Albania | World Bank

Environmental mitigation plan

2013-05-24T04:00:00.000Z

The objective of the Water Sector Investment Project for Albania is to (i) improve the reliability of water service and cost recovery in the Durres region; and (ii) support the government's efforts to implement its sector strategy, including meeting European Union (EU) accession requirements, while supporting the broader reform agenda at the national level. Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: a) the facilities to be constructed under the project will not cause the conversion or degradation of any natural habitats, nor will it negatively affect ecologically important species. On the other hand, mitigation measures associated with the project could be an opportunity to enhance the value of natural habitats, through mitigation measures which may support ecological balance and reduce pressures on the eco system. The extraction of water from the deep underground aquifer, if managed carefully and responsibly, will not affect the levels of the upper water table, thus preventing any impact on natural habitats; b) in the present situation, air quality is negatively affected by the odors of sewage from links in the decrepit network and from old manholes which no longer have their covers; c) no data on noise levels are available for the area. There are no significant point sources of noise emissions. Vehicular traffic and associated noise emissions are associated mainly with the local road connecting Tirana and Durres areas, and the traffic connected; and d) all construction work will be confined to the minimum possible. In cases where archaeological sites could be compromised by construction activity, these will be protected by substantial fencing to prevent inadvertent or negligent damage to the archaeology.

Environmental impact assessment report

2013-05-24T04:00:00.000Z

Albania - Water Sector Investment Project : restructuring

2013-05-24T04:00:00.000Z

The objective of the Water Sector Investment Project for Albania is to (i) improve the reliability of water service and cost recovery in the Durres region; and (ii) support the government's efforts to implement its sector strategy, including meeting European Union (EU) accession requirements, while supporting the broader reform agenda at the national level. Negative impacts include: loss of title, loss of asset, loss of land acquisition, loss of structures, and loss of income. Mitigation measures include: a) compensation payments must be made before any acquisition of assets or physical resettlement takes place unless those payments are staggered to enable affected people to begin preparation of new sites; b) compensation for dismantled infrastructure or disrupted services must be paid to affected communities, or to local institutions as appropriate, at full replacement cost, before civil works begin; c) compensation for lost earnings must be paid to proprietors and employees for the duration of work stoppages resulting from the relocation of enterprises; d) compensation rates are calculated in consultation with representatives of affected populations to ensure that rates are fair and adequate; and e) compensation for land are sufficient to enable affected people to restore their standard of living after resettlement.

Project Information Document (Appraisal Stage) - Water Sector Investment Project - P102733

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000Z

Albania - ECAPDEV Grant for the Preparation of a Results-Based Road Maintenance and Safety Project : resettlement plan

2013-05-17T04:00:00.000Z

The objective of the Europe and Central Asia Region Capacity Development Trust Fund (ECAPDEV) Grant for the Preparation of the Results-Based Road Maintenance and Safety Project for Albania is to support the Government of Albania in preparing a Results-Based Road Maintenance and Safety Project (RRMSP) and to enhance the capacity of the Albanian road authority in road asset management and road safety. Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: a) describe the pertinent laws, regulations, permitting procedures and standards governing environmental quality, environmental impact assessments, outdoor works, traffic management, waste management, at the regional and national level; and b) in this analysis, distinguish between significant positive and negative impacts, direct and indirect impacts, and immediate and long-term impacts for the project locations. Identify impacts that are unavoidable or irreversible. Wherever possible, describe impacts quantitatively, in terms of environmental costs and benefits. Assign economic values for each activity characterize the extent and quality of available data, explaining significant information deficiencies and any uncertainties associated with predictions of impact. Provide all relevant information in a format which is acceptable and required by the Albanian environmental legislation (if necessary).

Albania - Preparation of the Results-Based Road Maintenance and Safety Project : environmental assessment

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

The objective of the Preparation of the Results-Based Road Maintenance and Safety Project is to support the Government of Albania in preparing a Results-Based Road Maintenance and Safety Project (RRMSP) and to enhance the capacity of the Albanian Road Authority in road asset management and road safety. Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: a) describe the pertinent laws, regulations, permitting procedures and standards governing environmental quality, environmental impact assessments, outdoor works, traffic management, waste management, at the regional and national level; and b) in this analysis, distinguish between significant positive and negative impacts, direct and indirect impacts, and immediate and long-term impacts for the project locations. Identify impacts that are unavoidable or irreversible. Wherever possible, describe impacts quantitatively, in terms of environmental costs and benefits. Assign economic values for each activity. Characterize the extent and quality of available data, explaining significant information deficiencies and any uncertainties associated with predictions of impact. Provide all relevant information in a format which is acceptable and required by the Albanian environmental legislation (if necessary).

Albania - Preparation of the Results-Based Road Maintenance and Safety Project

2013-05-15T04:00:00.000Z

Albania - Nutrition at a glance

2013-05-09T04:00:00.000Z

Though Albania is currently on track to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1c (halving 1990 rates of child underweight by 2015), it has seen a recent increase in adult obesity. Low-birth weight infants and stunted children may be at greater risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease than children who start out well-nourished. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is particularly high among adults in the capital Tirana where diabetes (type two) has also been on the rise. This 'double burden' is the result of various factors. Progress in improving community infrastructure and development of sound public health systems has been slow, thwarting efforts to reduce undernutrition; while rapid urbanization and the adoption of diets high in refined carbohydrates, saturated fats and sugars, combined with a more sedentary lifestyle are commonly cited as the major contributors to the increase in overweight and chronic diseases. The World Bank is not currently supporting any nutrition-related activities in Albania.

Health equity and financial protection datasheet : Albania

2013-04-23T04:00:00.000Z

The health equity and financial protection datasheets provide a picture of equity and financial protection in the health sectors of low-and middle-income countries. Topics covered include: inequalities in health outcomes, health behavior and health care utilization; benefit incidence analysis; financial protection; and the progressivity of health care financing. The tables in this report show how health outcomes, risky behaviors and health care utilization vary across asset (wealth) quintiles and periods. The quintiles are based on an asset index constructed using principal components analysis. Benefit-Incidence Analysis (BIA) shows whether, and by how much, government health expenditure disproportionately benefits the poor. The distribution of subsidies depends on the assumptions made to allocate subsidies to households. Under the constant unit cost assumption, each unit of utilization is assumed to cost the same and is equal to total costs incurred in delivering this type of service divided by the number of units of utilization.

Albania - Energy Community of South East Europe APL Program - APL 5 for Albania DAM SAFETY : P110481 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 05

2013-04-13T04:00:00.000Z

PPIAF assistance in Albania

2013-04-01T04:00:00.000Z

Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) has supported the preparation of a communications plan and private sector participation strategy for the water sector in Albania. The communications plan was used by the government to disseminate information related to a management contract for the four cities of Durres, Lezha, Fier, and Sarande that reached financial close in 2003. In 2005 PPIAF provided support to develop a framework for private participation in the roads sector that subsequently led to the piloting of performance-based road maintenance contracts in Tirana and Kukes.

The project Social Service Delivery Project Additional Financing has changed to Closed

2013-04-01T04:00:00.000Z

The project Social Service Delivery Project Additional Financing has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

This project paper provides an additional loan to Albania Social Services Delivery project (SSDP). The additional financing to the SSDP will support scaling up of current project activities related to the administrative reform of the Albanian pension system. The additional financing is expected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Albanian pension system by improving pension system administration; supporting institutional strengthening, including improved capacity for pension policy development; and improving public understanding of the pension system. The original project development objective (PDO) remains valid for the ongoing activities. However, the additional financing will expand the PDO, to encompass the scaled-up activities. The PDO for the whole project, including portions to be supported with this additional financing, is: to improve the standards of living of poor and vulnerable population groups in Albania by: (a) increasing their access to effective social care services; (b) assisting the Government to develop effective social care policy and improve its capacity for delivery and monitoring of social care services; and (c) improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the pension system in Albania through: i) improving pension system administration; ii) institutional strengthening including improved capacity for pension policy development; and iii) improving public understanding of the pension system.

The project Social Services Delivery Project has changed to Closed

2013-04-01T04:00:00.000Z

The project Social Services Delivery Project has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The Social Services Delivery Project for Albania aims to improve standards of living for the poor and vulnerable population groups by increasing their access to well-targeted and effective social care services; assisting the Government to develop, monitor, and evaluate more effective social policy; and improving capacity for planning, managing, and delivering social care services with increased involvement of local governments, communities, and civil society. The six-month extension of the closing date, will enable the completion of all remaining activities, help ensure disbursement of remaining funds, and allow for successful achievement of the project development objective (PDO). It will also help to ensure sustainability of investments completed so far since the Government, due to the current fiscal constraints, may not be able to support the remaining investments from the state budget. There are no proposed changes to the PDO or results framework. The project's financial management is currently rated satisfactory, reflecting overall appropriate financial management arrangements and adoption of all previous recommendations for further system strengthening. There are no outstanding audit reports for the project and the last one presented an unqualified opinion.

Albania - Social Services Delivery Project : P055383 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 25

2013-03-31T04:00:00.000Z

Albania - Water Resources And Irrigation Project : procurement plan

2013-03-27T04:00:00.000Z

Albania - Social Assistance Modernization Project : procurement plan

2013-03-22T04:00:00.000Z

The project Second MDTF for Capacity Building Support to Implement the IPS (IPS 2) is now in the pipeline.

2013-02-08T05:00:00.000Z

The project Second MDTF for Capacity Building Support to Implement the IPS (IPS 2) is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Official Documents- Amendment to the Administration Agreement with Austria for TF070337

2013-01-28T05:00:00.000Z

Official Documents- Amendment to the Administration Agreement with SIDA for TF071748

2013-01-28T05:00:00.000Z

Albania - SECONDARY AND LOCAL ROADS : P107833 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 10

2013-01-21T05:00:00.000Z

Albania - Second Energy Community of South East Europe (ECSEE) Program Project

2013-01-08T05:00:00.000Z

The Albania Energy Community of South East Europe Project had an overall rating of satisfactory. The risk to development outcome was moderate and both the Bank and the borrower performance were moderately satisfactory. The five lessons learned are as follows: (1) Development of a functioning electricity market is a complex undertaking which requires coordinated actions from the Government, sector regulator and TSO. (2) Capacity building of a TSO is crucial in facilitating effective integration of a subsidiary market into a regional electricity market. (3) Choice of the APL instrument could be successful in addressing regional policy, country sector policy and infrastructure issues when physical investments are properly leveraged with appropriate policy actions and supported by complimentary activities. (4) All the risks should be properly mitigated at design stage, including sector risks. (5) Opportune restructuring of a project should be recognized through continuous tracing of project performance.

Albania - Social Services Delivery Project : P055383 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 24

2013-01-08T05:00:00.000Z

Official Documents- Agreement for Swedish Grant TF012392 co-financing of P096263

2013-01-08T05:00:00.000Z

The project Free Standing TF on Natural Resource Development has changed to Closed

2013-01-04T05:00:00.000Z

The project Free Standing TF on Natural Resource Development has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Water Resources and Irrigation Project has changed to Active

2013-01-04T05:00:00.000Z

The project Water Resources and Irrigation Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objectives of the Water Resources and Irrigation Project for Albania are to (i) establish the strategic framework to manage water resources at the national level and in the Drin-Buna and Semani river basins and (ii) improve, in a sustainable manner, the performance of irrigation systems in the project area. The project has 4 components. Dam and Irrigation and Drainage (I&D) systems rehabilitation component will rehabilitate and modernize I&D systems and dam infrastructure. Institutional support for irrigation and drainage component will improve the performance of organizations that provide irrigation services. This includes institutional reforms and capacity strengthening of local governments, drainage boards and Water Users' Associations, and piloting public-private partnerships in I&D service delivery through recruitment of third party operators to deliver irrigation services in three I&D pilot schemes. The component will also finance preparation of a National I&D strategy. Institutional support for integrated water resources management component will establish the strategic framework to manage water resources at the national level and at the level of the Drin-Buna and Semani River basins. Implementation support component will manage project resources in accordance with the project's objectives and procedures.

Working together to advance Albania’s development and EU integration agenda

2012-10-05T13:28:05.000Z

TIRANA, October 5, 2012— On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the World Bank Group activity in Albania, the World Bank Office in Tirana organized a conference to celebrate the long partnership with Albania. The conference took stock of the many-folded contribution of the World Bank to the country’s economic, human, and institutional progress. Present there were Prime Minister Sali Berisha, members of the cabinet, project beneficiaries, representatives from the private sector, civil society, media, development partners, etc.

Albania became a member of the World Bank Group in 1992 and the World Bank has been one of country’s key main sources of development support along this amazing 20-year journey. Since then, the Bank has financed 71 projects totaling over US$ 1.2 billion. Throughout the past years, the World Bank Group has been able to assist Albania technically, financially, and through policy advice on virtually every aspect of its development needs.

Participants in the conference pointed out that common successes are many and joint policy work has been critical to the successful transformation of the country in terms of financial sector development, business environment, and economic management. Participants in this conference pointed out the constructive cooperation of the World Bank with successive governments and all the stakeholders, the impact of the financed projects for sustainable growth in its road towards EU integration.

Speakers of different panels in the conference commended key World Bank projects which had strong developmental impact and affected positively the life of the people in the countryside and the towns, students in school, vulnerable groups, farmers, private sector, etc. From the investment perspective, there have been obtained countless visible results. The World Bank has helped to repair or construct 1,700 km of national and rural roads; rehabilitated and upgraded 270,000 hectares of Albania’s irrigation and drainage system (which represents two-thirds of Albania’s irrigated land); enhanced productivity and incomes by improving natural resource management in about 251 communes in mountainous areas prone to erosion; built or reconstructed more than 300 schools in priority areas; and equipped over 2,000 elementary and secondary schools with computers.

“Widely referred to as “a development success story” and “one of the fastest growing countries in Europe” in World Bank reports, Albania is an excellent example of an effective and fruitful partnership between a country and our institution, said Philippe H. Le Houerou, World Bank Vice President of Europe and Central Asia in his greeting note. As in every partnership, both parties have been learning, changing, and adapting to new realities.”

