Half a year ago, Russia's economic prospects looked uncertain. The global economy was losing momentum, the expansion in the euro area was grinding to a halt and commodity prices were beginning to fall. Yet, while output growth is slowing this year in line with weaker growth in Europe and...

Nearly half of East Asia population lives in cities and the region is urbanizing so rapidly that built up areas are projected to increase faster here than in any other region in the next twenty years. Still, more than half of slum dwellers around the world live in East Asia. These are the people...

"The current account can be understood as the outcome of investment decisions made by domestic and foreign investors. These decisions can be decomposed into a portfolio rebalancing and a portfolio growth component. This paper provides empirical evidence of the importance of portfolio rebalancing...

Immunization deserves high priority, especially in developing countries, for three reasons: vaccine-preventable diseases, disproportionately affect the poorest fifth of the population; immunization is among the most cost-effective interventions, and has a major impact in reducing the burden of...

The Drought Risk and Resilience Assessment (DRRA) offers a structured methodology for evaluating drought risk and enhancing resilience. The objective is to transition from reactive to proactive drought management, reducing the impacts of droughts. When applied, a DRRA can support task teams and...

The Government of Malawi put in place a mechanism that enables its flagship unconditional cash transfer program-the Social Cash Transfer Program (SCTP)—to scale up response to additional beneficiaries when shocks occur. Making the SCTP shock-responsive is a key strategic pillar of the...

The Kyrgyz Republic is a small, open, and lower-middle-income country. Throughout the past two decades, the Kyrgyz authorities have substantially improved the country's fiscal stance to maintain macroeconomic stability. Notwithstanding past progress, the fiscal system of the Kyrgyz Republic...