Timor-Leste is making good progress in nation-building and its emerging governance systems have progressively developed into a largely disciplined PFM system. The main objective of this PEFA assessment is to establish a new baseline for Public Financial Management (PFM) performance measurement...

According to the Timor-Leste Demographic and Health Survey, in 2016 about 46 percent of all children less than five years old are stunted, 24 percent are wasted, and 40 percent are anemic. Rural children are more at risk of being malnourished than urban children; boys are at greater risk than...

This report uses innovative data to investigate the economic impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Timor-Leste is a relatively data-scarce country, which poses a considerable challenge for real-time evidence-based policymaking. Data on overall economic activity is published on an...

About 80 percent of the poor households in Timor-Leste live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. It is therefore widely acknowledged that growth in the agriculture sector is an important channel through which poverty can be reduced in the country. That...

Following a two-year recession, economic activity is expected to recover in 2019. Public spending, which has traditionally been the key driver of economic growth, increased by 16 percent in the first half of 2019 when compared to the same period in 2018. Higher spending was predominantly focused...

This report describes the findings from an educational evaluation carried out in Timor-Leste early in the school year of 2017. The primary purpose of the evaluation was to develop preliminary insights into the effectiveness of the New Curriculum and a second supporting educational innovation,...

This Public Expenditure Review is focused on the quality and sustainability of public spending. The key objective of this Public Expenditure Review (PER) is to assess the quality of public spending, by evaluating its efficiency and effectiveness, while also delving into sustainability...

This book aims to foster a better understanding of the particular challenges faced by resource-dependent countries or jurisdictions in managing their resource revenues through natural resource funds (NRFs). It explores the varieties of natural resource management strategies as dictated primarily...

For the people of Timor-Leste, independence promised a fundamental transformation from foreign occupation to self-rule, from brutality to respect for basic rights, and from poverty to prosperity. In the eyes of the country's political leaders, revenue from the country's oil and gas reserves is...

The Timor Leste secession conflict lasted for 25 years. Its last wave of violence in 1999, following the withdrawal of Indonesian troops, generated massive displacement and destruction with widespread consequences for the economic and social development of the country. This paper analyzes the...

This paper uses a simple empirical approach to estimate vulnerability to food inadequacy using a cross-section data from the 2001 Timor-Leste Living Standard Measurement Survey. This measurement is based on the assumption that households are exposed to the same kind of shock. We find that the...

Planning the opportunities for youth -- Youth well-being and the demographic dividend -- The economic inclusion of youth -- Education and training in the new economy -- The challenge of the fourth industrial revolution: embracing technology -- Public investment in youth

At the invitation of the Government, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, undertook a mission to Timor-Leste from 13 to 18 November 2011. The Special Rapporteur collected first-hand information on the human rights situation of people living in...

This report was written as part of a broader Health Sector Review in Timor-Leste currently being undertaken by the World Bank. Timor-Leste struggles with a burden of disease since independence. Poor health is related to environmental sanitation, poverty, food security, a shortage of doctors, and...

This report analyses the business training and business services sectors in Timor Leste, and recommends a number of initiatives for the strengthening of these important sectors of the economy. Small, Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) have had limited access to information, and there seems to be a...

This study focuses on the implications of East Timor's transitions from United Nations administration to Independence, from reconstruction to development and from aid dependence to fiscal independence for public expenditure policy and management. Following an assessment of the existing systems...

The Timor-Leste health sector review describes the accomplishments made by the government of Timore-Leste in the health sector since it separated from Indonesia, and analyzes the challenges still facing the government moving forward. Infant and maternal mortality, and malnutrition, are still...

The Timor-Leste health sector review describes the accomplishments made by the government of Timore-Leste in the health sector since it separated from Indonesia, and analyzes the challenges still facing the government moving forward. Infant and maternal mortality, and malnutrition, are still...

Timor-Leste has achieved enormous progress in rehabilitating its economy, reconstructing its infrastructure, reintegrating its refugees and building the key elements of a sustainable political process in an environment of internal peace. It now faces many challenges of nation-building and of...

Timor-Leste has achieved enormous progress in rehabilitating its economy, reconstructing its infrastructure, reintegrating its refugees and building the key elements of a sustainable political process in an environment of internal peace. It now faces many challenges of nation-building and of...

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste is a young, post-conflict nation endowed with significant oil revenues. Timor-Leste has one of the highest birth rates in the world (2.41 percent population growth) with over 44 percent of the population below 15 years of age (Timor-Leste Census, 2010)....

The newly independent Timor-Leste has established itself as one of the fastest growing economies in Asia and the Pacific. A concentration of economic activity in the capital has, however, raised the concern that the better off members of society are capturing most of the benefits. This study...