Mongolia | World Bank

The project Mongolia Integrated Livestock-based Livelihoods Support Project is now in the pipeline.

2012-02-16T05:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia Integrated Livestock-based Livelihoods Support Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Project Information Document (Concept Stage) - Mongolia Integrated Livestock-based Livelihoods Support Project - P125964

2012-02-15T05:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia Global Partnership for Education Early Childhood Education Project has changed to Active

2012-02-15T05:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia Global Partnership for Education Early Childhood Education Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Risks Rise from Urban Flooding in East Asia and Pacific

2012-02-13T02:00:00.000Z

World Bank offers practical Guide to reduce losses

Tokyo, February 13, 2012 - Urban flooding is a serious and growing development challenge for fast growing low and middle-income countries in East Asia, underscoring an urgent need to build flood risk management into regular planning of cities and towns, says a new World Bank guidebook released today.

Titled “Cities and Flooding: A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century”, the book provides operational guidance on how to manage the risk of floods in the face of urbanization, growing populations and long-term climate change trends.

“Urban expansion often creates poorer neighborhoods which lack adequate infrastructure and services, making them more vulnerable to floods. The poor are hit hardest, especially women and children,” said Pamela Cox, World Bank Vice President, East Asia and Pacific Region. “But rapid urbanization also means we have the opportunity to do things right the first time, so cities and towns can support sustainable development, saving lives and money.”

Floods are the most frequent among all natural disasters, and the East Asia and Pacific region, along with South Asia, is particularly vulnerable. In the past 30 years, the number of floods in Asia amounted to about 40 percent of the total worldwide. More than 90 percent of the global population exposed to floods lives in Asia.

As developing countries in the region transition to largely urban societies, the concentration of people and assets has made urban flooding increasingly costly and difficult to manage. In addition to direct economic damage, floods also have long-term consequences such as loss of education opportunities, disease and reduced nutrition which may erode development goals.

According to the guidebook, the most effective way to manage flood risk is to take an integrated approach which combines both structural and non-structural measures.

This includes:

· Building drainage channels and floodways;

· Incorporating “urban greening” such as wetlands and environmental buffers;

· Creating flood warning systems; and

· Land use planning for flood avoidance.

The key is getting the balance right, says the guidebook. While hard-engineered structures are effective when used appropriately, they can be overcome by natural disasters beyond their design capacity. They may transfer flood risk, reducing risk in one location only to increase it in another.

Implementing an integrated strategy effectively requires cooperation between different levels of government, public sector agencies, civil society, educational organizations and private sectors, as well as strong decisive leadership from national and local governments.

Many tools are available to help us better understand flood risk and its hazards. Web-based flood forecasting systems are an effective way to disseminate hydrological and hydro-meteorological data to a range of users. Mapping risk and vulnerability can be invaluable in directing resources appropriately to protect people.

For example, the World Bank is working with partners to support meteorological services in the Lower Mekong Basin. This will assist cities in Vietnam and Indonesia develop a medium term resilience plan that takes into account the uncertainties and risks from natural hazards.

Communications also plays a significant role in raising awareness and reinforcing preparedness. The guidebook warns that less severe disasters can be forgotten in less than three years.

As flood risk cannot be eliminated entirely, planning for a speedy recovery is also necessary, using reconstruction as an opportunity to build safer and stronger communities which have the capacity to withstand flooding better in the future.

"Recent large-scale disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the floods in Thailand and Australia emphasize the need for a new approach to disaster risk management and resilience,” said lead author of the guidebook Abhas Jha, Lead Urban Specialist and Program Leader, Disaster Risk Management, World Bank East Asia and Pacific Region. “We need to design systems that recognize the complex and uncertain nature of flood risk management and its impacts. Design should be comprehensive, flexible and iterative, being careful to avoid an over-reliance on any one given solution which may not be enough to counter the dynamic nature of risk.”

The guidebook was produced with the financial support of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). Partners include the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Contacts:

In Tokyo: Carl Hanlon, (202) 460-8526, chanlon@worldbank.org

Tomoko Hirai, +81-3(3597)6650, thirai@worldbank.org

In Washington: Chisako Fukuda, (202) 473-9424, cfukuda@worldbank.org

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

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

To download the report, please visit: http://www.gfdrr.org/urbanfloods

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Mongolia - MONGOLIA: EDUCATION FOR ALL FAST TRACK INITIATIVE (EFA-FTI) CATALYTIC TRUST FUND : P108776 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 08

2012-02-10T05:00:00.000Z

The World Bank and Fotopedia Launch New App; “Women Of The World” Now Available on your Iphone or Ipad

2012-02-08T14:00:00.000Z

Washington DC, February 8, 2012 – The World Bank and Fotopedia, the publisher of popular iOS apps and winner of the Best Tablet App of the Year Crunchies Award, today announced their collaboration on a new free app titled “Women of the World” for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. “Women of the World” takes users on an eye-opening tour and educational look into the lives of women all across the world.

Through the app, users will encounter women from every corner of the globe and witness their fighting spirit in the face of human, political, and religious events. The app explores the stunning images of a bride at her wedding in Singapore, a woman whose daughter had just been saved from malaria, women minesweeping the fields of Cambodia, nuns in the convents in France, girl-soldiers in Mozambique, which are just a few of the hundreds of moving scenes composing this magnificent sociological study.

The app showcases the work of professional photographer Olivier Martel, who traveled to more than 75 countries to assemble these images. “Women of the World” is updated weekly with Visual Stories to provide insight into the lives of women from cultures spanning the globe.