Remarks of Jane Armitage Country Regional Director for Southeast Europe

Albania – World Bank: 20 Years of Working Together

Youth Digital Photo Contest

In her remarks, Jane Armitage, Country Regional Director for Southeast Europe said that “it has been immensely satisfying to partner with Albania technically, financially, and through policy advice, on many aspects of its development needs. Our support to Albania builds on the Bank’s long experience in working in developing countries all over the world”.

Over the past 20 years, both Albania and the World Bank have expanded partnerships with other multilateral and bi-lateral development institutions and non-government players as the key for keeping abreast of new ideas and experience, and both have placed trust into the EU integration process as the best facilitator of Albania’s continued economic and social progress.

“After 20 years full of achievements and lessons, we are better prepared to work together on the next phase of Albania’s development and EU integration agenda, said Kseniya Lvovksy, Country Manager of the World Bank Office in Tirana, - and I look forward to celebrating the country’s future successes.”

A youth photo competition was organized announced recently on the occasion of the 100 anniversary of Albania’s independence, and the 20 year partnership of Albania and the World Bank. During the activity the winners of this competition were also announced.

The project Financial Sector Modernization Loan has changed to Dropped

2012-09-21T04:00:00.000Z

The project Financial Sector Modernization Loan has changed to Dropped. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Land Degradation Enabling Activities - Albania is now in the pipeline.

2012-09-20T04:00:00.000Z

The project Land Degradation Enabling Activities - Albania is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Governance and Competitiveness PDPL has changed to Dropped

2012-09-14T04:00:00.000Z

The project Governance and Competitiveness PDPL has changed to Dropped. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Crossing Boundaries

2012-09-06T23:45:00.000Z

As prepared for delivery

Friday, September 7, 2012

World Conservation Congress

Jeju, Korea

Rachel Kyte, Vice President, Sustainable Development

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen - I am honored to have been asked to make the keynote address at this vital gathering of conservation thinking, leadership and action. I am particularly delighted to be here as I had the privilege and honor to work at IUCN a number of years ago. It feels good to be back again!

This Congress brings together some of the world’s smartest thinkers on the policy and practice of conservation and environmental protection. If anyone is going to guide the world in new ways of thinking and acting, it is this group of 7,000 or more which traverses all spheres - private, public, civil society, multilateral, large, small, left, right.

You, as a group, are not at the fringes of decision-making - you are at the very heart of it. Your scientific research, dedication, pursuit of better policies and connections to community all go towards much better, more informed decision-making.

Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to cross some of the boundaries that very often define our perceptions and determine the work in our institutions. My perspectives changed as I moved from IUCN to working with private companies during my time at the World Bank’s private sector arm - the IFC - and they’re changing again now as Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank.

Today, I am convinced that we will have to make a bigger effort to cross boundaries – between our organizations, across public and private sectors and within civil society - so that we reach a better future for our planet.

Let’s take a look at just some of the evidence of environmental decline before us. Evidence is one of the many things that the World Bank and IUCN share.

· The number and size of populations of the world’s species have decreased by almost a third over the last 100 years and this is projected to continue decreasing

· Over 60 percent of ecosystems are in worse shape now than 50 years ago

· 85 percent of ocean fisheries are fully exploited or over-exploited or depleted

· The condition of coral reefs has deteriorated by 38 percent since 1980

· 80 percent of people live in areas where the quality of rivers is threatened

· Climate change is worsening everything. Flood disasters increased by 230 percent and drought disasters by 38 per cent in the 20 years to the early 2000s.

At the same time that this assault on nature has been occurring, we have enjoyed an unrivalled period of economic growth which has seen 660 million people lifted out of poverty in the past 20 years. Don’t get me wrong - we are not saying we need to stop growth to protect nature. Rather, we are calling for a different kind of growth - a greener and more inclusive growth.

An indispensable part of this will be realizing the potential of ecosystems within our economies and to put nature at the foundation of economic strategies. Nature needs to be firmly on the agendas of finance ministers and discussed in board rooms with the focus on building the public-private partnerships to invest in our natural wealth.

Are we ready to do this? Increasingly the World Bank Group is. Now let me share with you three reasons for my cautious optimism that others are ready too.

Firstly, governments are increasingly stepping up - whether by increasing the number and extent of areas under protection or by better recognizing the value of nature and ecosystem services.

Governments, however, are facing daily trade-offs - for example - building a road through a park so that farmers can have better access to markets and/or conserving a road-less national park. Or, they’re weighing up a marina in a mangrove area to boost tourism versus protecting it for its fish breeding, storm protection and carbon storage values.

Effective conservation cannot and will not be driven just by conservation for conservation’s sake. Fortunately, governments increasingly recognize that maintaining and, eventually, accounting for their natural capital comes down to a question of social and economic development. There may not be simple win-wins all the time; but there may be approaches that can come close enough.

We are seeing more and more good examples. In the State of Acre in the northwestern corner of Brazil, the State Government has been making a concerted effort to bring services to its dispersed rural population and to move away from a growth model based on extraction of forest products and expansive agriculture. Where previously 90 percent of Acre’s timber extraction was illegal, now the majority comes from approved forest management plans. Real GDP has increased by over 44 percent and deforestation rates have declined by 70 percent. Acre is showing that safeguarding a state’s natural wealth will also help lift its people out of poverty.

In Liberia, the government has installed a chain of custody system for exporting logs that is helping reduce illegal logging and bringing in much-needed funding for conservation. The Government is also enforcing fishing regulations and arresting vessels found to be fishing illegally.

To manage trade-offs, governments need better information on the economic and social effects of their decisions. More and more governments are embracing the need to use natural capital accounts alongside GDP. At the World Bank Group, we are working with countries from Botswana to the Philippines to put the value of natural capital into the center of their economic decision making. After the 50:50 Campaign at Rio, 62 countries have signed on to support natural capital accounting along with the heads of close to 90 companies. These companies are doing this for competitive reasons - they need to be able to value their assets over the long term.

That brings me to the second reason for my optimism -- the growing leadership coming from parts of the private sector, be they small businesses and local entrepreneurs or Fortune 500 companies.

I see real traction emerging from the advent of rigorous performance standards and principles for corporate behavior. For example, we are beginning to see evidence that the revised IFC Performance Standard on Biodiversity is driving major change both at corporate headquarters and, more importantly, on the ground.

Companies working in developing countries are increasingly investing in biodiversity expertise, in community development, environmental restoration and long-term conservation capacity building. The big shift is that companies are beginning to see this as more than reputational risk management and rather as a way to improve their operations and manage business risk, a key part of creating value. Mainstreaming nature conservation across their operations makes good business sense. Why? Because many companies depend on freshwater, genetic resources, climate regulation, and natural hazard protection to run their businesses successfully and to see their profits grow.

As well as making good business sense, conserving nature and maintaining the resilience of ecosystems upon which people and business depend, allows companies to build trust in the communities in which they operate and among stakeholders abroad. This creates something many call a “social license to operate”.

We are beginning to see more and more companies engage with conservation organizations and external experts to better understand the environment in which they are working. This has inspired some companies to go beyond the minimization of project impacts but also to consider how they might contribute to conservation more broadly.

One example is Rio Tinto which launched its biodiversity strategy at this Congress in 2004. That strategy committed the company to making a Net Positive Impact on biodiversity through its operations. For the past seven years, the company has been piloting the strategy - working alongside government, conservation groups and civil society in Madagascar to build public sector capacity, develop livelihood alternatives, and establish offsets to conserve high biodiversity value areas.

Other examples include Shell in Gabon and Peru LNG which have been working together with the Smithsonian Institution to develop science-based assessment and monitoring of project impacts.

I also see the first few encouraging examples from the finance sector in integrating nature and ecosystem services protection into their investments.

That takes me to my third reason for optimism - that the need for action is overcoming global political sclerosis.

Rio+20 confirmed for me that while at the global level we lack political leadership today to gain consensus, global inaction is being overwhelmed by the ideas, the innovation and the real commitment to action from smart policymakers, city mayors, community leaders and CEOs.

Like-minded coalitions across sectors emerged on almost all issues. People gravitated to ideas and approaches that promised action - whether that was about ocean health, natural capital accounting, access to sustainable energy or reducing short-term climate pollutants.

For the more than 1000 business executives who attended Rio, the message was that action on sustainability is all about future markets, future products, future employees, future investors, and competitiveness linked to sustainability as shared value.

There was an almost overwhelming sense that while we need global governance for ultimate speed and scale, we cannot afford to wait for international agreements to do what everyone knows needs to be done. For every square bracket negotiated, a species is lost and that window of opportunity gets smaller and smaller.

…………………

So, while I have these reasons for cautious optimism --- I am also speaking from a place of urgency. To address the challenges ahead, each and every one of us will have to cross boundaries and we in the conservation community will need to move collectively outside our comfort zones. To this end, I have three appeals.

First to governments: Governments have responsibilities to their citizens that are measured in units of finance – jobs, tax receipts, GDP. We are not naïve: There can be and will be tensions between conservation and development; that’s why public servants need to be armed with the tools and information they need to make fully informed decisions. And that’s why those of you here who work in government should unpack the economic benefits of conservation and translate them into real numbers through natural capital accounting to transform conservation from a discrete sector to an engine of inclusive green growth.

Second to the Private Sector: To be part of the solution, companies need to raise the profile of nature conservation in their boardrooms and recognize the value of nature to their bottom lines. On the ground, companies need to commit to best management practices which will sometimes mean working beyond their immediate project areas to offset impacts and to secure supply chains. This raises technical, political and governance challenges which is why companies need to reach out and offer a hand in partnership to governments, to conservation organizations and even to each other. We hear from the private sector the need for a level playing field when it comes to best practice in biodiversity management. A coordinated and loud voice from industry groups towards government regulators might be part of the solution.

We also need to find ways to bring to scale financial instruments like green bonds, conservation banking, subsidy reform, license to operate agreements for generating new potential sources of support so that good practice can be rewarded with access to capital.

Third to Civil Society: Very often, civil society, conservation organizations and academic institutions are the backbone of any commitment to conserving nature.

But it is important to remember that it’s governments that have the main responsibility for the stewardship of natural assets. These are their citizen’s natural assets; governments must manage them. The rest of us – civil society, donors and philanthropists – must work together, provide them support while demanding transparency and holding them to account, so that they can do more and do it better.

We in the conservation community need to see the private sector as full partners for solutions and not just a threat or a fundraising opportunity. For example, in public private partnerships - if we were able to develop aggregated offsets, is the conservation community collectively ready to provide the means for verification?

Across all these areas of engagement, the World Bank Group stands ready to do its part and to do more:

We entered the debate on green growth in May 2012 through our report ‘Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathway to Sustainable Development’. We want to contribute, in particular by focusing on the inclusiveness of green growth, on the importance of sound fiscal policies - like the removal of inefficient fuel subsidies - and on ensuring that nature considerations are taken into account in economic decision-making. Our work on green growth is, importantly, supported by the Korean Government.

With new energy and emphasis around Natural Capital Accounting stemming from Rio, it is crucial to keep up the political support and momentum, attract key new country partners, and visibly demonstrate action - including through our global partnership called WAVES.

We also want to do more to streamline nature considerations into our own operations by coordinating the implementation of the IFC’s Performance Standards and the World Bank’s operational policies. And I expect that the Bank Group will work more on aggregated offsets as a means of bringing public and private interests together to conserve at scale within a transparent framework.

We are also working on enhancing environmental law enforcement to ensure that the benefits of nature accrue to national economies and local communities - not thugs and organized crime.

Conclusion

Ladies and Gentlemen, as we begin this Congress:

· Let’s agree that we need to do more, better and with more far-reaching consequences

· Let’s together move away from our ardent attachment to old ideologies, old attitudes that stop us from finding solutions together. What we need today is innovation, communication and partnerships between governments, communities, financial institutions, companies and conservation organizations.

· The type and range of solutions will be as diverse as species and ecosystems. Just as nature is not just a set of charismatic species, we will need more than a set of boutique projects and anecdotes to show large-scale impact. We will need to prioritize without devaluing any one community’s chance of life. We will need brave thinkers at the table, all types of partnerships, people with the humility and patience to make them work. Who better than those of us already humbled by the glory of nature and the complexity of its life support?

· Let’s cross our boundaries together.

· I look forward to being with you every step of the way.

Sound public finances are critical for Albania’s growth - Op-ed by Kseniya Lvovsky, World Bank Country Manager to daily "Shqip" on July 6, 2012

2012-07-06T08:34:00.000Z

With double-dip recession hitting the eurozone, leaders across Europe are rightly turning attention to restarting the growth engines of their economies. The continued eurozone turmoil has translated into a marked slowdown of growth in all Western Balkan countries, including Albania where World Bank’s latest growth projection for 2012 has been revised down to about 1.5 percent. In 2009, when the first wave of the global crisis hit, its impact on Albania was partially cushioned by significantly increased public spending that year, largely for infrastructure projects. It may be tempting to apply that recipe again, especially given that the sharp slowdown in growth coincides with the beginning of the 2013 election pressures. Yet, with the exhausted fiscal space and greater external risks in 2012, this recipe is no longer applicable and will make Albania’s economic growth prospects worse.

One of the lessons from the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone periphery is that once macro-economic stability is shattered, it punishes many citizens more than the gains they have made during relaxed macro-economic management. Another striking lesson is that markets may lose faith in the country’s ability to manage its finances earlier than the governments or analysts assume they would. Thus, while macro-economic stability has always been considered the foundation for sustained growth, it is now ever more important. And it is now being assessed by investors and banks using a stricter standard than ever before.

The key risk to Albania’s macro-economic stability is its high stock of public debt, estimated at over 800 billion Lek currently, or almost 60 percent of Albania’s gross domestic product (GDP). After it jumped from 55 to over 59 percent in 2009, the government has shown efforts to stabilize public debt as a percent of GDP, but attempts to reduce it further and rebuild the much needed fiscal space has been futile. In addition, reliance on consequent mid-term budget adjustments to contain the deficit has resulted in unpaid bills to private contractors for undertaking publicly financed works, which I observe first-hand from some World Bank-financed projects.

