Economics & Development

This report highlights recent economic and social developments in Kazakhstan, where economic growth moderated to 4.0 percent in 2024 from 5.1 percent in 2023, while inflation eased to 8.4 percent year-on-year by December 2024. Despite improvements in macroeconomic indicators, rising prices remained a major public concern, and perceptions of local economic conditions and opportunities for starting a business weakened compared to 2023. Public confidence in government effectiveness, including its support for reforms, anti-corruption efforts, and engagement with citizens, also declined during the year. Survey results show that around one-fifth of respondents considered their households poor, while concerns about income and wealth inequality remained widespread. An in-depth analysis of household debt revealed that high debt burdens negatively affect well-being, with many households allocating more than half of their monthly income to debt repayments. Highly indebted households were more likely to experience food insecurity, worry about job loss, and hold less favorable views of government performance, underscoring the social and economic challenges associated with rising household indebtedness in Kazakhstan.

The minute is related to IFC Project 51264.

Natural hazards can profoundly disrupt economies, yet their impact on employment remains underexplored. This study quantifies job losses due to floods, earthquakes, wind, storm surges, tsunamis, and heat across 132 countries, using a full-time job equivalent loss estimation approach. The results show that fast-onset natural shocks cause 9.4 million job equivalent losses annually on average, predominantly due to earthquakes and floods, with burdens concentrated in East Asia and the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, extreme heat was associated with 79.7 million job equivalent losses annually across 114 countries between 2015 and 2024, with the burdens concentrated in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, average annual job losses can be significantly lower than losses from specific extreme events, for instance, with 1-in-100-year hazard events resulting in losses that exceed average annual job losses by a factor of over 10. Overall, low-income countries experience the highest job loss rate per capita. Within countries, the poorest population group bears a disproportionate share of job equivalent losses. Results highlight the urgent need for targeted adaptation and resilience measures that safeguard workers, jobs, and productivity to support economic development.

A key consideration in health fund or purchasing agency design is whether it operates within or outside the government budget. This structural position determines what provider payment mechanisms are available and what fiscal and governance risks arise. Operating outside the budget enables greater flexibility but creates fiscal and governance risks. Operating within the budget can constrain payment flexibility, but those constraints are not insurmountable. Neither position (within or outside the budget) is inherently superior, and the governance implications are asymmetric. Moving a fund outside the PFM system is as much a governance commitment as an institutional design choice, and the requisite enabling conditions (robust oversight mechanisms, financial accountability frameworks, and fiscal safeguards) should be firmly in place before such a step is considered.

The Preferential Services Trade Restrictions Index (PSTRI) measures the restrictiveness in services trade within an economy's preferential regime. This index evaluates the level of restrictiveness outlined in Parties’ PTA Schedules. The PSTRI ranges from 0 to 100, where 0 indicates that none of the restrictions underlying the index are applied and 100 implies complete closure.​

On May 29, 2026, the Board of Directors of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency approved on an absence-of-objection basis the document titled Rules for the 2026 Regular Election of MIGA Directors (MIGA/R2026-0059, dated May 20, 2026), establishing the procedural framework for the 2026 regular election of MIGA Directors; the document carries a restricted distribution designation for official use.

The Annex 5 of the Ethiopia Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for the Period FY2027–FY2036 presents key economic indicators and medium-term forecasts for Ethiopia. The annex highlights trends in economic growth, inflation, fiscal performance, public debt, trade, foreign investment, poverty, and inequality. It reflects a projected trajectory of strong economic growth supported by reforms, declining inflation, improved fiscal balances, and rising foreign reserves, while underscoring persistent challenges related to poverty, inequality, external vulnerabilities, and the need for sustained macroeconomic stability and inclusive development.

This Completion and Learning Review (CLR) assesses the implementation and outcomes of the World Bank Group (WBG) Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Ethiopia for FY18–FY22, while drawing lessons from WBG engagement through mid-FY24. The review examines progress under three focus areas: promoting structural and economic transformation, building resilience and inclusiveness, and strengthening institutional accountability and governance. CPF implementation occurred amid major shifts in Ethiopia’s context, including political reforms, the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, drought, locust infestations, and global economic shocks. Overall development outcomes were rated Moderately Unsatisfactory, with notable achievements in health services, natural resource management, energy access, and public financial management, while education, nutrition, and some private sector development objectives fell short of targets. Despite these challenges, the WBG adapted its operations to emerging needs, expanded support for crisis response and resilience, and strengthened partnerships with development actors. The CLR highlights key lessons on resilience, conflict sensitivity, policy reform, private sector development, partnerships, operational flexibility, spatially differentiated programming, engagement in a federal system, and capacity strengthening to inform future engagement in Ethiopia.

The Climate Health Implementation Manual (CHIM) draws on five tool repositories, one for each of the CHIM technical areas. Each repository is a curated, filterable collection of tools rated for low- and middle-income country readiness.