Olivier Martel said: “These topics require a persistent but discrete approach, determination, and a lot of patience. This work is about giving women the opportunity to share their hopes or daily struggles, and give them their dignity in a photographic homage that takes the form of a search for beauty.”

This collaboration also highlights the World Bank’s #thinkEQUAL campaign that aims to increase awareness of progress and obstacles in gender equality around the globe. Today, more girls go to school and more women receive maternal healthcare than ever, yet only 15 percent of landowners and only one in five lawmakers are women..

“We hope these images inspire people to act,” said Jeni Klugman, the World Bank’s Director of Gender and Development. “Much has improved, but in many parts of the world, women's rights and opportunities remain very constrained. This inequality is very unfair and it is bad economics. It hampers poverty reduction and limits development. The World Bank has major programs to support girls and women to become more educated, gain better access to health care, water, start businesses and access credit. These are becoming an increasingly important aspect of our work around the world.”

About “Women of the World”

Women of the World is packed with hundreds of professional, moving photos, social media sharing tools, powerful slideshows and wallpapers.

Additional features of the app include:

A collection of hundreds of photos
Visual stories, updated every week
Complete navigation with smart tags, search and interactive maps
Instant Slideshows
Free Wallpapers for your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
Favorites to create your own personalized photo albums
Photo sharing via email, Facebook and Twitter
This app requires an Internet connection, WiFi recommended.

Pricing & Availability

“Women of the World” is available for free for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, in the App Store. You can find it here.

About Fotopedia

With more than 7 million downloads to date, Fotopedia is the publisher of the Fotopedia Magazine and a suite of iOS apps, including “Fotopedia Heritage”, one of Apple’s Hall of Fame best 50 apps of all times. Fotopedia is also the recent recipient of the 2011 Best Tablet App of the Year Crunchies Award. Fotopedia provides new ways to discover, explore and share the beauty of the world. The company was founded by Jean-Marie Hullot, who was previously CTO at NeXT and CTO of Apple’s Applications Division and a team of Apple veterans. Fotopedia has offices in San Francisco and Paris.

About The World Bank

The World Bank Group’s goal is to fight poverty. It provides loans and grants to developing countries.

The World Bank is helping eliminate persistent gender barriers to accessing quality social services, entering the job market, and building resilience the to shocks and volatility. Our work includes expanding access to family planning and reproductive health services, promoting gender parity in education, providing social safety nets and insurance, and helping people acquire the resources and skills to secure decent jobs and provide for their families.

Getting to equal is a smart investment. By closing gender gaps in human development, the Bank is helping developing countries reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), enhance productivity and growth, and promote the well-being of all their people. You can get involved at http://thinkequal.worldbank.org/ Also, to learn more about our work on gender, please visit www.worldbank.org/gender

Contacts:

Fotopedia: Lisa Gonzales, (415) 848-7169, lisa@sutherlandgold.com

World Bank: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

Strengthening Rural Livelihoods Through Cross-Regional Knowledge Sharing

2012-02-03T02:00:00.000Z

Community Driven Development and Livelihoods Workshop

VIENTIANE, Lao PDR, February 3, 2012 – The Government of Lao PDR, jointly with the World Bank Group, organized a regional workshop focusing on community driven development and improvement of rural livelihoods. During this two-day event, participants from eleven Asian countries discussed regional experiences in improving economic opportunities in the rural areas, expanding road access and improving living conditions and empowerment among the rural poor.

Community Driven Development (CDD) is an approach which gives direct control over planning, decision making and investment resources for local development projects to community groups. In livelihoods programs, social capital created by the CDD approach will be transformed into economic capital, through a robust institutionalization of the poor on the premise that such institutions can push for better services, better financial terms and more jobs. By 2010, the World Bank Group support for CDD related projects had amounted to approximately US$ 7.8 billion, of which the CDD component was estimated to be US$5.1 billion all over the world.

While each country in the region has been enjoying a rapid economic growth in the past decade, there are emerging social and economic challenges such as rural-urban inequality or youth unemployment. CDD and work on livelihood improvement are increasingly recognized as important and effective approaches to address such issues.

The objective of the workshop is to share achievements and challenges from the past experience, and also to discuss future regional collaboration in the area of CDD and rural livelihood development. Among the participants were more than 40 representatives from the government of 11 countries in the region: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Timor Leste, China, and Mongolia.

The agenda includes a series of presentations from participating countries highlighting on-going programs in the region which support strengthening of rural livelihoods, as well as panel discussion on innovative features, especially from South Asia countries which have advanced successful implementation of development programs in this area.

The event is part of a exchange program called “Learning from CDD models for Better Economic and Social Development Outcomes”, supported by the South-South Experience Exchange Trust Fund (SEETF). The programs have been enhancing mutual learning between South Asia and South East Asia countries since early 2011 and also included a knowledge exchange visit to India with delegations from Lao PDR and Vietnam, in August 2011.

This regional workshop will be the final event of the program, which is expected to leverage knowledge exchange on the subject of more efficient support to rural communities and region-wide friendship by extending the invitation to neighboring countries that are also willing to improve their CDD and Livelihoods initiatives.