Why is it in the best interest of Albania’s economy and citizens to start gradually reducing this elevated level of public debt, even at the time of economic downturn? First, staying too close to 60 percent carries a significant risk of crossing it over if a major shock to the budget occurs, as for example, nearly happened during the last winter due to unforeseen electricity imports. Crossing the 60 percent mark, in turn, carries a high risk that markets will take it as a sign of macro-economic instability and react badly, making furthermore difficult to support both growth and fiscal policy objectives. Montenegro, Albania’s neighbor, whose debt level has approached 60 percent too, is taking drastic measures to reverse the trend by adopting a conservative indexation for wages; rationalizing subsidies, social aid and transfers; and postponing nonessential capital expenditure.
Second, the need to roll over a sizable portion of debt each year presents an increasing risk, especially in the current environment. Nearly 60 percent of the public debt is in short-term, high-interest loans by domestic investors, mainly banks. If some of these banks get into liquidity troubles because they cannot collect their credits or if their parent banks decide to change their portfolio structure and move away from government securities to loans to the private sector, Albania will find itself in a difficult position to secure funds to pay for ongoing expenditures and to continue to roll over its domestic debt. Furthermore, a high level of government borrowing from the domestic market reduces availability of credit to private companies at the time when the private sector already feels liquidity squeeze - with an adverse implication for growth.

Third, the current level and composition of public debt result in the high interest cost, chiefly due to domestic debt cost at about 8 percent on average. The 2012 budget sets aside 50 billion lek for interest payments. This is over 3 percent of Albania’s GDP, and puts Albania as the third highest, after Hungary and Turkey, among all emerging European countries in terms of interest payments. The amount that Albania spends on interest payments this year is approximately equal to the amount of tax revenue it collects from profit and personal income taxes. That is money that could have gone to build roads or schools or pay for teacher salaries. If Albania’s annual interest expenditures were to be halved from the current level, the resources would be enough to raise above the poverty line the income of 12 percent of the population who are, based on 2008 data, below the poverty line.

What can the country do to protect its hard-won achievements of macro-economic stability and one of fastest average growth rates in 21th century Europe? An essential first step would be for the government to begin, without a delay, a program of gradually reducing its public debt and budget deficit over time and limit its domestic borrowing needs while taking steps to retire the most expensive of existing debts. Let’s be clear: no one is suggesting strict austerity at the time of weak national growth and European recession. But a moderate program of fiscal consolidation - of reducing the level of debt by about 5 percent of GDP over 5 years - is both absolutely essential and pro-growth. Other countries such as Poland are adopting this approach.

This means limiting government spending, while enhancing public revenue through both administrative and policy measures. This means effecting, once again, budget revision to bring the 2012 deficit credibly down to 3 percent, and targeting lower deficit levels under the medium term macro-fiscal framework. At the same time, it is critical to ensure that delays in the payment for work completed work by private companies are quickly addressed. It also means giving priority to measures with, as economists call it, “multiplier effects” for growth when deciding on immediate spending cuts (e.g. by protecting essential operations and maintenance and capital expenditure) and focusing on structural reforms that bring efficiency gains and positive fiscal impacts in the medium term (e.g. pensions and energy sector reforms). As with other countries in the region, the World Bank is committed to support Albania in undertaking this program through both technical advice and financial assistance.

At the time of the highest economic stress in over a decade, it is the duty of all ministries, agencies and local governments to support the consolidation effort, maximize their own performance, and make internal adjustments in full and in time that would not leave private companies unpaid for months for the work done on schedule and per contract conditions. It is the duty of all parliamentary groups to put the politics and electoral pressures aside, support the necessary fiscal tightening, and communicate to their constituencies of why this is needed for the country’s sake - and for the soonest restart of faster growth. It is the imperative of the time to support growth while proactively rebuilding fiscal buffers and putting public debt on a sustainable path. Doing less would be gambling with Albania’s future.

The project Albania: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Implementation has changed to Closed

2012-07-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Albania: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Implementation has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Energy Community of South East Europe (ECSEE) Project APL2 (Albania) has changed to Closed

2012-07-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Energy Community of South East Europe (ECSEE) Project APL2 (Albania) has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The Second Energy Community of South East Europe (ECSEE) Program Project will provide investment support and technical assistance for Albania. The objective of the investment is to extend the lifetime and improve the quality, reliability, safety and efficiency of the bulk power transmission system by replacing ageing existing facilities with new ones. The technical assistance will serve to facilitate project implementation, strengthen the transmission system operator, and improve both the tariff structure and the procurement procedures applicable to electricity imports. This restructuring paper proposes: (i) amendments to the legal agreements (Development Credit Agreement and Project Agreement, or DCA and PA) to reflect the unbundling of the power sector and substitution of implementing entity; (ii) an extension of the closing date from January 31, 2011, to June 30, 2012; and (iii) revision of the key performance indicators (annex one).

The project Health System Modernization Project has changed to Closed

2012-07-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Health System Modernization Project has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objectives of this Health System Modernization Project for Albania are: (i) to improve the capacity of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Health Insurance Institute (HII) to effectively formulate and implement health policies and reforms in provider payments, monitoring and quality assurance, (ii) to improve both the access to, and quality of, primary health care services, with an emphasis on those in poor and under-serviced areas, and (iii) to improve governance and management in the hospital sector. The restructuring is a level two restructuring to make the following changes to the project being carried out by the Republic of Albania: (i) revision and cancellation of certain project activities, and (ii) reallocation of credit proceeds. This restructuring is expected to aid in the successful completion of all project activities before the project closing date.

What is happening with poverty in Albania - Op-ed by Kseniya Lvovsky, World Bank Country Manager to daily "Shqip"

2012-06-28T14:26:24.000Z

Over the decade before the global financial crisis and the Eurozone turmoil hit, Albania made remarkable strides in reducing poverty. The share of individuals who consumed less than what is required to satisfy basic needs declined from 25.4 percent in 2002 to 12.4 percent in 2008. The share of those who could not afford to cover their basic nutritional needs decreased from about 5 percent in 2002 to 1.2 percent in 2008.

We know this from the good quality Living Standard Measurement Surveys (LSMS) that have allowed us to track this path over the decade. The World Bank and others have analyzed the data extensively and disseminated the findings widely to discuss Albania’ s performance. Careful statistical work and significant donor support have allowed tracking poverty and a number of other key indicators over time, charting improvements in other areas of wellbeing such as health and education achievement. As the LSMS integrates information on different topics for the same households, we at the World Bank have also been able to chart achievements for particular groups such as the poor, or poor women, in many other dimensions. In addition, a search on Google for the keywords “Albania” and “LSMS” easily brings up a number of interesting papers produced by researchers around the world on a variety of topics of policy relevance. We know much more on a variety of topics ranging from agricultural land to gender wage gaps in Albania than in many of its neighboring countries because these rich databases have been made available for free on the World Bank’ s and the INSTAT’s websites. This free research by academics around the world is one of the global public benefits of making data accessible which is often overlooked in discussions on data access.

Despite the positive trends until 2008, prolonged economic slowdown during the crisis and difficult recovery in Europe puts these poverty gains at risk. Further evidence contributing to our concern is from regional databases and from neighboring countries (Serbia, Macedonia) that have more recent data than those available for Albania. This regional evidence was recently reported in our second Regular Economic Report (RER) for South-Eastern Europe (SEE), in tables on internationally comparable poverty estimates. Those are very different poverty estimates than those that are used for national measurement, and are meant to complement rather than replace national poverty estimates. Even if they are derived from the same data that are used at the national level (the LSMS in Albania), the main purpose of these estimates is to benchmark countries against each other. In order to ensure international comparability, the methodology used for these estimates differs from what is used at the national level. As the surveys that countries collect are different, and as each country sets poverty lines at different levels, ensuring that the poverty estimates are internationally comparable results in estimates of poverty which can be very different from those used at the national level.

The World Bank produces various sets of estimates of internationally comparable poverty rates. At the global level it uses the well known 1 dollar a day measure. For analysis specific to countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia two different poverty lines have been adopted, respectively of 2.5 and 5 dollars a day. In terms of purchasing power parity, which economists use for converting these benchmarks into national currencies, those are roughly equivalent to 132 and 264 Lek a day).

When I was looking at the RER report recently released by the Bank one thing jumped immediately to my eyes. The tables on internationally comparable poverty estimates have many glaring gaps. For only 2 countries out of the 6 in SEE we have “recent” poverty estimates, and those cover only up to 2010. The years since the crisis hit have been difficult for Western Balkans, with governments having to take many difficult decisions. Without updated information to guide those decisions their ability to design effective crisis responses, particularly on social protection, will have been hindered. It is particularly at times of crises that updated information that allows track new developments is needed.

That is why implementing and making publicly available the new LSMS data is so important. Only after a new LSMS survey of high quality will be conducted, will we be able to accurately measure what has happened to poverty during the last years. The World Bank and other donors are ready to help ensuring that high quality data are collected. It would be equally important to make the data available online to the broader research community, which would increase credibility of government policy making when it comes to helping the poor. Poverty estimates must not be a subject of political games; they should serve as a unifying force to do the right things.

Zoellick to Join Harvard’s Belfer Center, Peterson Institute

2012-06-27T13:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2012—Robert B. Zoellick today said he would join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC after he steps down as World Bank Group President on June 30.

Zoellick will become the Peterson Institute’s first Distinguished Visiting Fellow as well as also becoming a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

“I appreciate the opportunity to engage with the scholars and practitioners at Harvard’s Belfer Center and the Peterson Institute for International Economics,” said Zoellick. “I hope to work on the intersection of economics and security, applying history to policy questions of today. Both institutions have been at the cutting edge of research and policy development, and I have benefited greatly from both in the past.”

As the 11th president of the World Bank, Mr. Zoellick turned around an institution in trouble in 2007, recapitalized the Bank, and expanded financing for the poorest countries following the food, fuel and financial crises of recent years. He modernized the Bank by making it more accountable, flexible, fast-moving, transparent, and focused on good governance and anti-corruption. He has increased representation of developing countries in governance and staffing and encouraged developing countries to set their own priorities rather than have them dictated from the Bank. His record has also been marked by an increased role for the private sector through the bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which under his leadership has recruited sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest in poor countries, especially in Africa.

Before his term at the Bank, Mr. Zoellick served as Vice Chairman, International, of the Goldman Sachs Group as well as Managing Director and Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Board of International Advisors from 2006-2007. Previously, he was Deputy Secretary of State in 2005-2006 and a member of the Cabinet as U.S. Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005.

From 1985 to 1993, he served at the Treasury and State Departments in various posts, as well as White House Deputy Chief of Staff. He was the lead U.S. official in the "Two-plus-Four" process of German unification in 1989-90 and served as "sherpa" for the preparation of the G-7/8 Economic Summits in 1991-92.

Mr. Zoellick graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College in 1975 and earned a J.D. magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the Kennedy School of Government in 1981.

Contacts:

In Washington: Frederick Jones, (202) 473-9336, fjones@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Mehreen Sheikh, (202) 458-7336, msheikh1@worldbank.org

Shoqëria civile kontribuon me projekte novatore për një qeverisje dhe llogaridhënie më të mirë në Shqipëri

2012-06-21T14:15:00.000Z

Tiranë, 21 qershor 2012, - British Council dhe Zyra e Bankës Botërore në Shqipëri organizuan konferencën me temë "Panairi i ideve krijuese për qeverisje dhe llogaridhënie më të mirë në Shqipëri". Konferenca prezantoi rezultatet përfundimtare të projekteve të ideuara dhe realizuara nga organizata të shoqërisë civile në Shqipë dhe të mbështetura nga ky program.

Konferencën e përshëndetën znj. Kseniya Lvovsky, Përfaqësuese e Përhershme e Bankës Botërore në Shqipëri, z. Nicholas Cannon, Ambasador i Mbretërise së Bashkuar, dhe z. Rudi Bobrati, Drejtor Ekzekutiv i Agjencisë pë Mbështetjen e Shoqërise Civile.

“Mirëqeverisja është një koncept i gjerë dhe shkon përtej asaj që mund të bëjnë institucionet e qeverisëse, tha Kseniya Lvovsky, Përfaqësuese e Përhershme e Bankës Botërore në Shqipëri. “Angazhimi i shoqërisë civile, angazhimi i organizatave me bazë komuniteti është jashtëzakonisht i rëndësishëm. Për një qeverisje më të mirë, qytetarët kanë nevojë për më shumë akses në informacion, buxhetet dhe taksat lokale duhet të jenë më transparente ndaj atyre që i paguajnë ato. Gratë dhe brezi i ri kanë nevojë për mundësi të barabarta në punësim apo hapje biznesi, për të ndërtuar karrierën për veten dhe familjet e tyre të ardhshme. Politikat bujqësore duhet të pasurohen me këndvështrimin e fermerëve, të cilëve ato duhet t’u shërbejnë”.

Fjala e Kseniya Lvovsky, Përfaqësuese e Përhershme e Bankës Botërore në Shqipëri

Novacioni promovon qeverisjen e mirë në Shqipëri

Panairi i Ideve Krijuese për mirëqeverisjen dhe llogaridhënien në Shqipëri

Fituesit e programit

Duke përshëndetur këtë iniciativë të suksesshme, z. Nicholas Cannon, Ambasador i Mbretërise së Bashkuar përmëndi sfidat me të cilat i duhet të përballet shoqërise civile. “I duhet të balancojë pasionin e entuziastëve dhe thirrjet për ndryshim me të qenit pranë dëshirave reale të komuniteteve të gjera. I duhet të ndërveprojë me qeverinë pa u bërë pjesë e axhendës politike. I duhet të mbajë lidhjet me ndërkombëtaret duke mbetur i pavarur. I duhet të ngrejë fonde, pa u bërë ky qëllimi i vetëm i organizatës.”

