This systematic country diagnostic for Iraq identifies the three characteristics that underlie Iraq’s predicaments: its poor governance, dependence on oil wealth, and ethnic and regional diversity. It posits that the combination of oil wealth and ethnic and religious fragmentation has led to...

Tanzania began its independence as a socialist country, but in the 1980s economic difficulties pushed it to adopt macroeconomic reforms, among them removing direct controls on prices and exchange and interest rates and opening up industry to private investment. Reforms intensified in the second...

The World Bank Group conducted face-to-face interviews with top managers and business owners of 1,000 enterprises in Thailand from November 2015 through June 2016. The Enterprise Survey (ES) sample is representative of Thailand’s formal private sector. The ES covers several aspects of business...

SABER-Tertiary Education is a diagnostic tool to assess how education systems perform and to identify priorities for reforms at the national level. It is part of the World Bank’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER), which aims to benchmark education systems at the country...

SABER-Tertiary Education is a diagnostic tool to assess how education systems perform and to identify priorities for reforms at the national level. It is part of the World Bank’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER), which aims to benchmark education systems at the country...

The World Bank Group conducted face-to-face interviews with top managers and business owners of 368 enterprises in Lao PDR from January 2016 through June 2016. The Enterprise Survey (ES) sample is representative of Lao PDR’s formal private sector. The ES covers several aspects of business...

The World Bank Group conducted face-to-face interviews with top managers and business owners of 373 enterprises in Cambodia from February 2016 through June 2016. The Enterprise Survey (ES) sample is representative of Cambodia’s formal private sector. The ES covers several aspects of business...

In 2011, the World Bank Group commenced a multi-year program designed to support countries in systematically examining and strengthening the performance of their education systems. Part of the World Bank’s Education Sector Strategy,1 the evidence-based initiative called SABER (Systems Approach...

Following a sharp slowdown over the past two years, a recovery is underway in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the region is expected to strengthen to 2.4 percent in 2017 from 1.3 percent in 2016, slightly below the pace previously projected. The rebound is being led by...

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to recover to 2.6 percent in 2017, following a marked deceleration in 2016. The upturn in economic activity is expected to continue in 2018-19, reflecting improvements in commodity prices, a pickup in global growth, and more supportive domestic...