Contacts:
In Washington DC: Mohamad al-Arief, (+1 202) 458-5964, malarief@worldbank.org
In Vientiane: Meriem Gray, (+856 21) 450010, mgray@worldbank.org
Souridahak Sakonhninhom, (+856 21) 450010, ssakonhninhom@worldbank.org

For more information, please visit the East Asia and and Pacific CDD and Livelihoods website

Quarterly Food Prices Decline, but Remain Volatile

2012-01-31T14:00:00.000Z

Price Index 24 percent higher on average than 2010

WASHINGTON, January 31, 2012—Global food prices declined 8 percent between September and December of 2011 due to increasing supplies and uncertainty about the global economy, but still remain volatile and high with the 2011 annual index 24 percent higher than its average in 2010, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch.

While the first quarter of 2011 witnessed sharp increases, five consecutive months of decreases at the end of the year drove the World Bank Food Price Index 7 percent below the December 2010 levels, and 14 percent lower than its February peak. Nevertheless, global prices remain high with the 2011 annual index averaging at 210 points against 169 points average in 2010.

According to the quarterly Food Price Watch report, despite the downward trend over the last few months, global prices of key staples continued experiencing volatility, and the average annual prices of wheat, maize and rice well exceeded averages for 2010.

Domestic food prices also experienced sharp increases in many countries from December 2010 to December 2011. Wheat prices were up 88 percent in Belarus and 23 percent in Ethiopia; rice prices increased 81 percent in Uganda and 56 percent in Malawi; maize was up 117 percent in Kenya and 106 percent in Mexico; and sorghum increased 57 percent in Burkina Faso and 28 percent in Ethiopia.

“The worst food price increases may be over but we must remain vigilant,” said Otaviano Canuto, the World Bank Group’s Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM). “Prices of certain foods remain dangerously high in many countries, leaving millions of people at risk of malnutrition and hunger. Governments must step up to the plate and implement policies to help people cope.”

Unseasonal increases in cereal prices threaten to deteriorate food insecurity conditions, especially in conflict-affected areas in Africa and across southern Somalia. In addition, the adoption of some coping mechanisms in poor homes—from eating cheaper meals to taking children out of school—could have negative, long-lasting effects on the health and well-being of millions of families in already difficult situations. Therefore, more and well-targeted support to help people cope is needed, such as school food programs, conditional cash transfers, and food-for-work programs.

Looking ahead

Prospects for decline in 2012 food prices remain favorable, due to weaker consumer demand as a result of a sluggish global economy, expected declines in the price of energy and crude oil, and strong forecasts for 2012 food supplies.

Nevertheless some upward price pressures still remain. These include a possible increase in demand for biofuels if oil prices pick up again, very low stock-to-use levels for maize, volatility in oil prices as a result of unrest in producer countries, and weather changes. La Niña, for instance, has already made its presence felt in the Pacific Ocean and is expected to affect the growing season of maize and soybeans in Argentina and Brazil.

How the World Bank Group (WBG) is helping to put food first

In response to drought in the Horn of Africa, the WBG is providing $1.88 billion to save lives, improve social protection, and foster economic recovery and drought resilience.

A first-of-its-kind risk management product, provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will enable up to $4 billion in protection from volatile food prices for farmers, food producers, and consumers in developing countries.

The Global Food Crisis Response Program is helping 40 million people in 44 countries through $1.5 billion in support.

The WBG is boosting spending on agriculture to some $6 to $8 billion a year from $4.1 billion in 2008.

Supporting the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), set up by the WBG in April 2010 at G20’s request. Seven countries and the Gates Foundation have pledged about $1.1 billion over 3 years, with $612 million received.

The WBG is coordinating with UN agencies through the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis and with NGOs.

The WBG is supporting the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR), which in 2008 – with the support of the World Bank and other donors – launched a reform process that culminated in the adoption of a strategic framework that sets out common goals, objectives, and results for the CGIAR’s new research programs, and the establishment of a multi-donor trust fund, which is administered by the World Bank. The new funding model enables the CGIAR to absorb and attract vastly more program funding, with a target annual budget of $1 billion by 2013, to which the World Bank contributes some $50 million per year. With agriculture production needing to rise by at least 70 percent to meet global food demand by 2050, and with significant time lags between the development of new agricultural technologies and their adoption by farmers, increased funding from the international community for global research is critically and urgently needed.

Contacts:

In Washington: Alejandra Viveros, (202) 473-4306, aviveros@worldbank.org

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

To access Food Price Watch, please click here.

Food Price Watch author, Jose Cuesta will take part in World Bank Live online discussion about global food prices on Thursday, February 2 at 10:00 am EST (15:00 GMT) in English and at 2:00 pm EST (19:00 GMT) in Spanish. Participate and submit questions in advance here:

ENGLISH SPANISH

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Mongolia - MN-Mining Infrastructure Investment Supp : P118109 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 02

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000Z

Main report

2012-01-30T05:00:00.000Z

Ulaanbaatar's population has likely been facing air pollution challenges for several decades, through the development of Ulaanbaatar (UB) as a growing industrial city with increased construction, traffic, and power generation facilities located in a valley with a relatively dry climate. But it was the rapid expansion of the surrounding ger areas that started to indicate that UB was facing severe air pollution challenges. The study contains (a) the results of air quality monitoring from June 1, 2008, to May 31, 2009 in eight locations, including for the first time in the city's ger areas; (b) the outcome of air quality modeling to predict the effects of various pollution abatement measures; (c) a comparison of over 50,000 hospital records in six of nine administrative districts in UB to correlate the incidence of cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and premature death, caused
by exposure to excessive particulate matter (PM) pollution; and (d) a willingness-to-pay survey of 629 respondents in Ulaanbaatar to estimate the value placed by UB residents on avoiding premature diseases and mortality, thus providing a basis to quantify the health costs of air pollution and the benefits of reducing air pollution. The report shares the findings of these efforts and recommends an air pollution reduction strategy. This study marks the beginning of a continuous assessment of issues and options as new information and data is learned on solutions to this severe public health crisis.