Të gjitha projektet janë realizuar përgjatë një periudhe një vjecare në rajone të ndryshme të vendit dhe kanë ofruar zgjidhje novatore për çeshtje të mprehta të transparencës dhe mirëqeverisjes si lufta ndaj fenomenve korruptive në ekonomi, arsim, shërbime sociale, evazioni fiskal, përmirësimi i aksesit në informacion, monitorimi i buxhetit të qeverisë qëndrore e locale, apo strategjisë antikorrupsion, rritja e pjesëmarrjes në vendimmarrje, fuqizimi i grupeve të vecanta përmes informacionit, etj.
Gjatë prezantimit të rezultateve përfundimtare, realizuesit e projekteve vunë në dukje jo vetëm ndikimin real që sollën në rritjen e llogaridhënies apo transparencës, por edhe planet e tyre të ardhshme për replikimin e përvojës.

Znj. Aida Berxholi, Drejtore e British Council u ndal vecanërisht në eksperiencat pozitive dhe përfitimet e programit. “Pothuajse të gjitha projektet u dalluan për zgjidhjet novatore dhe përdorim efikas të mjeteve, që nga sistemet online të komunikimit, blogje për diskutimin e projektligjeve, filma mbi buxhetin e qytetit, botime të formave të ndryshme, etj, të cilat rezultuan praktika të suksesshme dhe mundësi diskutimi midis organizatave të shoqërisë civile, grupeve të interesit dhe vendimmarrësve mbi rolin që shoqëria civile duhet të luajë në ofrimin e alternativave për një qeverisje dhe llogaridhënie më të mirë, në nivel qëndror dhe lokal.”

Panairi i Ideve Krijuese për Shqipërinë ishte një program konkurrues grantesh i administruar nga Zyra e Bankës Botërore në Tirane dhe British Council, Shqipëri. Programi ndihmoi në identifikimin dhe financimin e dhjetë projekteve mbi mirëqeverisjen dhe llogaridhënien të zbatuara pothuajse në të gjithë vendin. Konkurrimi përfshiu 144 organizata të shoqerisë civile nga shoqatat me bazë komunitetin e deri tek ato kërkimore.

Innovative Fund to Boost Food Security and Farmer Livelihoods is Launched

2012-06-18T19:04:43.000Z

New Approach to Financing Innovations in Food Security and Agricultural Development Unveiled at G20 Summit in Mexico

AgResults: Innovation in Research and Delivery

LOS CABOS, Mexico (June 18, 2012) – An innovative initiative that will enhance global food security and improve the livelihoods of developing country farmers through prizes and other market-based incentives was announced today by G20 Leaders. With a results-driven funding model that rewards innovators for tackling some of the biggest problems in food security and agricultural development, AgResults addresses global challenges in food security and agriculture by generating market-oriented solutions. The initiative aims to achieve significant improvements in the wellbeing of the poor and vulnerable in developing countries with a fund of up to $100 million, to be administered by the World Bank. The governments of Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are supporting this effort.

AgResults uses pull mechanisms to encourage innovation through results-based payments such as prizes that are typically paid out when certain objectives or milestones have been met. Such financing mechanisms have seen success in generating innovation and market-oriented solutions in other domains such as healthcare, and AgResults aims to deliver similar gains in global food security and agricultural development.

AgResults was born out of the realization that there is a great need for increased investment in global food security and agriculture, in particular from the private sector. The FAO estimates that world food production must double by 2050 to feed a growing world population, while nearly a billion people suffer from a lack of crucial micronutrients in their diet—a hidden hunger that inhibits the development of children and reduces adult productivity. Recognizing these gaps, leaders at the June 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto committed to exploring innovative, results-focused ways of harnessing private sector innovations in food security and agricultural development in developing countries. This commitment involved a two-year effort by committed partners to develop AgResults, culminating in today’s launch of the initiative in support of the Summit priority of enhancing global food security. AgResults addresses this priority directly through new funding and a focus on bringing new, innovative approaches to bear on global food security issues.

In the coming years, AgResults will launch a series of pilots that address some of the biggest problems in global food security and agricultural development. The initiative’s portfolio of pilots will represent a diverse mix of agriculture and food security issues, testing different types of pull mechanisms in different regions globally. The initial set of pilots, focusing on maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa, include:

· Incentivizing the adoption of on-farm storage technology for smallholder farmers;

· Encouraging innovative distribution of a breakthrough technology to reduce aflatoxin contamination; and

· Building a market for new vitamin A-enhanced varieties of maize.

Additional pilots will be explored in the coming years, potentially including livestock vaccines and fertilizer innovation as well as new ideas related to increasing crop yields, decreasing post-harvest losses, increasing livestock productivity and improving nutrition.

For further information, please visit www.worldbank.org/cfp/agpm

Contacts:

In Washington: Amy Stilwell, (202) 458-4906, astilwell@worldbank.org

In Mexico: Fernanda Zavaleta, 52-55-5480-4252, fzavaleta@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

Global Mobility Unaffected by Financial Crisis, as Remittances Remained Resilient

2012-06-13T13:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2012 – The global financial crisis of 2008/09 has not sent migrant workers streaming back home, despite worsening employment prospects and anti-immigration rhetoric in some destination countries, says a new book on migration and remittances, published by the World Bank.

In fact, migrants may have mitigated some of the pain of the crisis as they tend to work for lower wages, receive fewer benefits and rely relatively little on the state, says the ‘Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond’ book.

“During the crisis, remittances continued to provide a steady source of foreign currency to developing country economies at a time when foreign aid remained flat and foreign direct investment declined sharply,” said Otaviano Canuto, Vice President, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, at the World Bank.

Removing restrictions on human mobility may help enhance financial flows among nations and alleviate some of the adverse effect of the crisis, says the book. With migrant workers projected to remit about $399 billion to their home countries during 2012, compared to $372 billion in 2011, remittances are the most tangible link between migration and development.

Although many of the 215 million international migrants are facing worsening employment prospects in some destination countries, particularly high-income Europe, their cash support to families in their home countries has remained resilient, posting, in 2009, the only decline in recent memory. Even then, remittances decreased by a modest 5.2 percent, in sharp contrast with the precipitous declines seen in global private capital flows.

“The resilience of remittances is good news for developing countries as they remain one of the less volatile sources of foreign exchange earnings, particularly for the less developed countries. At the household level, these cash transfers are, in many cases, the only lifeline for families in the home countries,” said Hans Timmer, Director of Development Prospects at the World Bank.

However, despite many years of recording ever-increasing volumes of remittances, leveraging this rather large and growing source of funds for socio-economic development remains a key challenge, with the vast majority of remittances used for maintaining families and for the purchase of consumer goods.

The book, which is the first comprehensive study of remittances during the global financial crisis, is a compilation of 45 separate studies that identify and discuss remittance practices across the world and possibilities for the future. Each study is authored by a different expert who analyzes certain countries and certain aspects of remittances, ranging from patterns of remittance flows to usage of remittances received by communities and households.

The book is co-edited by Dilip Ratha, Manager of the Bank’s Migration and Remittances Unit; Ibrahim Sirkeci, Professor of Transnational Studies and Marketing at Regent’s College, London; and Jeffrey Cohen, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Ohio State University, USA, who also co-author the book’s first chapter on remittance flows and practices during the crisis.

“Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence of return of migrants, even as the financial crisis reduced employment opportunities in the United States and Europe, with many countries, such as Spain, offering financial incentives to encourage migrants to return,” said Sirkeci.

Migration, in fact, was a strategic response to the financial crisis. Like any political or environmental catastrophe, the financial crisis caused human insecurity and people in developing countries responded by crossing borders or moving domestically to survive the impact of the crisis.

“Remittances have remained resilient and, barring the decline in 2009, have maintained a healthy growth momentum. However, since the book went to press, the global economy continues to experience serious bouts of volatility, which could affect migrant earnings and, hence, remittances,” said Ratha.

For receiving countries, a key factor behind the resilience in remittances is the diversification of migrant destinations.

Countries in South Asia and East Asia with many migrants in the United States, Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries continued to register increased remittance inflows. One study in the book concludes that only a prolonged global slowdown would cause a decline in remittance flows to India, the largest recipient of remittances in 2011, with $64 billion.

In contrast, Latin America and the Caribbean region, whose migrants are concentrated in the United States, suffered a dramatic decline in remittances throughout the financial crisis. Mexico, the world’s third largest recipient of remittances ($24 billion in 2011), saw a significant decline in remittance inflows from the United States during the crisis. A similar strong impact was found in El Salvador. Both cases underline the fact that many Latin American countries were vulnerable to the effects of crisis, with a special impact on the urban youth in these countries, who face more difficult labor market prospects and declining opportunities to migrate.

Studies related to the effect of the crisis in the European Union on remittance-receiving countries found that Spain has been the fastest-growing immigration destination for the past decade and is now the fifth largest remittance-sending country, after the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Switzerland.

In the East Asia and Pacific region, remittances account for as much as 12 percent of GDP, as in the case of New Zealand and Pacific island economies, while remittances have been keeping the national economy afloat in the Philippines for the past three decades.

Also, due to the depreciation of local currencies of many remittance-recipient countries, such as India, Mexico, and the Philippines, migrants from those countries turned to investment-oriented remittances in South Asia and East Asia where goods, services, and assets suddenly became significantly inexpensive and affordable.

The book recommends that countries develop policies that reduce restrictions on human mobility and develop programs to facilitate the use of remittances for long-term investments and promoting entrepreneurship. Such changes, tailored to both host and recipient country needs, can strengthen the contribution of remittances to development.

Eliminating the complexity of transactions and reducing transaction costs would also help increase the volume of remittances utilizing official channels, to enable many small nations, in particular, to reap the socio-economic benefits of migrant earnings.

The book is available for purchase at http://publications.worldbank.org/18826

The latest migration and remittances data are available at www.worldbank.org/migration

Interact with migration experts at http://blogs.worldbank.org/peoplemove/

Contacts:

In Washington: Indira Chand +1 (202) 458-0434, +1 (703) 376-7491, ichand@worldbank.org

For TV/Broadcast: Natalia Cieslik +1 (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

WB Urges Developing Countries to Strengthen Domestic Fundamentals, to Weather Global Economic Turmoil

2012-06-12T17:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2012 – Developing countries should prepare for a long period of volatility in the global economy by re-emphasizing medium-term development strategies, while preparing for tougher times, says the World Bank in the newly-released Global Economic Prospects (GEP), June 2012.

A resurgence of tensions in high-income Europe has eroded the gains made during the first four months of this year, which saw a rebound in economic activity in both developing and advanced countries and an easing of risk aversion among investors. Since May 1^st, increased market jitters have spread. Developing and high-income country stock markets have lost some 7 percent, giving up two-thirds of the gains generated over the preceding four months. Most industrial commodity prices are down, with crude and copper prices down by 19 and 14 percent, respectively, while developing country currencies have lost value against the US dollar, as international capital fled to safe-haven assets, such as German and U.S. government bonds.

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So far, conditions in most developing countries have not deteriorated as much as in the fourth quarter of 2011. Outside of Europe and Central Asia and the Middle-East and North Africa, developing country credit default swap (CDS) rates, a key indicator of market sentiment, remain well below their maximums from the fall of 2011.

“Global capital market and investor sentiment are likely to remain volatile over the medium term – making economic policy setting difficult. In this environment, developing countries should focus on productivity-enhancing reforms and infrastructure investment instead of reacting to day-to-day changes in the international environment,” said Hans Timmer, Director of Development Prospects at the World Bank.

Increased uncertainty will add to pre-existing headwinds from budget cutting, banking-sector deleveraging and developing country capacity constraints. As a result, the World Bank projects that developing country growth will slow to a relatively weak 5.3 percent in 2012, before strengthening somewhat to 5.9 percent in 2013 and 6.0 percent in 2014. Growth in high-income countries will also be weak, 1.4, 1.9 and 2.3 percent for 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively – with GDP in the Euro Area declining 0.3 percent in 2012. Overall, global GDP is projected to rise 2.5, 3.0 and 3.3 ⁽¹⁾ percent for the same period.

This baseline scenario remains the most likely outcome. However, should the situation in Europe deteriorate sharply no developing region would be spared. Developing Europe and Central Asia is especially vulnerable because of its close trade and financial ties with high-income Europe, but the world's poorest countries will also feel the fall out – especially countries that are heavily reliant on remittances, tourism or commodity exports or that have high-levels of short-term debt.

“Where possible, developing countries need to move to reduce vulnerabilities by lowering short-term debt levels, cutting budget deficits and returning to a more neutral monetary policy stance. Doing so will provide them with more leeway to loosen policy, should global conditions take a sharp turn for the worse,” said Andrew Burns, Manager of Global Macroeconomics and lead author of the report.

The full report and accompanying datasets are available at www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook

Regional Highlights

Growth outlooks for each country are available in the full report at:

www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook

Growth for the East Asia and Pacific region is on a moderately easing trend, with GDP gains for the region dropping to 8.3 percent in 2011 from 9.7 percent in 2010. The recent deterioration in global financial conditions is expected to add to pre-existing headwinds, including relatively weak demand from the high-income world, and a slowing phase in China to moderate regional growth to 7.6 percent in 2012, before broader global recovery lifts exports and growth for the region in 2013 to 8.1 percent, easing to 7.9 percent in 2014. China’s GDP is expected to accelerate from 8.2 percent in 2012 to 8.4 percent by 2014.

Notwithstanding the economic downturn in the Euro Area in the fourth quarter of 2011, developing Europe and Central Asia posted strong (5.6 percent) growth in 2011, driven by robust domestic demand and good harvests in countries such as Russia, Romania and Turkey. However, severe weather conditions in early 2012, capacity constraints in some countries, deleveraging by European banks, and the renewed turmoil in high-income Europe are projected to slow regional GDP growth to 3.3 percent this year, before a modest recovery begins with growth firming to 4.1 and 4.4 percent in each of 2013 and 2014.

Growth in the Latin America and the Caribbean region eased to 4.3 percent in 2011, from 6.1 percent in 2010, due to the pronounced slowdown in the region’s larger economies. In Brazil, GDP slowed sharply to 2.7 percent in 2011 (7.5 percent in 2010), as investment growth and private consumption eased. The region’s short-term outlook is clouded by a weak external environment, and capacity constraints in select economies. Regional GDP is expected to decelerate to 3.5 percent in 2012, firming to 4.1 percent and 4 percent in 2013 and 2014, respectively, while growth in Brazil is projected to remain below potential at 2.9 percent in 2012, before accelerating to 4.2 percent in 2013 and 3.9 percent in 2014.

