Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially female entrepreneurs, face steep challenges in accessing finance and credit. This situation is now even more dire with the Covid-19 crisis. SMEs finance their activities in three main ways: (i) shareholder...

The Government of Jordan has strengthened its commitment in recent years to gender equality and women's social and economic empowerment through Jordan's Renaissance Plan 2019-2020 and more recently through the preparation of the Women's Economic Empowerment Action Plan under the Mashreq Gender...

Efforts in Afghanistan have sought to enable systematized data disclosures and simplify data collection efforts, given security concerns that often restrict movement and coordination. In this context, the following governance enhancements are being supported: the new draft mining regulations...

Fiscal transparency is a vital requirement for effective fiscal policymaking. Budgets, including their underlying fiscal forecasts, must provide a clear statement of the government’s budgetary objectives and policy intentions. Credible budgets also require comprehensive, timely, and reliable...

The MNA region has rich marine ecosystems that can play a key role in eroding extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity through the Blue Economy—the sustainable use of marine resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, jobs, and overall ecosystem health. The Blue Economy...

In the global environment with the risk of prolonged low growth, the short-term economic outlook for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains “cautiously "pessimistic”, according to the World Bank’s latest MENA Economic Monitor. Growth in theregion is expected to average...

Civil wars and violence have significantly damaged human, social and physical capital in the war-torn countries of Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. The results on educational attainment are devastating. Estimates by the UN show that more than 13 million children are out of school in these...

The latest MENA Quarterly Economic Brief estimates growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region to fall short of expectation at 2.6 percent in 2015, about 0.2 percentage points below the October 2015 forecast. The World Bank expects the economic outlook to remain “cautiously...

This knowledge notes based on Egypt’s Youth who are not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) are studied in this note, presenting the first in-depth analysis of Egypt's NEET youth, including demographic profiles and risk factors. The three main risk factors associated with an increased...

Iraq, once a relatively skilled and economically prosperous society, has seen its development thwarted by decades of conflict and economic decline. Today it is an upper middle-income, resource-rich, yet fragile and conflict-riven country. Progress on the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and...