Over the past twenty years, Indonesia has pursued an ambitious policy agenda for decentralization. Indonesia's subnational governments play a key role in providing frontline services. In 2014, Indonesia's Village Law ushered in a new chapter in the country's decentralization agenda. The law...

A national financial-inclusion strategy (NFIS) helps policy makers, in coordination with a wide range of stakeholders, define objectives and outline a set of impactful, sequenced actions to accelerate progress toward achieving financial-inclusion goals. Achieving greater financial inclusion...

While the importance of financial capability has been studied empirically, questions remain about program effectiveness, whether and how effectively these skills can be taught to consumers, and if financial education programs lead to sustained behavioral changes that improve one's financial...

This report assesses water security in Argentina, using a conceptual framework developed by the World Bank. The effects of the pandemic reinforce the importance of safe access to water, hygiene, and sanitation, both as the first barrier against virus transmission and as an essential factor...

This study aims to explore ways in which key competencies of the oil and gas industry could be leveraged to support the diversification of the Chadian economy. The analysis focused on identifying opportunities and prioritizing core competencies in specific segments of the oil and gas value chain...

The Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice of the World Bank Group (WBG) aims to help countries build financial systems that are deep, diversified, inclusive, efficient, and stable essential to promoting economic growth, reducing poverty, and increasing shared prosperity. One...

As innovation in retail payments continues and the systems evolve, effective governance of them becomes more complicated and increases in importance. Retail payment systems are essential for the economy to function efficiently, and more and more, they are something on which all individuals rely...

During the period June 2019 to October 2020 the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) teams updated the findings of the FinancialSector Assessment Program (FSAP) conducted in 2010. While the WB and IMF teams were able to visit the Philippines in 2019 in person, the 2020 missions...

The report reviews the recent developments in the Vietnamese economy and discusses the economy's short- to medium-term prospects, highlighting domestic and external risks associated to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. A special emphasis is on what Vietnam needs to do to realize its objective...

What is the appropriate level of employment in the public sector as a whole and for essential workers like public administrators, teachers, and doctors? Is the public sector wage bill affordable? Does the public sector pay competitive wages compared to the private sector to attract talent while...