Uncertainty, volatility, and political change continue to characterize conditions in the Middle East and North Africa region. Aggregate GDP grew by 1 percent in 2011, down from 3.8 percent in 2010. Regional growth is projected to remain weak at 0.6 percent for 2012, mainly reflecting the influence of sanctions on growth in Iran, and continued GDP declines in Syria and Yemen. As these elements fade in importance, growth for the region should step up to 2.2 percent in 2013 and 3.4 percent in 2014. Egypt’s economy is projected to move out of negative territory to 1.4 percent growth in 2012, rising to 4.6 percent in 2014. Growth is also expected to pick up strongly in Jordan and Lebanon, while oil prices, which are projected to average near $107/bbl in 2012, will benefit the region’s oil exporters.

Growth in South Asia slowed to 7.1 percent in 2011, from 8.6 percent in 2010, as headwinds from the Euro Area crisis caused a steep deceleration in exports and a reversal of portfolio inflows. Growth in India was particularly weak due to monetary policy, stalled reforms, and electricity shortages, which, along with fiscal and inflation concerns, cut into investment activity. Policy uncertainties, fiscal deficits, entrenched inflation, and infrastructure gaps will continue to weigh negatively on investment activity and are expected to limit regional growth to a relatively modest 6.4 percent in 2012, 6.5 percent in 2013, and 6.7 percent in 2014. India will see growth (measured at factor cost) increasing to 6.9, 7.2 and 7.4 percent in fiscal years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively.

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust in 2011 at 4.7 percent. Excluding South Africa, growth in the rest of the region was stronger, at 5.6 percent, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions. Higher commodity prices and improved macroeconomic and political stability in recent years has supported increased private investment flows to the region, with promising prospects in the medium term. As global demand firms and domestic demand remains robust, regional growth is expected to strengthen to 5 percent in 2012, 5.3 percent in 2013 and 5.2 percent in 2014.

Contacts

In Washington: Merrell Tuck-Primdahl +1 (202) 473-9516, +1 (202) 476-9897, mtuckprimdahl@worldbank.org;

Indira Chand +1 (202) 458-0434, +1 (703) 376-7491, ichand@worldbank.org

In London: Derek Warren + 44 (20) 7592-8402 , dwarren1@worldbank.org

For TV/Broadcast: Natalia Cieslik +1 (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

(1) Using purchasing power parity weights, global growth would be 3.3, 3.9 and 4.2 percent for 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Globalization: Made in the Americas

2012-06-08T00:30:00.000Z

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Inter-American Dialogue 30^th Anniversary Dinner

Remarks of Robert B. Zoellick, President, World Bank Group

June 7, 2012

Introduction

Thank you for the honor of your invitation to commemorate the 30^th Anniversary of the Inter-American Dialogue.

The origins of this Dialogue stretch back to a discussion between Peter Bell and Abe Lowenthal on a park bench.

Peter and Abe were disturbed by the breakdown in inter-American exchanges during the Falklands/Malvinas war, and by the lack of ties with the rising democrats of Latin America. So they discussed bringing together leaders from across the hemisphere to set a new inter-American agenda. The Dialogue held its first ad hoc conference in late 1982.

Today, 30 years later, Latin America’s very success offers the opportunity to remake that Hemispheric partnership around new pillars:

· A revived free trade policy that will aid structural reforms for growth in all our countries;

· An energy transformation, ending the Hemisphere’s energy dependency;

· A new diplomacy infused with private sector pragmatism to solve public problems;

· Shared security; and

· The first Democratic Hemisphere.

For the United States, this new agenda could enable us to rely on a great, home-grown asset – Hispanic-Americans – as the vanguard of U.S. connectivity in a new Western Hemispheric economy.

This Dialogue can – and I believe will – help drive this change: to create a “Globalization: Made in the Americas.”

Under Peter Hakim’s and now Michael Shifter’s energetic leadership, the Inter-American Dialogue has become the leading U.S. center for policy analysis, exchange, and communication in the Western Hemisphere.

The idea at the heart of the Dialogue remains very much the same as that which emerged from the conversation on the park bench: that through dialogue and shared vision, interested citizens across the hemisphere together can plant the seeds of new policy ideas and practical proposals for progress in the Americas.

So tonight, let’s put that idea to work.

A Different Vantage Point

Just two months ago, the leaders of the Western Hemisphere met in Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas. Colombia was an excellent host, and the Summit showcased the country’s many hard-won achievements.

But the news reports were, frankly, disappointing. Aside from the behavior of some Secret Service agents, the coverage focused on disagreements about Cuba and drugs. Some even suggested this would be the last Summit of the Americas. The agenda seemed stuck in a time warp.

So when Carla Hills asked if I could join you this evening, I thought the best way to celebrate the Dialogue’s Anniversary was to offer new possibilities for the Americas in a fast-changing global economy.

My vantage point on our hemisphere is different from many U.S. contributors to the Dialogue. I am not a specialist in Latin America.

Like many of my U.S. foreign and security policy colleagues, much of my energy has been concentrated on the issues of Europe and the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

Yet because of my economic background, Latin America and Canada have loomed larger on my global map.

In the 1980s and early 90s, working with Secretary of Treasury and State James Baker, we were immersed in issues of Latin American debt and reforms for growth, the Canadian and North American FTAs, and Central American security and democracy.

In 2001, as U.S. Trade Representative, we were fortunate to build on that experience, negotiating FTAs with Chile, Colombia, Peru, Panama, the five countries of Central America and the Dominican Republic. Together with NAFTA, these FTAs cover 54 percent of the economy of our hemisphere, not including the United States, offering an underutilized web of free traders that could support deeper integration in the Americas – even hemispheric free trade and democracy.

Five years as President of the World Bank Group has added to this perspective.

Why am I stressing this global outlook on Latin America? Because, while working on the issues of our region, I have urged my Latin counterparts to look globally, too.

Instead, for too many years, the dialogue within our hemisphere seemed constrained by a North-South framework. The United States loomed large – whether as a hegemon, source of support, market, model, danger, or even frustrating land of inattention.

On development, debt, investment, competition, and trade, Latin Americans need to see the wider horizon – especially to benchmark with East Asia. And beyond East Asia, Latin America has a new role to play in building multiple engines of growth with other emerging markets. It is time to break out of that North-South construct.

Consider Canada’s experience in combining regional integration with global reach: of course, Canada’s FTA with the United States in 1988 deepened the two countries’ economic integration – but in addition, the competitive adjustment driven by that accord made Canadian business more competitive globally.

A new hemispheric partnership requires leaving old habits, old mindsets, and old models of dependency behind.

That partnership will necessitate a new mix of partners, public and private.

That partnership should be the next challenge for the Summit of the Americas and this Dialogue.

Latin America’s Record of Gains

Latin America’s recent record of gains now puts it in a position to remake the Hemispheric partnership.

The numbers tell the story.

Between 2003 and 2010, the income of the average Latin American increased by more than 30 percent. A silent revolution in macro-financial policy has strengthened the economic immune system of many countries. We saw the payoff after the fall of Lehman Brothers: Sound policies in Latin America enabled expansions to offset the downturn without the aftershocks that now threaten Europe.

About 73 million Latin Americans have been lifted out of poverty since 2003. Today, almost a third of the region’s population is considered middle class.

Latin America is breaking a pattern of persistent inequality, including through an increase in women’s involvement in the economy, particularly from poor families. Colombia and Peru have buttressed this trend by boosting opportunities for people of African and indigenous origin, seeking to overcome divisions that populists have exploited.

Mexico and Brazil have led in developing well-targeted conditional cash transfer programs that have revolutionized public assistance. These programs couple income grants for poor families with incentives for health check-ups and keeping children in school. Mexico’s Oportunidades program has probably done more for women’s health than anything in the country’s history.

These are safety net programs that appeal to a fiscal conservative: They cost only about half a percent of GDP. The World Bank has helped export this model to 40 other countries, ranging from Pakistan to the Philippines.

Latin America is “going global.” As the global trade negotiations have stalled, leading Latin American free traders have tried to keep up the momentum. Mexico has FTAs with 59 countries; Chile with 43.

Colombia offers a leading example of how a democracy can combine security, development, and good governance to overcome narco-traffickers, kidnappers, and terrorists. Peru demonstrates how sound economic policy and political commitment across administrations can reverse years of stagnation.

Brazil’s influence is expanding – through its companies, agricultural and mining experience, development work, peacekeeping in Haiti, and interest in Africa. Brazil’s leaders of the left have also turned a page in history by sticking with democracy. Rising leaders of the left in other Latin American countries have seen the benefits for the poor of Brazil’s example, compared to authoritarians who tear down institutions to consolidate personal or party power.

Looking Ahead

So what’s ahead for Latin America?

Latin America’s per capita income is still only at 30 percent of the U.S. level.

To climb higher, Latin American economies will need to leap beyond the so-called middle income trap. Many developing economies make early rapid gains. But then productivity and growth tend to slow.

This is a global challenge. In 1960, the World Bank ranked 101 economies as middle income; by 2008, almost half a century later, only 13 had made it to high income levels – and one was Greece.

Many Latin American countries will need to translate the commodity boom into broader, more diversified economies. This region has lived through roller-coaster booms and busts before.

Higher productivity is the antidote to the middle income trap.

Since the 1980s, Latin America has underinvested in infrastructure – electricity, roads, bridges, ports, transport – and maintaining and operating these services. Currently, Latin America spends 2 to 3 percent of GDP on infrastructure, less than half the rate of investment in East Asia.

Public-private infrastructure partnerships not only offer a source of financing, but also better design, maintenance, and operations to deliver high-quality services on time.

Colombia has experimented with PPPs in urban water supply and sanitation. Mexico’s new Highway Concession Program has mobilized PPP projects of around $11 billion, expanding the country’s major toll roads network by some 25 percent.

Latin America has to anticipate its human capital needs. The region is aging rapidly: today, about 11 percent of Brazil’s working age-population are seniors; by 2050, it will be nearly half.

Latin America also needs to improve the results of its investments in education. By age 15, the learning achievement of the average Latin American student lags two years behind his or her developed country counterparts.

Latin America is recognizing that gender equality is smart economics. Today, women in Latin America outnumber men in schools and universities. Working age women represent roughly 40 percent of the entire labor force in the region.

To continue to grow, the region will need more competition and innovation in the service sector. Competitive services increase productivity. They supply the ‘software’ of integration: transport, where delays and losses can impose significant costs; information technology, because accurate data and effective communication is vital; financial services, to create a supportive business environment; and logistics systems, which are a driver of business competitiveness.

A New Agenda

What do these challenges mean for a new hemispheric partnership? What should have been the news coming out of Cartagena?

Let me offer five ideas.

First, the Western Hemisphere needs to revive an activist free trade and economic reform policy, globally and regionally. We need fresh approaches.

The United States will be cutting agricultural subsidies, especially given high prices, and eliminating protection for ethanol. Why not deploy these to prod others?

Service sector liberalization can boost productivity, open new businesses, create new jobs, and cut the “Latin cost” that many countries impose on their own businesses. Why not deploy this economic need to revive a mutual interest in negotiation?

A strong self-interest can drive this renewed call for liberalization. Latin American economies still need much investment and more robust capital markets – especially in local currencies – that can help Latin American entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses to expand.

Infrastructure investments require capital goods and services, as Panama’s 21st Century Canal project is demonstrating. Why not dismantle barriers to lower the cost of infrastructure expansion?

Better logistics make economies more competitive. The World Bank’s 2012 Logistics Performance Index estimated that Latin American logistics costs are between 16 and 26 percent of GDP – that’s two to four times the average in Europe or East Asia.

The World Bank has helped Colombia and Peru to implement a “single window” approach to customs clearance and border management. In Brazil and Peru, the Bank has worked with international freight forwarders to connect rural, remote villages and small businesses to export through national postal services; in the first six months, more than 300 small firms in Peru became exporters, most for the first time.

Even as the WTO works toward a Trade Facilitation agreement, the Americas could develop an accord that points the way.

Brazilian officials are focused on exchange rates. Yet to really boost growth the target should be productivity. Better infrastructure can help, and so can more efficient and effective public services. The World Bank Group has launched a deeper partnership with the Governors of the Northeastern states of Brazil to overcome these impediments. Over time, however, the United States and its free trade partners should be working with Brazil to rebuild the case for a hemispheric initiative to realize the benefits of trade liberalization and economic reforms.

It takes two to tango, and this agenda requires changes on the part of the United States, too. The United States is no longer leading the open trade agenda, as it relies increasingly on defensive measures. The United States has its own high costs of trade – antiquated ports and laws to protect special interests.

The United States should work with its current free trade partners in the Americas to deepen ties of development, reform, and investment.

The current architecture of US FTAs in the hemisphere offers a solid legal framework, but it needs to evolve into a home for an ongoing dialogue – across countries and with business, academic, civil society, and environmental communities – to see what else can be done to lower costs and barriers and create opportunities.

The United States and its partners could explore progressive integration across the FTAs, for example by expanding provisions to cumulate inputs among partners while qualifying for free trade.

The United States needs to make its hemispheric FTA network dynamic, linked to business and investment policies, and improved governance.

A new concept of an FTA network in the Americas could also support inclusive and sustainable development as the foundation for open societies and borders.

Second, innovation in the energy sector, led by the United States, could transform energy security for North America, the Hemisphere, and the world.

In 2008, imports supplied 70 percent of US oil demand. By 2020, PFC Energy estimates that imports could be down to 40 percent of US oil demand – or even 20 percent if Canadian oil is counted as part of the home market. If natural gas for Canada and the United States is added, U.S. net energy imports from the rest of the world could drop to five percent of U.S. demand. That’s an amazing game-changer in energy.

If Mexico opens PEMEX to real outside investment, the outlook is even brighter. With the discovery of the giant deep offshore PRESAL oil and gas fields, Brazil can play a major role in supplying oil and gas in the region.

Yet there is a need to connect these energy supplies – through infrastructure – with countries in Central America and the Caribbean that have suffered from high prices and limited access. Increased efficiency and alternative sources could help the energy poor, too. It’s long past time for a hemispheric energy policy – blending consideration of inclusive growth, the environment, and indigenous communities’ interests.

