Economics & Development

Trinidad and Tobago combines strong human development and sizable fiscal buffers with high dependence on a volatile energy sector. Growth is modest and inflation low; the fiscal deficit has narrowed but debt remains elevated. Labor force participation is weak, and gender gaps persist. Medium-term growth should strengthen with energy projects and fiscal improvement, but project implementation risks are significant.

Agricultural land markets are critical for structural transformation but may, as farm sizes increase, also be affected by operators exercising market power. To explore this little-studied issue, this paper uses administrative data for agricultural land lease transactions from 2021 to 2024 in Ukraine. Tenant fixed effect regressions indicate that, compared to village councils where it controlled less than 10 percent of the land before a transaction, the same tenant paid 4 or 7.5 percent ($3.66 or $6.86 per ha and year) less rent. Robustness checks using land sales prices or the length of lease terms yield similar results. Policy implications for Ukraine and beyond are discussed.

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of the Europe and Central Asia region. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product, and gross domestic product per capita, and where available, other indicators such as primary school enrollment, life expectancy at birth, total greenhouse gas emissions and inflation, among others, are included for each country. In addition to the World Bank’s most recent forecasts, key conditions and challenges, recent developments and outlook are briefly described for each country in the region.