As of February 18, 2015 Liberia has reported over 9,000 cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), and 3,900 deaths. Since the previous round of data collection, in December 2014, Liberia continues to show progress toward getting to zero cases, and in the 21 days leading up to January 28, there were only 20 confirmed cases nationally, down from 92 in the 21 days ending on December 31, 2014, and a high of 546 in late August and early September.
... Vea más + It is believed that all those currently infected are seeking care in Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs), some of which have begun to close in recent weeks as a result of declining need. The World Bank Group, with the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services and the Gallup Organization, has continued to monitor the socio-economic impacts of EVD on households through a series of mobile-phone surveys conducted in October, November, and December 2014, and January 2015. As the health crisis continues to abate in Liberia, it will be crucial to tackle the important medium- and long-term economic and welfare impacts of Ebola on households. As Liberia continues on the path to eradicating Ebola, it will be important to identify and support those who are most vulnerable to the sluggish economy and whose long-term welfare may be negatively impacted by coping decisions made in the name of immediate stability. As households send their children back to school in the next month, the World Bank Group and partners will continue to monitor the crisis and work to support the Liberian government and its people as they move into economic recovery.
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This is the Executive Directors Strategic Engagements Work Program and papers to be circulated from March 2015. Included in the report are checklists of action items.
... Vea más + The lists are separated by FY15 QIII, FY15 QIV and FY16 Q1.
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The development objective of the Energy Development and Access Project for Mozambique is to accelerate access to electricity and modern energy services in peri-urban and rural areas in a sustainable and commercially viable manner.
... Vea más + The changes include: (i) an 18 month extension of the closing date; (ii) addition and cancellation of project activities; (iii) re-allocation of funds among components and disbursement categories; (iv) change in financial management and disbursement arrangements so as to allow electricidade de Mozambique (EDM) to manage its own designated account and handle related payments, including creation of a new disbursement subcategory and disbursement condition for this purpose; (v) revision of the results framework; and (vi) change in due date for one legal covenant.
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The Community Based Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Management Project for Benin received a moderately unsatisfactory outcome rating with substantial risk to global environment outcome.
... Vea más + Both the Bank and the Borrower received moderately unsatisfactory performances as well. One restructuring took place during this project and includes the follows changes: a revision of project components and indicators to compensate for project implementation delays, an extension of the closing date by eighteen months, and a reallocation of proceeds to align project funding with redefined activities. Due to the restructuring the PDO indicators were revised but there was no change in the PDO itself. Component 2 of the project saw a few changes as a result of the restructuring as well. The number of CBCAs was reduced to three sites and funds were increased to extend project support to fringe communities. Lessons learned that were drawn and which could serve as guidance for similar projects in the future include the following: (1) The countrys lengthy and bureaucratic nature of the National Department of Public Procurement needs to be taken into account when designing projects. (2) The Project's PDO and indicators should be carefully reviewed during project preparation. A strong results framework including indicators that are realistic and directly linked to the PDO is fundamental in achieving envisaged project outcomes. (3) A strong M&E framework including a dedicated M&E officer is of paramount importance. (4) Government commitment at all levels is a crucial factor in achieving the Project's envisaged outcomes. The Bank should react promptly (i.e., revising the PDO or closing the Project) to any indications of diminishing commitment levels or other factors that indicate envisaged project outcomes may not be achieved. (5) Sufficient time needs to be allocated for stakeholder consultations and negotiations associated with the establishment of the CBCAs. (6) Financing mechanisms that ensure project outcomes will be sustained beyond the Project's lifetime are important to establish during project implementation. (7) A regional approach to managing coastal marine biodiversity should be fostered. (8) It is important to carefully review the Project's last ISR to avoid a possible disconnect with the ICR's rating. (9) The ICR review meeting should be conducted as early as possible to allow for sufficient time for revisions and government consultation prior to its submission to the Board.