Third, this new Hemispheric partnership needs to break old patterns of diplomacy. There are now vibrant private sectors all across the hemisphere. The challenges of overcoming the middle income trap and structural reforms to boost productivity need private sector advice and solutions. All across the developing world, the World Bank is encountering a new pragmatism about involving the private sector in areas that used to be public monopolies: infrastructure; education; healthcare; skills training; delivery of public social services. Advanced economies such as the United States should be taking note, too.

Yet government-business dialogues can be stilted showcases. The Summit of the Americas – and perhaps the Dialogue – should review which approaches work better and why. With some guidance, businesses can better connect possibilities with policies. Governments can commit to responses, commitments, openness, and results.

Fourth, the new Hemispheric agenda should help all 35 countries overcome security threats to growth and opportunity.

The fragile governments of Central America are at risk of being overwhelmed by crime and violence linked to drug trafficking, organized crime, gangs, and firepower. Spain, which has roughly the same population as Central America, has about 400 murders per year; in 2010, Central America had over 18,000.

The region pays a heavy economic price for this insecurity – as much as 8 percent of GDP. The basic legitimacy of governments and institutions is fraying: About half of Central Americans say a military coup could be justified when crime levels are high.

Experiences from Medellin and Rio de Janeiro have shown that the best way to attack criminal insecurity is through an integrated approach: combining stepped-up policing, prevention, and community investments. Quick turnarounds are possible. Strong regional cooperation is indispensable.

The United States has an unfortunate pattern of ignoring dangers in Central America until they explode. This time U.S. diplomacy should work with Mexico, Colombia, and Panama to develop a coherent strategy – not band-aids. As in Colombia, the Central American private sector must also be part of the solution. And the United States should also take responsibility for the drug habits of its public that fuel demand for narcotics from the south.

Fragility in the Caribbean is another soft spot. But small economies can be competitive in many sectors. Accelerating integration in the Caribbean can share services, add to resilience, and boost economic prospects.

Latin America should also be looking toward a greater role in global security – through practical steps, not the old G-77 policies of the past. My friend and former colleague, Bernie Aronson has proposed, for example, that Brazil could lead by voluntarily ending its uranium enrichment program and then calling on other nations – including Iran – to follow its example. If Brazil wants to help shape the 21^st Century, leadership in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons – with an idea and action – would send a powerful signal.

Fifth, the debate over Cuba at Cartagena sounded like hollow echoes from another era. Look ahead, not back.

Chavez’s days are numbered. If his subsidies to Cuba and Nicaragua are cut, those regimes will be in trouble. The democrats of Latin America – left, center, and right – should be preparing. The calls for democracy – for an end to intimidating thugs, human rights, fair elections, and rule of law – should come from all its capitals.

There will soon be an opportunity to make the Western Hemisphere the first Democratic Hemisphere. Not a place of coups, caudillos, and cocaine -- but of democracy, development, and dignity.

This transformation will not be achieved by the Calvo doctrine. By divisive populists. By corruption. By acquiescence. By silence.

You know well that if Latins leave the work to Washington and Ottawa, the opponents of liberty and human rights will play the cards of gringoism and neo-imperialism. Trump them.

Conclusion

For the United States, a new partnership in the Western Hemisphere offers opportunities for renewal at home, too.

All the debates about macroeconomic issues – fiscal and monetary policies – as important as they are, risk inattention to microeconomic incentives, structural reforms in the United States.

Energy. Infrastructure. Education. Human capital. Competition. Environment. Innovation. The United States also needs to clear away old rigidities on these new fundamentals.

The United States also needs to draw on the energies, intelligence, and drive of all its citizens.

As my friend Luis Alberto Moreno of the Inter-American Development Bank has pointed out, the 50 million strong Hispanic community in the United States is a growing market, source of entrepreneurship, and resource for a Hemispheric economic strategy. At over $1 trillion, the purchasing power of Latinos in the United States is larger than the economies of every Latin American country except Brazil.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are between two and three million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States. Many are small. But they create jobs, earn revenues, and pay taxes.

As Latin America grows, the Hispanic businesses in the United States offer an incredible asset. Hispanics in the United States could be in the vanguard of a new Western Hemispheric economy.

Small and medium-sized Hispanic-American businesses will need help to expand their entrepreneurialism – information about markets, financing, and risk management services. To be most effective, this assistance should be decentralized – perhaps drawing on local chambers of commerce in cities and states where most Hispanic businesses can be found. The Small Business Administration, OPIC, Ex-Im Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank could then deploy their resources to help.

The world economy is still struggling to recover from the worst blows since the 1930s. Europe is a danger zone. U.S. leadership remains vital to get through the storm, to reach a new world economy of multiple poles of growth.

This is why the news coming out of the Cartagena Summit was disappointing.

This is not a time for drift, for old North-South debates, for retreat behind borders, old mindsets, or out-dated dependencies.

This is a time for the New World to again inspire novel thinking – about development, growth, structural reforms, rule of law and human rights, democracy, and security.

This Dialogue should aim high: To have the Western Hemisphere shape this next era of globalization – so that future historians will title the next chapter, not “The Passing of the New World,” but “Globalization: Made in the Americas.”

World Bank Supports Modernization of Social Assistance in Albania

2012-06-06T16:06:29.000Z

Loan Agreement for Social Assistance Modernization Project Signed Today

TIRANA, June 6, 2012— The Government of Albania and the World Bank today signed the agreement for the loan of Social Assistance Modernization Project, totaling Euro38 million. The agreement was signed on behalf of the Republic of Albania by Minister of Finance Ridvan Bode, and on behalf of the World Bank by Country Manager Kseniya Lvovsky. The ceremony was held at the Ministry of Finance in the presence of high government officials as well as members of the team who have prepared the project, which was approved on April 3, 2012, by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors.

The objective of Social Assistance Modernization Project for Albania is to support the Government’s reform agenda to improve the equity, efficiency, and transparency of social assistance programs. The project will focus mainly on the poverty-targeted Ndihma Ekonomike (NE) program and the disability assistance.

The project aims at improved equity by improving targeting, eligibility and coverage for both Ndihma Ekonomike and Disability Assistance Programs to ensure that resources are channeled to the most needy people.

The current system of social assistance needs to be modernized and automated in order to improve the efficiency of both programs. This would help the current benefits administration to strengthen detection and remedying of fraud and errors and would allow the Government to make timely and informed policy changes.

The project would also support improvements in transparency which cuts across the key reform areas through proactive communications, modernized information systems, and increased clarity on “rules, roles and controls.”

“The Social Assistance Modernization Project would contribute to the reduction of poverty and vulnerability through more effective social assistance services and to help Albania mitigate the impacts of the continued eurozone crisis” said Kseniya Lvovsky, Country Manager for the World Bank Office in Albania.

The project activities consist of two interrelated components:

Strengthening the Implementation and Performance of Social Assistance Programs.
Technical Assistance to Strengthen Implementation Capacity for Social Assistance Programs.

The project support would be provided according to a results-based financing (RBF) approach which implies the partnership and engagement between the World Bank and the Government of Albania for co-financing of major social assistance program and disbursing against measured improvements in implementation.

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Cities to Face Sharply Rising Costs for Garbage Treatment

2012-06-06T15:30:00.000Z

New report points to 70% global increase in urban solid waste

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2012 – A new, far-reaching report on the state of municipal solid waste around the world predicts a sharp rise in the amount of garbage generated by urban residents between now and 2025. The report estimates the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) will rise from the current 1.3 billion tonnes/year to 2.2 billion tonnes/year, with much of the increase coming in rapidly growing cities in developing countries. The annual cost of solid waste management is projected to rise from the current $205 billion to $375 billion, with cost increasing most severely in low income countries.

The report, What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management, for the first time offers consolidated data on MSW generation, collection, composition, and disposal by country and by region. In itself, this is an accomplishment because, as the report states, reliable global MSW information is either not available or incomplete, inconsistent, and incomparable. Nevertheless, the authors of the report point to a looming crisis in MSW treatment as living standards rise and urban populations grow.

“Improving solid waste management, especially in the rapidly growing cities of low income countries, is becoming a more and more urgent issue,” said Rachel Kyte, Vice President, Sustainable Development at the World Bank. “The findings of this report are sobering, but they also offer hope that once the extent of this issue is recognized, local and national leaders, as well as the international community, will mobilize to put in place programs to reduce, reuse, recycle, or recover as much waste as possible before burning it (and recovering the energy) or otherwise disposing of it. Measuring the extent of the problem is a critical first step to resolving it.”

The report notes that municipal solid waste management is the most important service a city provides. In low-income countries, MSW is often the largest single budget item for cities, and one of the largest employers. A city that cannot effectively manage its waste is rarely able to manage more complex services such as health, education, or transportation. Improving MSW is one of the most effective ways of strengthening overall municipal management.

The report shows that the amount of municipal solid waste is growing fastest in China (which surpassed the US as the world’s largest waste generator in 2004), other parts of East Asia, and part of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Growth rates for MSW in these areas are similar to their rates for urbanization and increases in GDP. There is a direct correlation between the per capita level of income in cities and the amount of waste per capita that is generated. In general, as a country urbanizes and populations become wealthier, the consumption of inorganic materials (e.g. plastics, paper, glass, aluminum) increases, while the relative organic fraction decreases.

“What we’re finding in these figures is not that surprising,” said Dan Hoornweg, Lead Urban Specialist in the Finance, Economics, and Urban Development Department of the World Bank and eco-author of the report, “What is surprising, however, is that when you add the figures up we’re looking at a relatively silent problem that is growing daily. The challenges surrounding municipal solid waste are going to be enormous, on a scale of, if not greater than, the challenges we are currently experiencing with climate change. This report should be seen as a giant wake-up call to policy makers everywhere.”

The authors of the report say an integrated solid waste management plan is needed in cities to approach solid waste in a comprehensive manner. Key to such a plan is consultation and input from all stakeholders, including citizen groups and those working on behalf of the poor and the disadvantaged. Public health and environmental protection aspects of any such plan are also critical.

The report also spells out policy recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, many of which emanate from inefficient solid waste management practices. Post-consumer waste is estimated to account for almost 5% of total global GHG, while methane from landfills represents 12% of total global methane emissions. The report says that a number of practical approaches could be applied in most cities, including:

· Public education to inform people about their options to reduce waste generation and increase recycling and composting;

· Pricing mechanisms (such as product charges) to stimulate consumer behaviour to reduce waste generation and increase recycling;

· User charges tied to the quantity of waste disposed of, with (for example) consumers separating recyclables paying a lower fee for waste disposal; and/or

· Preferential procurement policies and pricing to stimulate demand for products made with recycled post-consumer waste.

For a link to the report, click here: http://go.worldbank.org/BCQEP0TMO0

Contacts:

In Washington: Roger Morier, +1 202 473 5675, rmorier@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, +1 202 458 9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

World Bank Projects Sharp Slowdown for the South East European Economies in 2012

2012-06-05T14:14:18.000Z

Growth to slow from 2.2 percent in 2011 to 1.1 percent in 2012

Skopje, June 05, 2012–Six countries in South East Europe (SEE6)¹ face a sharp slowdown in growth in 2012 amid heightened uncertainties in the Eurozone, says a new World Bank report released today. In the short term, the report says that several countries must implement sustained fiscal consolidation to reverse adverse debt dynamics and establish a basis for more dynamic, long-term growth. At the same time, the countries are facing a considerable structural reform agenda to improve productivity and competitiveness and reform their labor markets and public sectors.

“After 2.2 percent growth in 2011, early indications are that Southeast Europe’s six (SEE6) countries are experiencing a significant slowdown to 1.1 percent growth in 2012,” says Željko Bogetić, Lead Economist for the Western Balkans at the World Bank, and author of the South East Europe Regular Economic Report No. 2 (SEE RER), the second of a series of regular bi-annual reports.“Weak economic conditions in the Eurozone have exerted a drag on domestic demand, trade, and government revenues in SEE6 countries.”

While the drop to 1 percent growth would mark a sharp slowdown, Bogetić also emphasized that the figure could be worse, depending on how the Greek economic crisis is resolved.

“Importantly, this baseline projection assumes an orderly resolution of the Greek crisis and a containment of the broader contagion. Hence the importance of strengthening fiscal and financial buffers in all countries.”

With high levels of public debt and financing pressures, most countries have to adopt significant fiscal consolidation programs.

“This is the key short-term policy challenge for countries whose public debt-to-GDP ratio has been increasing rapidly,” says Bogetić, emphasizing that “economic policy must strike a balance between the need to improve public finances and reduce macroeconomic vulnerabilities, on the one hand, and strengthen the economic policy environment for investment, growth, and jobs, on the other.“

The financial sector in SEE6 remains relatively well placed, but risks are elevated, especially given a high risk of a broader contagion from the Greek crisis. The importance of the authorities continuing to take pro-active measures to require banks to build buffers and strengthen the resilience of the sector cannot be overemphasized.

Policymakers should especially take note of the difficult social situation and related trends: SEE6 countries are experiencing the highest unemployment and poverty rates in Europe.

Growth was weak and largely “jobless” during the nascent recovery in 2010-11. Poverty reduction gains from the pre-crisis period are being reversed, and the middle class has become more vulnerable, according to both objective and subjective indicators of welfare.

In the face of much more moderate growth prospects than before the crisis and high social pressures, SEE6 country governments should adopt a more ambitious and urgent structural reform agenda for growth and jobs.

In the longer-term, however, SEE6 countries face a historic opportunity to take advantage of the European “convergence train”––a reduction in the long-term per capita income gap with developed, “core’ European Union (EU) countries. All earlier entrants into the EU experienced this strong “catch up.” The same “convergence train” awaits new EU candidate countries among SEE6, but only with appropriate policies and reforms.

“The SEE6 long-term structural reform agenda must be focused on leveraging greater trade and financial flows and, especially, on reforming labor markets and the public sectors,” says Jane Armitage, World Bank Country Director and Regional Coordinator for South East Europe.

