Disasters resulting from natural hazards represent an important challenge for Colombia's fiscal sustainability and stability. Colombia's rate of economic growth is increasing the base of assets exposed to disaster risks, which may lead to significant increases in losses, particularly if...

The Philippines is increasingly exposed and vulnerable to natural hazards, which undermines poverty reduction and long-term growth. Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which struck the Philippines in 2013, is considered the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall. Typhoon Yolanda has caused over 6,300...

This reports on the cost of doing business in Egypt consistently identify delays in land acquisition as one of the impediments to setting up new businesses as well as attracting foreign direct investments. Despite the provisions of Law 10/1990 (hereafter referred to as Law 10), which lays out a...

Out-of-pocket payments (OOPs) are direct (at the point of service) financial contributions or co-payments by patients and their families associated with consumption of medical products (such as medicines) and/or services. They can be formal as well as informal payments. Together with taxation,...

This set of policy notes is intended to provide suggestions to the new Government on policy actions for addressing the various economic and social challenges that Moldova faces. Economic and social policy issues are the focus of this document. The notes have been prepared in the context of the...

This policy note is a summary of the findings of a joint study of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, and the World Bank. The policy note is organized as follows: the next section, 'in the shadow of king coal,' provides a brief history of the...

This paper examines health provider payment reforms in China the present system and how it evolved, and changes that will improve it in the context of ongoing health reform. The paper begins with a brief introduction and background discussion followed by two substantive sections experiments with...

Compared with developed economies, health expenditure in China is not particularly high on a per capita basis or as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Similarly, pharmaceutical expenditure in comparative perspective is not particularly high on a per capita basis or as a percentage of GDP....

Since the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, health care in China has become a leading national concern. Often highlighted by the popular phrase, kan-bing-nan, kan-bing-gui (seeking care is difficult and expensive), healthcare costs can be devastating. Prior to 2007, there...

In recent years, Chinese health care has improved rapidly, especially in the areas of equity and accessibility of services, as well as the movement toward universal coverage. A new round of health care reform, which was announced in April 2009, began implementation in 2010, with reform pilots in...