This paper examines the seaports responsible for handling the majority of trade around the Bay of Bengal and identifies the projects that will enable trade and contribute to improving maritime infrastructure. It reviews the nature, potential evolution, and primary types of maritime trade around...

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement seems to have reached a crossroads: it could either be a building block toward achieving economic integration in Asia and the Pacific, or trigger the formation of two large trade blocs which will work independently of one another. When the Government...

The Asia and Pacific region and Latin American and Caribbean region are two regions divided not only by vast geographic distance, but also by disparities in economics, politics, culture, and history. Most recently, a number of forums explored the possibility of closing such gaps and linking the...

Infrastructure plays a key role in promoting and sustaining rapid economic growth. Properly designed infrastructure can also make growth more inclusive by sharing its benefits with poorer groups and communities, especially by connecting remote areas and small and landlocked countries to major...

We examine economic activity measured with firm performance indicators using the changes in intensity of night-time light in four Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation economies: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. The empirical analysis is based on the World Bank Enterprise...

We investigate the factors affecting firms’ ability to adjust production in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We used firm-level survey data from the enterprise survey implemented by the World Bank Group, including a standard enterprise survey (baseline) and two waves of follow-up surveys...

The impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak have heavily affected CAREC member countries, which include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The COVID-19 crisis and the...

This paper surveys studies of the importance of Central Asian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the economy and their experience during the Russian financial crisis. It also uses survey data from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Business...

The COVID-19 pandemic has badly affected economic activities. In emerging Asia, where small family businesses play central roles in their economies, previous studies found that the sector was hit particularly hard by the pandemic. However, little is known about how households have mitigated the...

A growing literature examines the roles of financial literacy in an individual's income, saving behavior, and the use of financial products including financial technology (fintech). However, no study has examined the effects of the financial literacy of family business owners on fintech use and...