The special feature of the report is the focus on long-term prospects for convergence of SEE6 countries with the developed European countries and associated policy challenges

^{Note: SEE6 are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.}

^{For more on the report, and also, the full report here}

World Bank Group Unveils New Focus on ‘Green, Clean, Resilient’ Development

2012-06-05T04:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2012 -- The World Bank Group today released its ambitious, new Environment Strategy for 2012-2022 aimed at supporting countries to pursue sustainable development pathways that are green, inclusive, efficient, and affordable. The new Strategy responds to calls from governments and the private sector for new approaches to development in light of unprecedented environmental challenges and lays out a vision for “a green, clean and resilient world for all”.

“We’re seeing that working through the nexus of food crises, water insecurity, and energy needs is being made all the more complicated by environmental degradation and climate change,” said World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte. “Countries and communities and the ecosystems they depend on need to build resilience while moving to more efficient growth paths. This Strategy lays out the areas where we will put emphasis as we work to respond to countries’ needs.”

As countries seek to reduce poverty in the face of climate change and other major environmental challenges, the Bank Group is providing knowledge, solutions and financing to foster an environment that is:

· Green where natural resources are sustainably managed and conserved to improve livelihoods and ensure food security;

· Clean in which cleaner air, water and oceans enable people to lead healthy, productive lives and where development strategies emphasize low-emission, climate-smart transport, energy, agriculture and urban development;

· Resilient in which countries are better prepared for shocks and less vulnerable to natural disasters, volatile weather patterns and other impacts of climate change.

World Bank commitments addressing environment and natural resource management have grown from $1.5 billion or 8.4 percent of World Bank lending in FY01 to $6.3 billion or 14.3 percent in FY11.

“The Strategy acknowledges the vital role of the private sector in achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development,” said International Finance Corporation (IFC) Vice President for Business Advisory Services Nena Stoiljkovic. “IFC works with the private sector as an advisor, financier, and standard setter to help unlock this potential.”

The IFC invested $1.7 billion in climate-friendly projects in FY11, up 6 percent from $1.6 billion in FY10.

Under the “green” agenda, a key priority is the Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) global partnership which supports countries’ efforts to factor natural capital into national accounting systems and through the Global Partnership for Oceans, the focus is on restoring the world’s oceans to health and optimizing their contribution to economic growth and food security. The “clean” agenda prioritizes pollution management through river clean-up and legacy pollution projects while also encouraging low-emission development strategies and financing for renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and lower-carbon cities.

The “resilience” agenda, targets support to countries to adapt to climate change, improve disaster risk management, with a focus on vulnerable Small Island Developing States to reduce dependence on oil imports, build sound infrastructure, and restore protective coastal ecosystems such as mangroves.

The Strategy includes action plans for the specific environmental challenges in each developing region of the world.

· In Africa, work will focus on strengthening governance for natural resource management given growing pressure on the region’s agriculture, mining, forests, and water basins. In partnership with other agencies, the private sector, and civil society, the Bank Group is seeking to expand access to clean energy across the region.

· In East Asia and the Pacific the Bank Group is supporting renewable energy and energy efficiency, sustainable urban development and transport, as well as prioritizing the phase-out of numerous industrial pollutants; advising on carbon markets and adaptation in agriculture and coastal infrastructure; scaling up forest management; and strengthening regional partnerships to preserve biodiversity.

· In Europe and Central Asia where many countries are faced with energy shortages and a legacy of industrial pollution, the Bank Group is promoting clean energy and production while supporting programs to dispose of pollutant stockpiles, rehabilitate watersheds and improve disaster preparedness.

· In Latin America and the Caribbean where pressure continues on coastlines, wetlands, and the world’s largest forest cover, the Bank Group is supporting the management of protected areas, the integration of biodiversity conservation into productive landscapes and in some countries, the use of payments for environmental services. It is also providing the world’s most urbanized region with policy advice on cleaner development paths, supporting industrial pollution abatement, and promoting “green cities”.

· In Middle East and North Africa where high population density, water scarcity, and overfishing tend primarily to affect the poor, the Bank Group is supporting programs to strengthen the capacity of countries with shared seas—the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Gulf—to reduce marine pollution and manage fisheries. Other focus areas include desert ecosystems and livelihoods; improved urban and industrial planning; scaled-up solar power generation; and efforts to reduce vulnerability to drought.

· In South Asia where the poorest live in areas of high soil erosion, variable rainfall, and degraded forests, the Bank Group is helping to strengthen the role of natural resource management in the development agenda, strengthen environmental management in industry and reduce the costs to countries of environmental degradation.

Meeting the challenges of a green, clean, and resilient world requires leveraging the comparative advantage of all development partners. The new Strategy recognizes the growing role of the private sector in addressing sustainability concerns, developing sustainability standards, and ensuring that global markets can and do promote sustainable development.

The Strategy also encompasses the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) - the arm of the World Bank Group that promotes responsible foreign direct investment into developing countries by offering political risk insurance to the private sector.

"MIGA is pleased to have contributed to this strategy and to advance the notion that the private sector is absolutely crucial to affect change with respect to environmental issues," said Michel Wormser, MIGA's Vice President and COO.

To measure and monitor progress the Environment Strategy includes a results framework to track progress over time. The new Strategy also advances work to assess greenhouse gas emissions from the Bank Group’s portfolio of development projects with pilots being undertaken in a number of World Bank energy, transport and forestry sector projects.

Contacts:
In Washington: Elisabeth Mealey, +1 202-458-4475, emealey@worldbank.org

Vanessa Bauza, +1 202-458-1603, vbauza@ifc.org
Mallory Saleson +1 202-473-0844 msaleson@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, +1 202-458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

To read the World Bank Group Environment Strategy 2012-2022, click here.

For more information on Sustainable Development at the World Bank click here.

For more information on the IFC Sustainability: www.ifc.org/sustainability

For more information on MIGA: www.miga.org

Supporting growth in South-East Europe: Financial reporting and auditing play a critical role

2012-05-31T15:55:10.000Z

World Bank conference convenes ministers and senior officials in Vienna

VIENNA, May 31, 2012 – Ministers and senior officials from seven countries of South-East Europe and Moldova, participating in the Road to Europe - Program of Accounting Reform and Institutional Strengthening (REPARIS), as well as representatives from the EU, other European countries and international bodies, gathered in Vienna for the third REPARIS Ministerial Conference on 31 May.

Participating ministers and senior officials reviewed the progress that their countries have made in enhancing their financial reporting systems and aligning them with EU legislation.

As part of their efforts to support economic growth and to integrate more closely with the EU, most countries in the program have introduced new accounting laws. Countries are also strengthening their educational systems as well as the capacity of their accounting professions. Several countries are now moving to the next stage of reform by setting up the systems of public oversight and quality control that are needed to ensure that the new accounting rules are implemented consistently and reliably in practice.

The ministers and senior officials discussed how improved financial reporting helps reduce the barriers to business investment, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), thus helping to boost competitiveness and economic growth. They also discussed what further measures with regard to the EU’s new accounting directive (including special provisions for microenterprises), audit oversight and quality assurance need to be taken and how REPARIS can help them implement financial reporting reform.

In his opening address to the conference, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, Philippe Le Houerou, acknowledged that the financial crisis had left the countries of Europe and Central Asia with higher levels of public debt, weakened financial sectors, and historically high levels of unemployment. The crisis unveiled weaknesses that called for deep structural reforms. In response to these challenges, one of the main pillars of the World Bank´s strategy has been support for reforms to improve competitiveness.

“Good public and corporate governance is not a luxury, but a necessity for sustainable growth. The work of REPARIS on financial reporting is critical to the competitiveness agenda. It is also an important aspect of good governance, which requires transparency and integrity both in the public and the private sector”, said Le Houerou

The Governments of Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg are the main supporters of REPARIS.

“One program cannot tackle all the challenges we are facing. It must be selective to use its limited resources most effectively to deliver upon its agreed objectives. REPARIS is able to achieve just that. REPARIS helps to build and strengthen institutions to make the financial system more stable and to create a business climate conducive to promote growth and employment.”, highlighted Andreas Schieder, State Secretary in the Austrian Ministry of Finance in his opening remarks.

Ms. Biljana Šćekić, Deputy Minister of Finance of Montenegro, underlined the following: “Montenegro has been a part of the REPARIS program from its very beginning, and as a candidate country of the European Union, we are serious about completing our Accounting and Audit Reform journey.

This is important […] to deliver a climate that will enable our small young country to compete for investment and jobs in the new reality that is the Europe of today.”

Gerhard Schumann-Hitzler, Director, Financial Instruments and Regional Programmes at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enlargement emphasized the importance of regional initiatives like REPARIS in improving the business environment, especially for SMEs, in the countries of the Western Balkans.

The conference was organized as part of the REPARIS program, which supports the efforts of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia to introduce effective and EU-compliant systems of financial reporting. REPARIS was launched in 2009 for a period of five years. The program is managed by the World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR), based in Vienna.

On the occasion of the Ministerial Conference, the CFRR is organizing in Vienna three technical workshops covering key aspects of the corporate financial reporting agenda relevant to policymakers, financial regulators, and professional accountancy organizations in the REPARIS countries.

World Bank Increases Transparency through Inaugural Publication of Sanctions Board Decisions

2012-05-30T13:30:00.000Z

Milestone in anti-corruption agenda unmatched by any other IFI

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2012 - Marking another advance in openness and accountability in its anti-corruption work, the World Bank Group today published for the first time a set of decisions issued by the World Bank Group’s Sanctions Board in cases of alleged fraud and corruption.

"The World Bank Group takes a hard line against corruption, and we believe that greater transparency must be part of that effort,” said World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati. “By publishing Sanctions Board decisions, we are making all parties involved in the sanctions process more accountable. This move should deepen the deterrent effect of debarments and enhance the educational value of the Sanctions Board’s findings."

The first published decisions were announced at a panel discussion hosted by the World Bank Group Sanctions Board Secretariat to take stock of recent developments and consider ongoing challenges for the Bank Group’s sanctions system. At the discussion, the Bank Group also announced the appointment of two new Sanctions Board members: Mr. Yves Fortier, an international arbitrator and former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations, who will serve as Chair of the Sanctions Board; and Ms. Catherine O’Regan, President of the International Monetary Fund Administrative Tribunal and former Judge of the South African Constitutional Court.

The Sanctions Board, an independent administrative tribunal with a majority of external members, serves as final decision-maker in all contested sanctions cases. Decisions are taken based on an adversarial process that includes written arguments and evidence and, where requested, an administrative hearing. More than 530 firms and individuals have been sanctioned by the World Bank Group for fraud, corruption and collusion since the sanctions system was established in 1999. Most of these sanctions have been in the form of debarments, where firms or individuals are rendered ineligible to participate in Bank Group-financed operations.

From December 2011, the Sanctions Board Law Digest has made publicly available summaries of past cases and the legal principles applied over time. The publication of full Sanctions Board decisions goes a step further and creates an unprecedented level of transparency by presenting the Sanctions Board’s detailed review of each new appeal to determine whether misconduct occurred and if so, what sanctions should apply.

"Publication of our decisions furthers the Sanctions Board's goal to fight fraud and corruption through the rule of law," said Fathi Kemicha, the first external Chair of the Sanctions Board. "Parties that come before the Sanctions Board, as well as our partners in the international community, will now have a more robust understanding of our process, case law, and careful examination of each case."

The decisions published today can be accessed on the World Bank’s external website, and explain the rationale for sanctions imposed in eight cases recently considered by the Sanctions Board:

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 46 (Sanctions Case No. 151): Income Electrix Limited debarred for six months for fraud.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 47 (Sanctions Case No. 121): M/s. Concept Pharmaceuticals Limited debarred for fraud, with conditional release after three years.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 48 (Sanctions Case No. 118): Zhonghao Overseas Construction Eng. Co., Ltd. debarred for two years for fraud, with conditional early release after one year.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 49 (Sanctions Case No. 130): De Lorenzo of America, Corp., S.A. de C.V., and its affiliate Marketing Enterprises Latin America, LLC., each debarred for fraud, with conditional release after two years.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 50 (Sanctions Case No. 117): ASDECON Corporation Company Limited debarred for corrupt practices, with conditional release after five years.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 51 (Sanctions Case No. 145 and Sanctions Case No. 146):

- Sanctions Case No. 145: General Consulting Training (GCT) and Mr. Ali Safi each debarred for one year for fraud.

- Sanctions Case No. 146: TEAM Engineering & Management Consultants (TEAM) debarred for fraud, with conditional release after two years.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 52 (Sanctions Case No. 134): Contransimex Nigeria Limited debarred for fraud, with conditional release after two years.

All sanctions are reflected on the World Bank Listing of Ineligible Firms & Individuals (www.worldbank.org/debarr).

For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org/sanctions

Contacts:

In Washington: David Theis, (202) 458-8626, dtheis@worldbank.org;

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

New Initiatives Give Hope to a Carbon Market Facing Challenges

2012-05-30T12:30:00.000Z

World Bank releases State and Trends of the Carbon Market report 2012

COLOGNE, GERMANY, May 30, 2012 – The total value of the carbon market grew by 11 percent in 2011, to $176 billion, and transaction volumes reached a new high of 10.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) according to a new report from the World Bank.

According to State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2012 this growth took place in the face of economic turbulence, growing long-term oversupply in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and plummeting carbon prices.

The report, released here at the Carbon Expo in Cologne, describes how even as prices declined, the value of the global carbon market increased in 2011, driven predominantly by a robust growth in financially motivated transactions. By far, the largest segment of the carbon market was that of EU Allowances (EUAs), valued at $148 billion. There was also a substantial increase in the volume of secondary Kyoto offsets (which grew by 43 percent, to 1.8 billion tons of CO₂e, valued at US$23 billion) fueled by increased liquidity in the Certified Emission Reduction (CER) market and in the nascent secondary Emission Reduction Unit (ERU) market. Following the same pattern observed in previous years, the global carbon market in 2011 was primarily driven by the EU ETS.