Annex A

2012-01-30T05:00:00.000Z

Mongolia - Rural Education and Development (READ) Project (formerly Rural Education Support Project) : P096328 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 10

2012-01-29T05:00:00.000Z

World Bank Approves Program-for-Results - New Financing Instrument Ties Lending Directly To Verified Development Results

2012-01-24T19:50:40.000Z

WASHINGTON, January 24, 2012 - The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved Program-for-Results (PforR), an innovative new financing instrument for the World Bank’s client countries that links the disbursement of funds directly to the delivery of defined results. Money will flow once the results have been delivered and verified.

PforR would support government programs in a diverse range of countries and sectors. In some countries, PforR would help deliver and improve the coverage of antenatal care for mothers and newborns or increase immunization coverage for children. In others, PforR would help provide sustainable water supply and sanitation services; strengthen the coverage and quality of early childhood and primary education; or contribute to a government program to reduce the number of rural households living below the poverty line.

“Enhancing development effectiveness by helping developing countries achieve results is central to the mission of World Bank,” said Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank Group. “Program-for-Results financing demands greater accountability from partner countries and in turn will help these countries continue to deliver sustainable results long after the Bank’s involvement has ended. The time is right for this innovative development approach.”

PforR will also help improve the transparency and accountability of developing country programs, and strengthen systems to fight fraud and corruption. Under the new instrument, the Bank will provide part of the overall funding for a larger, developing country-financed program but will be able to provide its technical expertise to the larger government program. For example, the Bank’s commitment to openness and transparency will be applied to the entire program supported – including through the application of the Bank’s Access to Information policy to PforR operations.

Key assessments – fiduciary, environmental & social - of program systems are an important feature of this new instrument and will help provide assurance that Bank financing is used appropriately and that the environmental and social impacts of the program are adequately addressed. These assessments will all be publically disclosed.

PforR financing will also help partner countries improve the design and implementation of their development programs, strengthen institutions, and build capacity.

Says Joachim von Amsberg, World Bank Vice President for Operations Policy and Country Services, "Building effective and accountable institutions in partner countries is key to achieving better development outcomes and results. We believe that with this new instrument, the World Bank jointly with others – government, development partners, civil society, the private sector and others - will be a better partner focused on results, focused on institution building and focused on better partnerships."

Feedback from an extensive global consultations process, held in two phases over the last twelve months, in 34 client countries and seven donor countries with a broad range of stakeholders, including government officials, development partners, civil society organizations, the private sector, and academics has informed the design of PforR.

Contacts:

In Washington: Geetanjali S. Chopra, (202) 473-0243, Gchopra@worldbank.org;

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

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Mongolia - Second Private Sector Development Credit Project

2012-01-22T05:00:00.000Z

Ratings for the Second Private Sector Development Credit Project for Mongolia were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory; risk to development outcome was modest to low; Bank performance was satisfactory and borrower performance was also satisfactory. Some lessons learned includes: carefully designed information requirements may minimize compliance costs as well as serving the capacity-building objectives to help ensure successful implementation. Continued training needs identification is critical to ensure the effectiveness of Technical Assistance (TA). Close monitoring of the macroeconomic conditions of the borrower's country is critical to the completion of a line of credit operation. Necessary resources should be allocated to both the bank supervision and borrowers Project Implementation Unit (PIU). High degree of borrower ownership of the project aids the successful implementation of the project. Continuity of project team and qualified project coordinator in Project Management Unit (PMU) contribute to the success of a project.

Mongolia - Second Sustainable Livelihoods Project : procurement plan

2012-01-19T05:00:00.000Z

Mongolia - Renewable Energy for Rural Access Project (REAP) : P099321 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 05

2012-01-18T05:00:00.000Z

World Bank Projects Global Slowdown, with Developing Countries Impacted

2012-01-18T02:00:00.000Z

Beijing, January 18, 2012 – Developing countries should prepare for further downside risks, as Euro Area debt problems and weakening growth in several big emerging economies are dimming global growth prospects, says the World Bank in the newly-released Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2012.

The Bank has lowered its growth forecast for 2012 to 5.4 percent for developing countries and 1.4 percent for high-income countries (-0.3 percent for the Euro Area), down from its June estimates of 6.2 and 2.7 percent (1.8 percent for the Euro Area), respectively. Global growth is now projected at 2.5 and 3.1[1] percent for 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Slower growth is already visible in weakening global trade and commodity prices. Global exports of goods and services expanded an estimated 6.6 percent in 2011 (down from 12.4 percent in 2010), and are projected to rise by only 4.7 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, global prices of energy, metals and minerals, and agricultural products are down 10, 25 and 19 percent respectively since peaks in early 2011. Declining commodity prices have contributed to an easing of headline inflation in most developing countries. Although international food prices eased in recent months, down 14 percent from their peak in February 2011, food security for the poorest, including in the Horn of Africa, remains a central concern.

“Developing countries need to evaluate their vulnerabilities and prepare for further shocks, while there is still time,” said Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.

