost the PICs around US$3.2 billion (in nominal terms) in associated damage costs. This report focuses on the development of the country catastrophe risk profiles, the information collected, how it was catalogued and processed, and now being used for a variety of applications in Climate and Disaster Risk Management. The country risk profiles integrate data collected and produced through risk modeling and include maps showing the geographic distribution of assets and people at risk (section one), hazards assessed (section two) and potential monetary losses and casualties (section three). The profiles also include an analysis of the possible direct losses (in absolute terms and normalized by GDP) caused by tropical cyclones and earthquakes, and their impact though severe winds, rainfall, coastal storm surge, ground shaking and tsunami waves. The expected return period indicates the likelihood of a certain specified loss amount to be exceeded in any one year.

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 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). 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).

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 regional profile presents the doing business indicators for the Middle East and North Africa. 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).

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 Indonesia. 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).

This regional economy profile presents the doing business indicators for Arab World. 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). 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.

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 East Asia and the Pacific. 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).

This report argues that the practice of disaster risk management (DRM) is a defining characteristic of resilient societies, and should therefore be integrated, or 'mainstreamed', into all aspects of development. The report will inform the Development Committee at the annual meetings 2012, and support discussion at the Sendai dialogue, a special event co-organized by the Government of Japan and the World Bank as part of the Annual Meetings program. This event will engage delegates on the importance of mainstreaming DRM, drawing upon the lessons from the great East Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, and other disasters. This paper includes the following headings: disasters and development: an alarming trend; disaster risk management in action; national policies and planning; International Development Cooperation; disaster risk management at the World Bank; the way forward: priorities and opportunities; and glossary and references.

Detailed Assessment of Observance This assessment is focused on the Superintendencia de Seguros de la Nacion (SSN) in Argentina. SSN has responsibility for regulation and supervision of all players in the insurance market. In addition to its role as a supervisor, SSN has powers to issue regulations, is responsible for advising the executive on issues related to insurance, and can propose draft bills. The laws are passed by the national legislative branch and enacted by the national executive branch. The assessment was performed using the 2007 version of the core principles for insurance supervision issued by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS). This paper is structured into following four parts: part one is information and methodology used for the assessment; part two is institutional and macro prudential setting, part three gives summary assessment; and part four gives authorities' responses.

This assessment of the Basel Core Principles (BCP) was conducted as part of the financial sector assessment program (FSAP) update evaluation of the El Salvador financial system from April 22 to May 10, 2010. The supervisory framework was assessed against the BCP methodology issued in October 2006. The assessment of compliance with each principle is made on a qualitative basis. A four-part assessment system is used: compliant; largely compliant; materially noncompliant; and noncompliant. A largely compliant assessment is given if only minor shortcomings are observed, and these are not seen as sufficient to raise serious doubts about the authority's ability to achieve the objective of that principle. A materially noncompliant assessment is given when the shortcomings are sufficient to raise doubts about the authority's ability to achieve compliance, but substantive progress has been made. A noncompliant assessment is given when no substantive progress toward compliance has been achieved. The ratings assigned during this assessment are not comparable to the ones assigned in the 2000 FSAP, as the bar to measure the effectiveness of a supervisory framework has been raised in the new methodology. This paper is structures as follows: introduction; information and methodology used for assessment; institutional and macroeconomic setting and market structure- overview; preconditions for effective bank supervision; main findings; and recommended action plan and authorities' response.

Operational risk is defined as the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events. In debt management operations, the categories of risks, such as market risk, credit risk, refinancing risk and liquidity risk, are relatively well known; however operational risk is not. The area has not been given due attention to by government debt managers in developing a risk management framework. A similar conclusion on aspects pertaining to operational risk management is borne out from the early results of the World Bank's assessments using its government Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA) tool. This paper thus, introduces the concepts of operational risk as applied to government debt management (DeM) and attempts to present a framework for debt managers to manage operational risks while undertaking public debt management operations. It draws on existing literature for operational risk management principles and practices that have been formulated by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) and the findings of the DeMPAs.

The role of supervisory authorities undertaking prudential supervision is to promote the maintenance of efficient, fair, safe and stable insurance markets for the benefit and protection of policyholders. An effective supervisory authority is able to require an insurer to take timely preventive and corrective measures if the insurer fails to operate in a manner that is consistent with sound business practices or regulatory requirements. Traditionally, authorities have performed this role by way of compliance based supervision. Under this style of supervision, insurers must comply with a set of prudential rules generally written into the law or the subordinate legislation. The role of the supervisory authority is to ensure that insurers do, in fact, comply with these rules. In recent years, supervision has been evolving and moving from a style that is compliance based to one that is risk based. This progression has also been a feature of the activities of bank supervision and pension supervision.

The Czech authorities invited the World Bank to provide an independent evaluation of the Government's draft plan for the merger of the Tax and Customs Administrations, and with an eye on the eventual integration of the collection of social contributions into a newly created revenue authority. In Volume I of this report, we present a preliminary examination of the Government's draft plan for tax and customs merger. Volume II does a preliminary assessment of the issues relating to integrating collection of social contributions within the tax administration.The assessment of the Government's plan in this report is intended to assist the Government in taking a more informed decision on this issue based on lessons learned from international experience. Integration and fundamental reforms are complex processes and require adequate time, financial resources and careful management of the change process itself in order to be successful. In the report, we have pointed out the key challenges and risks and how these can be overcome. We have flagged the major issues that the Government must consider, and highlighted the challenges that the Government must be aware of when designing the establishment of a modern, unified revenue administration. We have recommended a medium term strategy that will take into consideration the key issues and concerns.

This paper examines how the ability to access long-term debt affects firm-level growth volatility. The analysis finds that firms in industries with stronger preference to use long-term finance relative to short-term finance experience lower growth volatility in countries with better-developed financial systems, as these firms may benefit from reduced refinancing risk. Institutions that facilitate the availability of credit information and contract enforcement mitigate the refinancing risk and therefore growth volatility associated with short-term financing. Increased availability of long-term finance reduces growth volatility in crisis as well as non-crisis periods.