With the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, the value of the pre-2013 primary CER, ERU and AAU markets declined once again in 2011. Not surprisingly, however, the market is starting to look beyond 2012 and consequently the post-2012 primary CDM market increased by a robust 63 percent, to US$2 billion, despite depressed prices and limited long-term-visibility. Although China remained the largest source of contracted CERs, African countries – largely bypassed in the pre-2013 market – emerged stronger in 2011 and accounted for 21 percent of post-2012 CERs contracted during the year.

Against this backdrop, several new domestic and regional carbon market initiatives gained traction in both developed and developing economies in 2011. Five new jurisdictions passed legislation adopting cap-and-trade schemes.

“It is heartening to see that, while leading economies continue to experience difficulties and the carbon market faces major challenges, we see increasing interest in, and support for, new market-based mechanisms to mitigate climate change in the long term,” said Joëlle Chassard, Manager of the Carbon Finance Unit of the World Bank.

The Australian Parliament passed the Clean Energy Act, the California Air Resources Board adopted a cap-and-trade regulation, and Québec adopted its own cap-and-trade program. The province is now working toward linking it with California’s starting in 2013. Last month, both Mexico and the Republic of Korea passed comprehensive climate bills, laying the foundation for future market-based mechanisms.

“Together, these initiatives will drive substantial resources towards low-carbon investments and they have the potential to unleash a truly transformational carbon market, in support of a global solution to the climate challenge,” said Alexandre Kossoy, Senior Financial Specialist, World Bank Carbon Finance Unit.

Contacts:

In Cologne: Isabel Hagbrink, +1 202 458 0422, ihagbrink@worldbank.org

In Washington DC: Elisabeth Mealey, +1 202 458 4475, emealey@worldbank.org

For an electronic version of the report and more information on the Carbon Finance Unit and its carbon funds, please see: www.carbonfinance.org

World Bank Welcomes African Leadership on Natural Capital Accounting

2012-05-25T14:17:29.000Z

Announces $3m in support from Japan to help countries around the world put it into action

GABORONE, BOTSWANA, May 25, 2012 – The World Bank’s Vice President for Sustainable Development, Rachel Kyte, today welcomed the strong endorsement from ten African countries for natural capital accounting - a tool for factoring countries’ natural assets into their systems of national accounting.

Speaking at the conclusion of the African Sustainability Summit in Botswana, Kyte said African leaders had shown the way forward through a joint communiqué on natural capital accounting which recognized GDP’s limitations as a measure of well-being and sustainable growth and underscored the importance of a tool for taking natural capital into account for improved economic decision-making.

“Africa is where sustained and sustainable economic growth and the stewardship of natural wealth become one and the same thing,” Kyte said. “Making progress means more than just a strong GDP - it means giving equal attention to the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainable development. By endorsing natural capital accounting as a tool for delivering on more inclusive green growth, Africa is showing the way for the rest of the world.”

Kyte said that 24 countries around the world were already compiling natural capital accounts. With so much on-the-ground experience to draw upon, she said the World Bank was hoping to see at least 50 countries and 50 private corporations follow Africa’s lead by endorsing natural capital accounting at the upcoming Rio+20 Conference.

The World Bank is supporting countries to factor their natural capital into systems of national accounts through a global partnership called WAVES (Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services). Ms Kyte took the opportunity of the Botswana Summit to announce the Government of Japan’s financial commitment of $US3 million to support the WAVES Partnership.

“Japan’s generous commitment helps us step up to meet the increasing demand from countries to make natural capital accounting a reality,” Kyte said.

Japan’s Deputy Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs and Executive Assistant to the Prime Minister for Global Environmental Finance, Naoko Ishii said “Japan has long been a supporter to enhancing biodiversity and preserving ecosystems, and is excited to strengthen this initiative.”

WAVES is working to build capacity in countries to implement Natural Capital Accounting based on the UN’s recently endorsed System for Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA). The SEEA provides an internationally agreed method, on par with the current System of National Accounts, to account for material natural resources like minerals, timber, and fisheries.

WAVES is also working to develop an agreed methodology for accounting for ecosystem services, including for example, the `regulating’ services of forests for pollination and wetlands for reducing the impacts of floods.

The WAVES partnership includes the United Nations Environment Program, the UN Development Program, and the UN Statistical Commission; the countries of Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, Madagascar, and the Philippines, which are implementing programs; as well as financial or technical support from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, and several NGOS.

For a copy of the latest WAVES report “Moving Beyond GDP” go to:

http://www.wavespartnership.org/waves/

Contacts:

In Washington: Robert Bisset, +1 202 458 5191, rbisset@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, +1 202 458 9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

For more information about WAVES and the World Bank’s work on sustainable development visit:

http://www.worldbank.org/sustainabledevelopment

For more information about the Summit For Sustainability in Africa, please visit here.

Ms. Kseniya Lvovsky, World Bank Country Manager continues her Open Data tour in Saranda and Gjirokastra Universities

2012-05-25T13:45:00.000Z

Tirana, May 25, 2012 - Today the World Bank Country Manager for Albania Ms. Kseniya Lvovsky visited universities of Saranda and Gjirokaster and met the faculty and the students to talk to them about recent economic developments and World Bank support for Albania. Ms. Lvovsky also used the opportunity to meet the Mayor of Saranda Mr. Çipa and visit the Saranda’s port where the World Bank finances the rehabilitation works. The World Bank supports a major program of investment in infrastructure improvements and cultural heritage conservation of the southern Albanian coast to boost its economic and tourism potential.

In her presentation at the universities, Ms. Lvovsky highlighted the significant achievements of Albania during the last 20 years, to which the World Bank has been proud to contribute. She also discussed current and future challenges to Albanian development, including the continuing recession in the Eurozone and growing uncertainties over the Greek sovereign debt crisis. She stressed the importance of monitoring poverty trends and strengthening the social safety net, which is essential to the areas where remittances from Greece have been a major source of income. Ms. Lvovsky emphasized the importance of gradually reducing the Albanian public debt - the highest in the Western Balkans,- while accelerating reforms to sustain growth and mitigate the impact of the Eurozone crisis. In conclusion, she commended the students for their decision to major in economics and finance and acquire skills that are in demand by both the private and public sectors. She encouraged them to take advantage of the World Bank Open Data.

The visits to the universities marked the beginning of the series of activities to celebrate 20 years of World Bank partnership with Albania that will culminate with the main event on October 8^th. For the full presentation please visit: presentation.

World Bank Database Shows Export Markets Are Dominated by Big Firms

2012-05-24T13:46:46.000Z

Difficult for Newcomers to Survive

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2012 – A few large companies dominate export markets in developing and developed countries, with the top one percent often accounting for more than half – sometimes nearly 80 percent – of total exports, according to a new World Bank database with a wealth of details on exporting firms.

The new Exporter Dynamics Database offers the most comprehensive picture yet of exporter characteristics and dynamics – a firm’s entry, exit and survival in the export market – in 45 developed and developing countries. The database mainly covers 2003-2009, though data from the 1990s are also available for some countries.

A key finding is that the export market is difficult to tackle for newcomers, with 57 percent of companies on average – and two-thirds in Africa – quitting within a year of entering the export market.

“Governments traditionally have focused on helping exporters expand to new products and new markets, but they may need to do more to help firms survive,” says Ana Margarida Fernandes, the task leader of the database, which was developed by the Trade and International Integration team of the World Bank’s Development Research Group.

The global database allows for cross-country comparisons of exporters based on factors such as size, survival, growth, and concentration. More countries will be added as the database expands. Until now, most databases focus not on exporting firms, but on the aggregate flow of goods across borders based on countries or products.

Based on data sets covering the universe of export transactions obtained directly from customs agencies, the data are comparable across countries. Measures cover the size distribution of exporting firms, their diversification in terms of products and markets, the dynamics of exporting firms’ entry, exit and survival, and the average unit prices of the goods traded.

The Exporter Dynamics Database could help policy makers identify opportunities in particular sectors and address challenges faced by their exporters, especially in their entry and survival in export markets. For example, it can be used to analyze the performance of export sectors in a country, comparing them with their counterparts in the region or richer countries. The database can also make it easier to analyze the impact of tariffs and other trade barriers. For example, it can be used to assess the impact of stringent non-tariff measures on the numbers and average size of exporters.

The database reveals several interesting trends. For example, the rate of firms entering the export market is high, with more than half of the exporters in Laos, Malawi, Tanzania, and Yemen being newcomers in any given year. But their survival rate isn’t that good, generally with more than a third of companies on average leaving the export market every year.

“Our database shows how large the degree of churning in export markets is, particularly in less developed and smaller economies,” says Martha Denisse Pierola, an economist at the Development Research Group who started the project with Caroline Freund, now the chief economist at the Middle East and North Africa Region of the World Bank. “We need further research to better assist governments in minimizing the costs associated with these high exit rates.”

Contacts:

In Washington: Jane Zhang, (202) 473-1376, janezhang@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Mehreen Sheikh, (202) 458-7336, msheikh1@worldbank.org

For more information, please visit: http://econ.worldbank.org/exporter-dynamics-database

For more information click here.

The project Social Assistance Modernization Project has changed to Active

2012-04-06T04:00:00.000Z

The project Social Assistance Modernization Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of Social Assistance Modernization Project for Albania it to support country's implementation of reforms to improve the equity and efficiency of its social assistance programs. The project has two components. (1) Strengthening the implementation and performance of social assistance programs. The objective of this component is to support the results of implementation of improvements in the main social assistance programs. The component will support improved implementation of both the Ndihma Ekonomike (NE) program and disability assistance benefits in the main areas identified in the broad. Roadmap for reforms: (a) program parameters (eligibility criteria and intake processes); (b) benefits administration (business processes, management of information, and payments mechanisms, and reporting and monitoring); and (c) oversight and controls. (2) Technical assistance to strengthen implementation capacity for social assistance programs. The objectives of this component are to strengthen capacity for implementing improvements in the delivery of social assistance benefits. This component will finance select technical assistance and investment activities.

The project Albania - Second MDTF to support EITI Implementation is now in the pipeline.

2012-04-03T04:00:00.000Z

The project Albania - Second MDTF to support EITI Implementation is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Financial Sector Modernization Loan is now in the pipeline.

2012-03-06T05:00:00.000Z

The project Financial Sector Modernization Loan is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Free Standing TF on Natural Resource Development is now in the pipeline.

2012-02-04T05:00:00.000Z

The project Free Standing TF on Natural Resource Development is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project DAM SAFETY - ADDITIONAL FINANCING is now in the pipeline.

2011-12-21T05:00:00.000Z

The project DAM SAFETY - ADDITIONAL FINANCING is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objectives of Energy Community of South East Europe Adaptable Program Loan (APL) Program - Fifth APL for Albania Dam Safety Project are to: a) contribute to safeguarding the major hydroelectric plants on the Drin and Mat river cascades in Albania; and b) improve their operational efficiency and enhance the stability of power supply for the regional electricity market. The additional loan will help finance the costs associated with an expected cost overrun for the investments planned under the original project. The additional loan will support the completion of two major sub-components of the Original project: (i) rehabilitation of the spillways in the three dams of the Drin River Cascade (Fierza, Komani and Vau Deja hydro power plants (HPPs); and (ii) rehabilitation of the Komani HPP through refurbishment of electro-mechanical equipment and replacement of existing control, protection and monitoring systems. The restructuring includes: (1) the cancelation of a subcomponent under the original credit (load frequency control); (2) extension of the due dates for three covenants, dam safety institutional and emergency preparedness plans as well as effectiveness of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) co-financing agreement; and (3) extension of the closing date of the original project to December 30, 2016. The expected outcomes from the activities supported by the proposed additional financing will be (i) the safeguarding of the major hydroelectric plants in Albania; and (ii) improved operational efficiency and stability of power supply of the regional electricity market.

The project Social Assistance Modernization Project is now in the pipeline.

2011-08-13T04:00:00.000Z

The project Social Assistance Modernization Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Governance and Competitiveness PDPL is now in the pipeline.

2011-06-22T04:00:00.000Z

The project Governance and Competitiveness PDPL is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project REPARIS Albania MDTF No. TF098923 Corporate Financial Reporting Enhancement Project is now in the pipeline.

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project REPARIS Albania MDTF No. TF098923 Corporate Financial Reporting Enhancement Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of the Corporate Financial Reporting Enhancement Project is to create a transparent policy environment and effective institutional framework for corporate financial reporting in line with best international practices, aligned with European Union (EU) acquis communautaire. There are five components to the project, the first component being improving the legal framework in the area of corporate financial reporting. This component will finance technical assistance and workshops to establish a sound basis for corporate financial reporting legislation alignment with the EU acquis communautaire. The second component is the strengthening the capacity of the national accounting council. Under this component, the capacity of the national accounting council will be strengthened, as well as processes for the setting and endorsement of financial reporting standards, through technical assistance and training. The third component is the establishment of an audit oversight system. Under this component, the project will finance technical assistance, workshops and goods to support strengthening of the recently established public audit oversight system envisaged in the new auditing law adopted in 2009, will focus on drafting the secondary legislation for public oversight system and the development of public register for auditors. The fourth component is the improving accounting and auditing curricula for university education and professional certification. Under this component, the project will finance TA and workshops to assist universities, professional bodies and the examination center (to be created under the Ministry of Finance, or MoF) to build foundations for sustainable curricula for accounting and auditing education and certification of whom accountants and auditors. Finally, the fifth component is the project management, strengthening reform capacity, and monitoring and evaluation.

The project Social Sector Reform Development Policy Loan is now in the pipeline.

2010-08-13T04:00:00.000Z

The project Social Sector Reform Development Policy Loan is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objectives of the Social Sector Reform Development Policy Loan (DPL) Project is to support policy changes to improve the effectiveness of social safety nets, and enhance efficiency and equity of health spending, in a fiscally sustainable environment. The DPL will also enhance transparency and accountability by supporting policies to improve the administration of social assistance programs and promoting the use of systematic formulas to allocate resources in selected social programs and services. The operation supports the agenda of the Government that took office in September 2009, which continues to be focused on growth, poverty reduction and strengthened safety nets, and governance reforms, as described in its national strategy for development and integration 2007-2013. This DPL supports the adoption of broad policy changes in social programs through revised legislation or other Government decisions. Therefore, this DPL is part of a package that combines policy and institutional reforms with support for enhanced implementation capacity through investment lending.