Developing countries have less fiscal and monetary space for remedial measures than they did in 2008/09. As a result, their ability to respond may be constrained if international finance dries up and global conditions deteriorate sharply.

To prepare for that possibility, Hans Timmer, Director of Development Prospects at the World Bank, said: “Developing countries should pre-finance budget deficits, prioritize spending on social safety nets and infrastructure, and stress-test domestic banks.”

While prospects in most low-and middle-income countries remain favorable, the ripple effects of the crisis in high-income countries are being felt worldwide. Already, developing country sovereign spreads have increased 45 basis points on average and gross capital flows to developing countries plunged to $170 billion in the second half of 2011, compared with $309 billion received during the same period in 2010.

“An escalation of the crisis would spare no-one. Developed- and developing-country growth rates could fall by as much or more than in 2008/09” said Andrew Burns, Manager of Global Macroeconomics and lead author of the report. “The importance of contingency planning cannot be stressed enough.”

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

Contacts

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

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

In Beijing: Li Li +86 (10) 5861 7850, lli2@worldbank.org

For TV/Broadcast: Mehreen A. Sheikh +1 (202) 458-7336, msheikh1@worldbank.org

While the East Asia and Pacific region recovered quickly from the March 2011 Tohoku disaster in Japan, flooding in Thailand and the turmoil in Europe, have started to affect regional growth. After expanding by 9.7 percent in 2010, regional GDP grew an estimated 8.2 percent in 2011, but growth is projected to ease to 7.8 percent for both 2012 and 2013. In China, which accounts for about 80 percent of regional GDP, growth eased from 10.4 percent in 2010 to an estimated 9.1 percent in 2011 and is expected to dip to 8.4 percent in 2012 as authorities continue to dampen “overly-fast” growth in particular segments of the economy.

GDP growth in Europe and Central Asia increased marginally from 2010 outturns to 5.3 percent in 2011, despite the global financial turmoil since August 2011 and weakening external demand, especially from the Euro Area. However, the expected slowdown in high-income Europe, still troublesome inflationary pressures in the region, and reduced capital flows due to the Euro Area crisis may slow regional growth to 3.2 percent in 2012, before firming to 4.0 percent by 2013. Close trade and financial ties to high-income Europe will make regional outturns particularly sensitive to developments in the Euro Area.

Latin America and Caribbean grew by an estimated 4.2 percent in 2011, but this is expected to ease to 3.6 percent growth in 2012, before picking up to 4.2 percent in 2013. Weaker global growth, uncertainty arising from the Euro Area debt crisis, slower growth in China, and a policy-induced deceleration in domestic demand are weighing on growth prospects. Brazil’s economic growth came to a halt in the third quarter and growth is forecast to be 3.4 percent in 2012, up slightly on 2011 but well below the 2010 growth of 7.5 percent. Several countries in the region could be hard hit, if international commodity prices were to weaken sharply.

Dramatic political changes in the Middle East and North Africa have disrupted economic activity substantially, but selectively, across the region, while a deteriorating external environment is beginning to amplify adverse effects on trade, commodity prices, tourism and other revenues. Developing oil exporters and the high-income GCC economies benefitted substantially from the rise in oil prices but they remain vulnerable to a sudden fall in these prices. GDP for the developing countries of the region grew by an estimated 1.7 percent in 2011 and is expected to remain subdued in 2012 (2.3 percent), rising to an expected 3.2 percent gain by 2013.

GDP in South Asia slowed to an estimated 6.6 percent in calendar year 2011, from 9.1 percent in 2010, reflecting a sharp slowdown in the second half of the year in India as well as external headwinds. Exports are negatively affected by weaker foreign demand and remittances have grown only modestly. Domestic demand is down sharply due to rising borrowing costs, high input prices, worries over the global slump, and delay in reforms. The region’s GDP growth is projected to ease further to 5.8 percent in 2012, before strengthening to 7.1 percent in 2013. High inflation and fiscal deficits remain concerns going forward.

Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust in 2011 at 4.9 percent. Excluding South Africa, which accounts for over a third of the region’s GDP, growth in the rest of the region was even stronger at 5.9 percent in 2011, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions. Increased investment flows, rising consumer spending, and the coming on stream of new mineral exports in a number of countries should accelerate Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth to 5.3 percent in 2012 and 5.6 percent in 2013. Nonetheless, merchandise exports, tourism receipts, commodity prices, foreign direct investment and remittances are all susceptible to a Euro Area recession.

[1] Using purchasing power parity weights, global growth would be 3.4 and 4.0 percent for 2012 and 2013, respectively.

World Bank and Google Announce Map Maker Collaboration

2012-01-16T15:22:51.000Z

Mapping social infrastructure for development results and disaster preparedness

Washington, January 16, 2012 – Today, the World Bank and Google announced an agreement aimed at improving the ability of developing countries to access a web-based community mapping tool and data to help better monitor public services, and improve disaster and humanitarian response efforts. Most developing countries do not have basic local data about where schools, hospitals, or water points are located, and the data they do have is often out of date or incorrect. One way to collect this information is to ask citizens directly, and crowdsource the locations of public infrastructure.

Under this agreement, Google will provide the World Bank and its partner organizations - including governments and UN agencies - with access to Google Map Maker underlying geospatial data that includes detailed maps of more than 150 countries. Through this tool, citizens are able to directly participate in the creation of maps by contributing their local knowledge, and those additions are then reflected on Google Maps and Google Earth. These maps include locations like schools, hospitals, roads and water points that are critical for relief workers to know about in times of crisis, and will help NGOs, researchers, and individual citizens to more effectively identify areas that might be in need of assistance.

