Ghana's development path, although registering past successes, faces a series of current and future challenges. Ghana succeeded inhalving its poverty rate between 1991 and 2016, from 87 percent (US$3.65 per day in 2017 purchasing power parity [PPP]) to about 50 percent of the population,...

Eswatini's fundamental policy challenge is to address the longstanding factors that have constrained growth and hindered broad-based improvements in living standards. Given the state's significant role in the economy, the build-up of macro imbalances, and slow improvements in social indicators,...

The Subnational public finance report is the first in a series of World Bank reports that analyze local and regional government fiscal and financial developments in Croatia. The objective of this work is to offer policy advice on improving public service delivery in a fiscally efficient and...

How can Zimbabwe create the necessary fiscal space to absorb quasi-fiscal expenditures, reverse its upward trend in public debt, and support macroeconomic stability? Zimbabwe is faced with an unsustainable and growing stock of public debt. To service this debt, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)...

Cabo Verde has long been a story of economic success, but growth decelerated in the last decade and has become more volatile - with implications for fiscal performance. Economic growth and social indicators improved significantly after the country's independence from Portugal in 1975, driven by...

This background note provides more detail on the key findings for the health sector from the forthcoming World Bank 2025 Mongolia Public Finance Review. It is intended for policymakers and practitioners who are interested to know more about the efficiency of health spending in Mongolia. It can...

This Public Finance Review (PFR) is the first since 2013, and it complements other World Bank Group advisory support and analytics. The PFR updates the fiscal analysis with data from 2013 through 2023 and expands into areas not previously covered, such as revenues, fiscal risks, and...

The connection between public spending and the ambitions of urban elites is a common topic in the historiography of the late Middle Ages. However, it is still unclear how city finances and private capital interacted before the use of sophisticated financial systems of the late 13 th to early 14...