The value of funded pensions can depend critically on the funds' investment performance. To try and protect people's savings, governments often regulate pension funds strictly, particularly when contributions are mandatory. For example, the new funded pension systems in Latin America and Eastern...

Policy credibility and effectiveness and strong institutional capacities are essential to achieving a green and just transition in Serbia. This assessment focuses on the performance of institutions at both the national and subnational levels, and is aimed at addressing Serbia's air pollution and...

Afghanistan's public financial management (PFM) system achieved significant improvements between June 2005 and December 2007. Among 28 performance indicators, 18 indicators improved, two indicators deteriorated, and eight indicators remained unchanged. Among three indicators of donor practices,...

The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) is the third largest province of Pakistan. The developing countries and bilateral and multilateral donors having a concern for increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of procurement systems, under the auspices of the joint World Bank and...

Balochistan is the largest province in Pakistan, with 44 percent (347,000 sq. kms.) of the land area but only 5 percent of the population (6.5 million). The province is blessed with a large number of natural resources which are to a great extent unexplored and unutilized. It has an...

A World Bank mission visited Kazakhstan from July 15-23, 2010, to undertake a comprehensive assessment of debt management operations using the Debt Management Performance Assessment tool (DeMPA). The DeMPA report provides an overview of strengths and weaknesses in government debt management in...

The Corporate Scorecard is designed to provide a snapshot of the Bank???s overall performance, including its business modernization, in the context of development results. It facilitates strategic dialogue between Management and the Board on progress made and areas that need attention. The World...

The present report, and the source of its findings, summarizes the results of research conducted in Brazil in 2003-2004. It is the second of two World Bank sponsored studies on the Brazilian judicial system. Its findings, while provocative, were obviously limited in their generalization, and as...

This paper contains three volumes presenting the Vietnam Reading and Mathematics Assessment Study conducted in 2001. The first volume sets the study in its country context, describes its genesis, outlines the methodology, and summarizes the results. The main purpose is to show how the analysis...

The World Bank is developing a program to assist developing countries improve debt management in collaboration with other partners. The objective of the program is to help strengthen capacity and institutions in developing countries to manage government debt in an effective and sustainable...