Crowdsourced mapping platforms have the potential to move beyond mapping individual projects, as in the World Bank Mapping for Results Initiative, which has mapped 2,500 projects in more than 30,000 geographic locations in all 143 partner countries. By combining the locations of all social infrastructure and citizens’ feedback, all development partners could better track the contribution they are making towards improving local public services and disaster preparedness in developing countries.

“A global community of Google users have been volunteering their time to improve maps, making them more comprehensive and ensuring that they remain accurate as the world around them changes. This is particularly important in vulnerable locations and for disaster preparedness and recovery as it helps citizens and governments to better prepare emergency response plans and act effectively when a crisis hits," said Shona Brown, Senior Vice President, Google.org.

This agreement also builds on previous joint mapping efforts. In April 2011, more than 60 members of the Southern Sudanese Diaspora joined a World Bank and Google event to help map schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure in this new country.

“The remarkable success of the South Sudan ‘Mapathon,’ and our new collaboration with Google Map Maker represents an unprecedented opportunity to harness one of the most sophisticated mapping technologies. Being able to crowdsource data of schools and hospitals will create both transparency and accountability for citizens,” said Sanjay Pradhan, Vice-President of the World Bank Institute.

Initial World Bank country offices that plan to pilot the Map Maker agreement include Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria, DRC, Moldova, Mozambique, Nepal, and Haiti. These countries are where governments have a strong interest in supporting the use of technology and data for decision-making and community monitoring, and in encouraging projects that support government and citizen engagement in geospatial mapping.

The World Bank-Google collaboration is complementary to the Open Aid Partnership (OAP) which is being facilitated by the World Bank Institute and has been endorsed by the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Finland. The OAP’s goals are to develop a joint Open Aid map to visualize all donor-funding programs at the local level to enhance aid transparency; pilot its use in certain countries to better monitor the impact of development programs on citizens; and empower citizens to provide direct feedback on project results.

For more information, please click here:

- World Bank and Google Join Hands to Support Development in South Sudan with “Mapathon”

- Map Maker

- List of countries where the World Bank will have access to Map Maker data

- Open Aid Partnership

Contacts:

In Washington: José-Manuel Bassat, (202) 458-8486, Jbassat@worldbank.org

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

Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/worldbank

Be updated via Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/worldbank

For our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/worldbank

Main report

2012-01-16T05:00:00.000Z

Air pollution has major health impacts on people living in Ulaanbaatar. The excessively high particulate matter concentrations, especially in the winter and in the ger areas, increase the incidence of heart and lung diseases, and lead to premature deaths. Improving air quality management in Ulaanbaatar and reducing pollution concentrations would prevent illnesses, save lives and avoid enormous health costs. The implementation of the Air Monitoring and Health Impact Baseline (AMHIB) study has brought together Mongolian and international air quality experts as well as public health experts and economists who have taken an synergetic approach of linking public health, air quality and economic issues. This report builds upon the discussion paper air pollution in Ulaanbaatar: initial assessment of current situation and effects of abatement measures that was published in December 2009, and reflects the final results and recommendations from the AMHIB project.

Annex A

2012-01-16T05:00:00.000Z

OPED: Empowering Citizen Cartographers

2012-01-13T19:32:29.000Z

*As first appeared in The International Herald Tribune on Friday, January 13, 2012

The International Herald Tribune

Empowering Citizen Cartographers

January 13, 2012

By CAROLINE ANSTEY

From cave drawings to navigational charts to GPS, people have created and used maps to help them define, order and navigate their worlds. Four hundred years ago, in the Age of Exploration, it was cartographers, often working alone, who used the stars, mathematics and early attempts to represent longitude to map the New World. Today, in the Age of Participation, it’s crowds, not scholars, who are charting their own New World.

A combination of the old art of mapping with the relatively new art of crowdsourcing — the open calls for action via the Web — offers the potential to open up a new path for the developing world: helping citizens map their own country’s facilities and thereby have a greater say in charting the future.

Citizen cartographers can be a powerful force. In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, rescue workers used real-time data uploads on Open Street Map, via text and cellphone messages, to help create up-to-date maps of Haiti and find the injured. Engineers from around the globe gathered “virtually” to assess the damage.

Last October, the World Bank and its partners staged the first ever global “water hackathon,” with volunteer tech experts in London devising a system to allow Tanzanians to report water problems through SMS messages, and tech experts in Lagos devising new applications for reporting broken pipes.

Or take Dar es Salaam, where the local authorities engaged students to map roads, drains and streetlights in anticipation of an urban upgrading project, not only generating transparent planning data but also providing a platform for community consultation and a space for dialogue on development between citizens and leaders.

It’s a simple but harsh reality that most developing countries don’t have basic local data about where schools or hospitals are located. A recent mapping study of 100 health facilities and schools in Kenya found that only 25 percent of the clinics and 20 percent of the schools matched official data. Nearly 75 percent of locations needed to be updated.

Lack of knowledge of social infrastructure like schools and hospitals makes it more costly when natural disasters strike, setting back recovery efforts, sometimes by months. And lack of data, in general, makes it harder — both in government and in the community — to argue for improved services or increased funding.

