Economic disruption following Russia's invasion of Ukraine arrived during the aftershocks of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, exacerbating inflation, debt, financial conditions, growth prospects, and hardship among the vulnerable, all of which translate to stress on limited...

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, by area. The country has a long history of conflict, political upheaval, and instability and has a very high poverty rate despite its abundance of natural resources. Mortality and fertility rates in DRC are...

This report aims to survey the outlook for the off-grid solar market and interventions needed for the sector to achieve its full potential impact. Chapter 2 discusses what it will take for the sector to achieve its primary development goals, including both access to electricity and a host of...

For more than a decade, the biennial Off-Grid Solar (OGS) Market Trends Report (MTR) has been the anchor of the World Bank Lighting Global/GOGLA franchise of reports. They are the go-to source of OGS sector information for investors, industry members, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The...

New shocks hit the Ugandan economy in 2022, just as it was recovering as the COVID-19 pandemic waned and related mobility restrictions were fully removed. Commodity price surges and disruptions to trade and supply chains because of the war in Ukraine worsened a global economy that was dragging...

This report assesses recent progress in poverty reduction in Zanzibar. It is based on Zanzibar's last three household budget surveys and considers the period between 2009 and 2019, with a focus on the last four years of this decade: 2015-2019. Poverty - based on household consumption - fell by 9...

The countries of the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) - Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa are exposed to climatic shocks, especially drought, that pose a continual threat to lives and livelihoods across the subregion. The pandemic has compounded these existing...

The world economy was on track for a strong, albeit uneven, recovery from COVID-19. However, the war in the Ukraine and supply-chain disruptions exacerbated by shutdowns in China due to the zero-COVID policy are dealing a serious blow to global recovery. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),...

The services sector has played an important role in the structural transformation of Poland, providing employment opportunities, and creating productivity growth. Close to 60 percent of employees now work in the services sector. Nevertheless, the sector's productivity lags that of other...

The problems in Croatia's fiscal decentralization system have long been recognized. The fragmented territorial-administrative structure, fiscal decentralization efforts with insufficient fiscal autonomy, inconsistent public service standards, unbalanced sources of revenue, and doubts about the...