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Informe final de ejecución y resultados ICR3248 FEB 13, 2015
The unanticipated spike in international food prices in 2007-08 hit many developing countries hard. International prices for food and other agricultural products increased by more than 100 percent between early 2007 and mid-2008.
... Vea más + Prices for food cereals more than doubled; and those for rice doubled in the space of just a few months. The food price increases were particularly hard on the poor and near-poor in developing countries, many of whom spend a large share of their income on food and have limited means to cope with price shocks. An estimated 1.29 billion people in 2008 lived on less than $1.25 a day, equivalent to 22.4 percent of the developing world population. In addition, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 923 million people were undernourished in 2007. Simulation models suggested that poverty rose by 100-200 million people and the undernourished increased by 63 million in 2008. The World Bank organized rapidly for short-term support in the crisis, launching a fast-track program of loans and grants, the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP). The GFRP mainly targeted low-income countries, and provided detailed policy advice to governments and its own staff on how to respond to the crisis. The Bank also scaled up lending for agriculture and social protection to support the building of medium-term resilience to future food price shocks. The International Finance Corporation responded by sharply increasing access to liquidity for agribusinesses and agricultural traders in the short and medium term, as well as new programs to improve incentives for agricultural market participants. This evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the World Bank Group response in addressing the short-term impacts of the food price crisis and in enhancing the resilience of countries to future shocks.
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The restructuring of the Jilin Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Project for China consists of reallocating part of the loan proceeds among expenditure categories and adjusting the disbursement rate for civil works, based on the request submitted by the client.
... Vea más + The reallocation is necessary to account for the following changes: a) the appreciation of the CNY vs the USD since the time of project appraisal; b) the escalation in the cost of building materials and labor; and c) the increase in the cost due to the difference between the actual detailed designs and the indicative estimates made during project preparation. The restructuring would help the PMOs complete project activities prior to project closure and would contribute to achieving the overall project development objective.
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This report contains the World Bank Group Boards calendar for the period of January 2015 to March 2015, specifying the Boards engagements, such as meetings, briefings, and other Bank happenings.
... Vea más + It is updated as of February 2, 2015.
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The revised project development objective for the Housing Finance Project of Tanzania is to facilitate the development of the housing finance market through the provision of medium and long-term liquidity to lenders.
... Vea más + The additional financing of US$60 million equivalent will be allocated across the three existing components, and will also cover Project Management costs. Component 1 will include US$40 million to be extended to TMRC so that it can continue to provide a reliable source of longer-term funds to mortgage lenders. A key aspect of this component will be continued assistance in securing a long term funding source for TMRC, including bond issuance or alternative financing, building on the ongoing technical assistance program. The project will support a gradual move from IDA funded financing to full market priced bond financing, by blending the two sources of funding. In order to encourage TMRC to become financially sustainable by project closing, a disbursement mechanism will be introduced whereby TMRC would have access to US$10 million to be allocated on a 1:1 basis following bond issuance. Component one will also support technical assistance activities in the amount of US$800,000 consistent with the component's objective of contributing to the development of the mortgage market, including (i) hiring a resident accountant for TMRC bond issuance; (ii) review options for moving mortgages down-market; and (iii) housing finance education (which would continue to support consumer financial literacy and dissemination activities throughout the AF period). Component two will include US$15 million to scale up the HMFF pilot as well as the following technical assistance activities amounting to US$500,000: (i) Training and capacity building on HMF; (ii) Supply of IT Equipment for the HMFF. Component 3 will consist entirely of technical assistance activities amounting to US$2.3 million including: (i) feasibility study for establishing options for enhancing operational efficiency and effectiveness of real estate professions in Tanzania; (ii) guidelines and standards for low income housing; (iii) setting up a Housing Information Center; (iv) ICT resources requirements for Watumishi Company Limited Design Team; and (v) Strengthening the National Housing and Building Research Agency.
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The project development objective (PDO) of the Second Phase of the Central Asia Road Links Program (CARs-2) is to increase transport connectivity between the Republic of Tajikistan and neighboring countries along priority cross-border road links in Sugd Oblast and to support improvements in road operations and asset management practices.
