Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Children carry bundles of sticks along the road in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Government of Nepal and the World Bank on 31 May signed a financing agreement for $120 million concessional loan from the International Development Association and a grant agreement for $19.7 million from the Global Partnership for Education for the School Sector Transformation Program (SSTP) Operation, which support the implementation of the government’s flagship School Education Sector Plan.

The economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are projected to grow at a slower pace in 2023 compared to the previous year, in the face of lower oil and gas earnings and a global economic slowdown, according to the new World Bank Gulf Economic Update (GEU). The GCC is expected to grow by 2.5% in 2023 and 3.2% in 2024. This compares to the region’s remarkable GDP growth of 7.3% in 2022, which was fueled by a strong increase in oil production for most of that year.

Behind a façade of normalization of crisis conditions, the Lebanese economy remains in precipitous decline, markedly distant from a stabilization path, let alone a recovery path, according to the latest World Bank Lebanon Economic Monitor released today. The systemic failure of Lebanon’s banking system and the collapse of the currency have induced a pervasive dollarized cash economy estimated at almost half of GDP in 2022.

The Thailand Science, Research and Innovation (TSRI) agency and the World Bank have partnered to strengthen national innovation policies and drive productivity growth in Thailand. Accordingly, the two sides will conduct a Policy Effectiveness Review (PER) of Thailand’s innovation policies to assess the quality of policy implementation in science, technology, and innovation of the private sector. The PER will include building a profile of Thailand's science, technology, and innovation policy instruments in evaluating the alignment of current policies with the country's needs in these areas.

Brazil is in a strong position to give its people a better life while also successfully confronting the threat of climate change, a new World Bank Group report released said, on May 4.

The World Bank will provide analytical and advisory support to the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy to make the most of the country’s geothermal natural assets. An agreement for the provision of Reimbursable Advisory Services for Geothermal Energy for Energy Security in Bulgaria was signed by Lasse Melgaard, World Bank Resident Representative for Bulgaria, Czechia, and Slovakia and Rosen Hristov, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Bulgaria, on May 4.

The World Bank’s report, Pakistan Human Capital Review (HCR), Building Capabilities Throughout Life, underlines the need for Pakistan to significantly increase investments in human capital to address the severe gaps it faces in education and health outcomes particularly.

According to a new World Bank report, Palestinian economic growth is expected to soften in 2023. While the economy had continued to rebound at a rate of 4% in 2022, this was driven by the ongoing recovery of private consumption as COVID-19 mobility restrictions eased. However, increased tensions in the Palestinian territories and the spillovers from the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue to pose significant downside risks.

Countries that protect their population’s education, health, knowledge, and skills – that is, their human capital - now and during future shocks will emerge with lower levels of negative economic impact than those that do not, according to a new World Bank report released, on May 1st.