The answer? A good start would be scaling up the use of modern mapping technology with crowdsourcing. It’s just this potential that’s been the driving force behind a new partnership between the World Bank and Google. Under the agreement, the bank and its development partners — developing country governments and U.N. agencies — will be able to access Google Map Maker’s global mapping platform, allowing the collection, viewing, search and free access to data of geoinformation in over 150 countries and 60 languages.

Simply put, it means that up-to-date maps of social infrastructure used by nearly a billion people around the globe can be created using crowdsourcing tools, partnering with volunteer mappers using GPS enabled phones and other devices.

Success will hinge on using local expertise to break new ground — finding an active community of passionate citizen cartographers from civil society organizations, local governments, public service providers and universities who can plug in the data that makes its way to publicly available online maps.

Where once charts were vital to guide mariners to safe harbors, today's interactive maps can guide development to the places it is needed most. Crowdsourced mapping platforms can serve as a foundation allowing citizens not just to map but to give feedback on the reach and quality of the services in their community. And that information can be used to improve service delivery, fight corruption and track resources. Citizen cartographers, yes, but also citizen monitors, citizen evaluators, citizen-driven development.

Development agencies can also benefit. At the World Bank, we’ve mapped 2,500 projects in more than 30,000 locations in our partner countries. Building on this success, the World Bank, Britain, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland have endorsed an Open Aid Partnership that will map development projects of all partners for better local development coordination. Adding citizen feedback can be a valuable addition to the bank’s quest to ensure development dollars are well spent.

In the 17th century, imperial cartographers had an advantage over local communities. They could see the big picture. In the 21st century, the tables have turned: Local communities can make the biggest on the ground difference. Crowdsourced citizen cartographers can help make it happen.

Caroline Anstey is a managing director of the World Bank.

Amendment to Grant H263-MN, GEF TF057330, and Netherlands Grant TF090858 Ref. Extension of Closing / Reallocation of Proceeds Conformed

2012-01-05T05:00:00.000Z

Pamela Cox Appointed as New World Bank Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific

2012-01-03T14:53:29.000Z

Washington, D.C. January 3, 2012 – Pamela Cox, a development professional with more than 30 years experience, has been appointed the World Bank’s Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific, effective this week.

The appointment, by World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick, will see Ms. Cox lead the Bank’s advisory and lending operations in the region and oversee strategic engagement with middle income country partners.

Ms. Cox previously worked as Vice President for the Latin America and Caribbean Region of the Bank, playing a leading role in supporting inclusive growth in emerging economies and providing innovative and practical financial and knowledge services to meet developing country needs. In the past, she has also worked as Chief of Country Operations in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Korea.

“I am very excited to be back working in the East Asia region,” said Pamela Cox. “After making the fastest progress in growth and poverty reduction of any region around the world in the last fifteen years, the global economic weight and influence of East Asia and the Pacific has increased significantly. We are focused on supporting countries in the region as they work to achieve higher income status and promote growth and opportunity for those in need.”

Ms. Cox brings with her considerable expertise in disaster risk management, in which Latin America and the Caribbean has been particularly successful, and which is extremely relevant for East Asia, a region that faces very high risks from natural disasters.

“Rapid growth and urbanization in vulnerable areas are creating a need for countries in East Asia to build innovative and disaster-resilient cities and to ensure environmental sustainability, and adaptation to the effects of climate change. Primarily investments in disaster risk management can save lives, but they also make good economic sense,” said Ms. Cox.

In her new role, Ms. Cox will continue to deliver Bank support to Pacific Island countries, which face some of the most serious challenges related to disaster risk and climate change.

As Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific, Pamela Cox will manage staff working across 22 countries and a US$ 29.7 billion lending portfolio. Projected IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction) and IDA (International Development Association) lending for the region in the 2012 financial year is US$ 6.7 billion. Ms. Cox is replacing former East Asia Pacific Vice President, James W. Adams, who is retiring from the Bank after more than 3 decades of distinguished service.

Contacts:

In Washington: Mohamad Al-Arief, (202) 458-5964, malarief@worldbank.org;

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

The project Netherlands-Mongolia TF for Environmental Reform (RE) has changed to Closed

2012-01-02T05:00:00.000Z

The project Netherlands-Mongolia TF for Environmental Reform (RE) has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Main report

2011-12-23T05:00:00.000Z

The objective of the Second Ulaanbaatar Services Improvement Project (USIP2) for Mongolia is to provide improved water supply to the urban poor in a sustainable manner. The closing date for project will be extended from December 31, 2011 until February 29, 2012. The project has benefited more than 350,000 residents of ger areas of Ulaanbaatar by improving access to safe water supply. More than 50 percent of water kiosks in ger areas are now connected to the water supply network and serve 300 to 500 customers per day per kiosk. The project is expected to meet its development objectives of providing improved water supply to poor residents of ger areas. The extension is necessary to complete the feasibility study for the USIP3. The consultant service contract was signed in September 2011, with some delay in mobilization and assignment changes. The extension will allow the consultants to complete the feasibility studies and prepare detailed designs and bidding documents for the investments for the first few years. This will be the third extension of the project, and the total extension would be 20 months.

Data sheet

2011-12-23T05:00:00.000Z

Mongolia - The World Bank country survey FY2011 - report of findings (September 2011)

2011-12-20T05:00:00.000Z

This survey was designed to achieve the following objectives: assist the World Bank in gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders in Mongolia perceive the Bank; obtain systematic feedback from stakeholders in Mongolia regarding: their views regarding the general environment in Mongolia; their perceived overall value of the World Bank in Mongolia; overall impressions of the World Bank as related to programs, poverty reduction, personal relationships, effectiveness, knowledge base, collaboration, and its day-to-day operation; and perceptions of the World Bank's communication and outreach in Mongolia.