... Vea más + The road sections to be financed under CARs-2 prioritize connectivity between Sugd Oblast in Tajikistan with Batken and Osh Oblasts in the Kyrgyz Republic and Ferghana Oblast in Uzbekistan. The road sections to be financed under CARs-2 prioritize connectivity between the Sugd Oblast in Tajikistan and the Osh and Batken Oblasts in the Kyrgyz Republic as they build lateral spurs from the Khujand- Osh axis to the Kyrgyz border. The project consists of three components. Component one is expected to finance the provision of works and consultants services for the rehabilitation of approximately 70 kilometers of road sections in Sugd Oblast. Component two is proposed to finance the provision of goods, and consultants services for the improvement of road operations and asset management practices. Component three is expected to finance the provision of goods, consultants services, and training, operating costs, including a financial audit to support project coordination, implementation, and management.
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Documento de evaluación inicial de proyecto 90027 FEB 02, 2015
This paper describes how Latin America and the Caribbean has been integrating financially with countries in the North and South since the 2000s.
... Vea más + The paper shows that the region is increasingly more connected with the rest of the world, even relative to gross domestic product. The region's connections with South countries have been growing faster than with North countries, especially during the second half of the 2000s. Nevertheless, North countries continue to be the region's principal source and receiver of flows. The changes reflect significant increases in portfolio investments, syndicated loans, and mergers and acquisitions. Growth of greenfield investments has been more subdued after the initial high level. Greenfield investments in the region have been in sectors in which the source country has a comparative advantage, not where the receiver country has an advantage. Mergers and acquisitions have been in sectors in which the receiver country has a comparative advantage.
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Documento de trabajo sobre investigaciones relativas a políticas WPS7190 FEB 01, 2015
Didier, Tatiana; Moretti, Matias; Schmukler, Sergio L.
This document provides information, guidance and tools to support decision-making, planning and implementation of mining local procurement in West Africa, in particular at a country level.
... Vea más + It can be used by individual role players as well as form the basis of consultative processes. The guide can also support regional harmonization relating to mining local procurement. This 2015 version of the Practical Guide to Mining Local Procurement in West Africa addresses questions that are commonly asked by governments, companies, and citizens in the region. How do we define and measure local procurement? Do we create a specific policy or legislation to encourage mining companies to buy more locally? If so, what do these look like, and what has led to successful outcomes in other countries? Do we pick winner productive sectors? How do we best support suppliers to develop the right capacities and standards to meet mine requirements? What institutional framework and which actors need to be involved to deliver? Rather than laying the main responsibility for increasing domestic sourcing on the mining sector, this Guide aims at promoting a multi-stakeholder approach, in which all actors have clear roles and responsibilities. This guide has been organised into eight modules that each address a set of related questions that have been consistently raised by role players.
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This document provides information, guidance and tools to support decision-making, planning and implementation of mining local procurement in West Africa, in particular at a country level.
... Vea más + It can be used by individual role players as well as form the basis of consultative processes. The guide can also support regional harmonization relating to mining local procurement. This 2015 version of the Practical Guide to Mining Local Procurement in West Africa addresses questions that are commonly asked by governments, companies, and citizens in the region. How do we define and measure local procurement? Do we create a specific policy or legislation to encourage mining companies to buy more locally? If so, what do these look like, and what has led to successful outcomes in other countries? Do we pick winner productive sectors? How do we best support suppliers to develop the right capacities and standards to meet mine requirements? What institutional framework and which actors need to be involved to deliver? Rather than laying the main responsibility for increasing domestic sourcing on the mining sector, this Guide aims at promoting a multi-stakeholder approach, in which all actors have clear roles and responsibilities. This guide has been organised into eight modules that each address a set of related questions that have been consistently raised by role players.
