Economics & Development

Cambodia Sustainable Energy Transition Project for Cambodia has the development objectives to strengthen power grid infrastructure for renewable energy integration and improve demand-side energy efficiency. Components: Component 1, Grid Strengthening for Energy Transition, will expand high-voltage capacity and enhance system flexibility to support variable renewable energy integration and cross-border clean power flows. Sub-components: Sub-component 1.1, Grid Strengthening, will construct 230 kilovolt and 115 kilovolt transmission lines and associated substations between GS Lvea Am and GS Arey Ksat, build the Arey Ksat Substation and the Chroy Chang Va III Substation, and extend the Wat Phnom Substation and Substation GS9 to relieve congestion, improve supply reliability in the Phnom Penh area, and enable delivery of solar and hydropower including imports from neighboring systems. Sub-component 1.2, Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Investment, will deploy approximately 100 megawatt/200 megawatt-hour BESS at a selected substation to provide frequency control and load shifting, thereby increasing grid stability and renewable energy uptake. Sub-component 1.3, Distribution Network Expansion and Strengthening, will upgrade medium voltage (MV) urban and rural networks, including lines, poles, transformers, and accessories, and pilot Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) by replacing three-phase meters and a portion of single-phase meters in Phnom Penh, Kandal, and selected provinces to improve billing accuracy, loss reduction, demand response readiness, and outage management. Component 2, Energy Efficiency Implementation, will establish a dedicated credit line to catalyze industrial energy efficiency by providing longer-tenor financing through the Small and Medium Enterprise Bank of Cambodia and the Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia using a dual channel structure of direct sub-loans and wholesale on-lending, with required Environmental and Social Management Systems, minimum borrower equity contributions, and co-financing, supported by technical assistance, standardized appraisal, measurement and verification, and a Management Information System to track pipeline and savings. Component 3, Project Implementation Support, comprises Sub-component 3.1 to strengthen Electricite du Cambodge for procurement, contract management, environmental and social risk management, supervision, and preparation of future grid investments, and Sub-component 3.2 to build Ministry of Mines and Energy capacity and support participating financial institutions with training on energy audits, safeguards, pipeline development, monitoring, and MIS operation. Component 4, Contingent Emergency Response, will provide a mechanism to rapidly reallocate project resources in the event of an eligible crisis or emergency, guided by a Contingent Emergency Response Component manual and an Emergency Action Plan.

On June 4, 2026, using an Absence-of-Objection basis, the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association and the Boards of Directors of the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency approved the document titled Official Travel of Executive Directors, Alternate Executive Directors, Senior Advisors and Advisors to Executive Directors as of May 29, 2026, dated June 1, 2026 (R2026-0141, IDA/R2026-0159, IFC/R2026-0192, MIGA/R2026-0071), which records and consolidates official travel arrangements for Executive Directors, Alternates, Senior Advisors, and Advisors across the institutions as of the stated date.

The development objective of the First Ukraine Jobs and Private Sector Growth Development Policy Operation for Ukraine is to enable private sector financing and investment, attract skilled labor to jobs, and advance cross-border market integration. The operation supports policy and institutional reforms across three areas of work. Under enabling private sector financing and investment, it modernizes the public-private partnership and concession framework to accelerate preparation and allow viability gap funding; expands access to finance for firms by establishing a modern legal regime for factoring and strengthening the governance and independence of the National Development Institution to scale market-based support for MSMEs; and reduces the state footprint and corruption risks by mandating corporatization of state-owned enterprises, advancing the privatization of state-owned banks through the selection of sales advisors, and improving SOE oversight. Expected results include approval of five PPP and concession projects, registration of two thousand factoring receivables assignments, increased loan financing facilitated through the National Development Institution, lower average costs of small-value cross-border transfers, the sale of shares in at least one state-owned bank, and two thousand small-scale privatization auctions announced. To attract skilled labor to jobs, the operation establishes a modern housing policy that promotes a market-oriented, energy-efficient, and resilient housing system with a national digital housing information platform; removes barriers for veteran entrepreneurship through legal status, registries, and a service portal; expands cost-effective, inclusive early childcare supply; and reforms vocational education financing and governance by introducing independent supervisory boards and aligning training with employer needs. Expected results include recording housing needs for at least ten percent of communities in the single government system, registration of three thousand veteran entrepreneurship entities, a five percentage point increase in the share of women with children ages zero to three who are actively employed, and one hundred vocational institutions with supervisory boards. To advance cross-border market integration, the operation establishes an agricultural paying agency with EU-aligned digital administration and control systems for transparent and auditable support; harmonizes electricity market mechanisms with EU rules to enable market coupling, strengthen flexibility through access to EU balancing platforms, and enhance resilience and consumer protection; and restores a modern monitoring, reporting, and verification system for greenhouse gas emissions with standardized procedures and a public digital registry that can underpin a future emissions trading system and support CBAM compliance. Expected results include tracking sixty percent of agricultural support through the Area Monitoring System, a fifteen percent increase in cross-border energy trade, and annual greenhouse gas reporting by sixty percent of production sites covered by the national MRV system. Collectively, these reforms reinforce macro-structural resilience, align with EU accession requirements and Paris Agreement objectives, and are designed to crowd in private capital, create jobs, and improve transparency and service delivery in a high-risk environment.

High food insecurity, high levels of stunting, frequent power outages are some of the scars a decade of conflict has left on Yemen. The private sector has been an important source of resilience and key sectors offer growth potential - with prospects on jobs and improved livelihoods - if enabled by the necessary macroeconomic and institutional fundamentals. Since re-engaging in 2016, the World Bank Group (WBG) has supported the Yemeni people across the whole country through International Development Association (IDA) grants and International Finance Corporation (IFC) loans. Building on the WBG fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) strategy refresh, the WBG takes a differentiated approach in Yemen: working with platforms with a lasting impact, as a country in crisis, while adjusting to conflicted-affected country modalities with the Internationally Recognized Government (IRG). This CPF reorients WBG support to Yemen along three dimensions - selectivity (in sectoral and geographic scope), partnerships, and localization. The CPF aims to support jobs and livelihoods of Yemenis through three outcomes that are mutually reinforcing, with, for instance, job opportunities in fisheries and agribusiness requiring better access to electricity and contributing to better nutrition.