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This paper uses the 2010/11 Income and Expenditure Survey for South Africa to analyze the progressivity of the main tax and social spending programs and quantify their impact on poverty and inequality.
... Vea más + The paper also assesses the redistributive effectiveness of fiscal interventions given the resources used. Because it applies the Commitment to Equity methodology, the results for South Africa can be compared with other middle-income countries for which the framework has also been applied. The main results are twofold. First, the burden of taxes -- namely the personal income tax, the value added tax, excises on alcohol and tobacco, and the fuel levy -- falls on the richest in South Africa and social spending results in sizable increases in the incomes of the poor. In other words, for the components examined, the tax and social spending system is overall progressive. Second, for these elements, fiscal policy in South Africa achieves appreciable reductions in income inequality and poverty. Moreover, these reductions are the largest achieved in the emerging market countries that have so far been included in the Commitment to Equity project. Although fiscal policy is equalizing and poverty-reducing, the levels of inequality and poverty that remain still rank among the highest in middle-income countries. Looking ahead, as South Africa grapples with slow economic growth, a high fiscal deficit, and a rising debt burden, addressing the twin challenges of high inequality and poverty will require not only much improved quality of public services, but also higher and more inclusive economic growth.
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Documento de trabajo sobre investigaciones relativas a políticas WPS7194 FEB 01, 2015
Inchauste, Gabriela; Lustig, Nora; Maboshe, Mashekwa; Purfield, Catriona; Woolard, Ingrid
This Executive Directors' strategic engagements work program covers FY15 Q3, FY15 Q4, FY16 Q1, and also updated reports and other documents to be circulated for information.
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A new generation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is finding a small foothold among poor, small-scale farmers in developing countries.
... Vea más + Even so, many barriers still prevent poor rural people from accessing, using, and benefiting from new ICT tools and platforms, and those barriers are arguably higher for rural women. The relationship between gender and agriculture has been studied intensively over the years, and many agricultural interventions now include gender as a crosscutting issue or mainstream gender throughout their operations. Studies of the relationship between gender and the use of ICTs in agriculture have started to appear only quite recently, however. The Africa Region of the World Bank views ICTs as potentially transformative technology for rural development and seeks to incorporate the use of ICTs throughout its portfolio of projects. The present study was designed to examine the feasibility of integrating ICTs into two large investment programs: the Irrigation Development and Support Project (IDSP) in Zambia and the Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Agribusiness Project (KAPAP). The specifi c goal was to examine how ICT-based interventions might be designed to strengthen womens participation in commodity value chains under the two projects.
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This paper uses a new data set of 12,000 firms in China to estimate the returns to research and development investment and its spillover effects, and investigates how the returns to research and development depend on firm incentives.
... Vea más + For the firms in the sample, the results show that on average firm output increases around 0.4 yuan for each additional 1 yuan spent on research and development in the previous year, and there is high research and development return regardless of whether the analysis deals with the endogeneity of research and development intensity. Interestingly, the marginal return to research and development is significantly higher in firms whose chief executive officers were not appointed by the government and lower when the chief executive officer's pay is directly related to annual performance. The return to research and development is higher in relatively poor regions and for firms with worse access to finance. There are also non-trivial research and development spillover effects.
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Documento de trabajo sobre investigaciones relativas a políticas WPS7191 FEB 01, 2015
This paper uses firm-level data to assess whether telecommunication services are general-purpose technologies (technologies that benefit a large segment of the economy and have long-lasting effect).
... Vea más + It finds that only Internet services are so: firm growth and productivity are much higher when Internet access is greater and when firms use the Internet more intensively; and Internet access benefits firms in high- and low-tech industries, firms of all sizes, and exporter and non-exporter firms. Small firms appear to benefit more from the Internet than large firms do. In contrast, fixed-line and cellular services are not robustly linked to firm performance.
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Documento de trabajo sobre investigaciones relativas a políticas WPS7192 FEB 01, 2015
Clarke, George R.G.; Qiang, Christine Zhenwei; Xu, Lixin Colin