Mongolia - Enhanced Justice Sector Services Project - Mongolia : P101446 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 04

2011-12-19T05:00:00.000Z

Justice sector reform in Mongolia : looking back, looking forward

2011-12-13T05:00:00.000Z

The justice sector in Mongolia has changed significantly in the 20 years since the country became a democracy. From the very beginning, the World Bank and other international partners have provided significant assistance to reform processes, particularly in areas concerned with the development of an independent judiciary. Especially in comparison to other countries in the region, Mongolia's reform efforts have been generally successful. During the early and economically difficult times since democracy was established, reform activities naturally focused on legal reforms, including the creation of a legislative framework for democratic institutions, the transition to a market economy, and for needed changes in the relationship between the state and the people. This was followed at the end of the millennium by concerted efforts to reform justice institutions and to improve human capacities for supporting, implementing and sustaining reforms. Mongolia was the first developing nation to pursue comprehensive and inclusive strategic planning for its justice sector. Its strategic plan has provided a roadmap for reforms over many years and withstood leadership changes in both the government and in the key justice agencies. Much has been achieved, considering the challenges that have been overcome in terms of justice system infrastructure, human capacities and changes in attitudes, all with only very limited budget resources. At the same time, reform gaps exist and public trust in the justice sector is lacking. Critics continue to point to weak and uneven decision making capacities of prosecutors and judges, despite more than a decade of intensive donor support for their training. This paper reviews some of the underlying issues affecting justice reforms in Mongolia; and points to areas that require attention to overcome the current shortcomings and challenges.

Social safeguards compliance with OP/BP 4.10 on indigenous peoples : disclosure

2011-12-13T05:00:00.000Z

The Global Partnership for Education Early Childhood Education Project aims to expand access to early childhood development education in both urban and rural areas of the country. The project activities include constructing a total of 40 new kindergartens in Ulaanbaatar and one in each provincial center, providing mobile alternative kindergarten classes in rural soums and conducting teacher trainings. The Bank's OP/BP 4.10 on indigenous peoples was triggered because one of the subcomponents will be implemented in Bayan-Ulgii, which has a majority of Kazakh inhabitants. The assessment showed the strong support from the communities for the implementation of the subcomponent. Since the Kazakh communities are the overwhelming majority of the beneficiaries in Bayan-Ulgii, and the element of an Indigenous Peoples Plan (IPP) will be included in the overall project design, a separate IPP is not required.

Social assessment report on Bayen-Ulgii subcomponent of preschool education project

2011-12-13T05:00:00.000Z

Amendment to Grant H263-MN Ref. Extension of Closing / Reallocation of Proceeds Conformed

2011-12-12T05:00:00.000Z

World Bank Launches “Apps for Climate” Competition

2011-12-02T15:43:03.000Z

New Bank climate change data book also released in margins of Durban conference

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, December 2, 2011 – Software developers and development practitioners are being brought together by an “Apps for Climate” competition launched today by the World Bank.

The competition, launched at the Durban climate conference, is asking entrants to use open data to create innovative software applications that can help solve some of the development problems that climate change poses.

“The competition aims to discover new and extraordinary ways to use open climate data,” said Andrew Steer, World Bank Special Envoy for Climate Change. “We hope to unleash the creative energy out there which will make “apps” that help create solutions to weather-related disasters, risks for agriculture, food and water supplies, rising sea levels and other climate related challenges.”

“This latest challenge builds on our earlier “Apps for Development” competition which also drew some very creative ideas related to adaptation,” Steer continued. “One called “save the rain”,” calculates how much rainwater you could save based on your geographic location and the surface area of your roof! We’re hoping for similar ‘out of the box’ ideas this time around, too.”

The “apps” for this latest competition can be created for the web, for mobile devices, for sms, for a desktop, or a tablet. The competition includes cash prizes to the winning entries. Apps must be submitted by March 16, 2012 (go to: http://www.worldbank.org/appsforclimate)

At the launch of the competition today, Steer also released the latest edition to the World Bank’s Little Data Book series, The Little Data Book on Climate Change (http://data.worldbank.org/products/data-books/little-data-book-on-climate-change).

This pocket size book provides summary national, international and regional data that cover the gamut of climate-relevant topics, including current and projected climate conditions, exposure to climate impacts, resilience, greenhouse gas emissions, climate finance, and current national and international efforts to take action.

The book is available in print or online via PDF. A free companion “app” allows users to browse the climate data collection on iPhones and iPads.

The data book and Apps competition are the latest offerings from the Bank’s new Open Data Initiative on Climate Change. (http://data.worldbank.org/climate-change)

The initiative will provide easy access to a first batch of high-quality data sets and analysis. In the coming months, as the Initiative develops, more data and other critical climate information will be rolled out.

The materials will be open, free, and accessible to all via a Climate Change Knowledge Portal (http://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/). The Portal is a core component of the Bank’s new climate initiative and will also provide access to rainfall and temperature information.

For those confronted with the challenge of adapting to climate change, the portal aims to be a powerful tool to visualize in the medium and long term how changing patterns of rainfall and temperature can affect vulnerable countries and communities.

“Governments need access to climate data to make the best use of their water resources and also to plan for the extreme floods, cyclones and droughts that afflict our country on a regular basis,” said Ana Chichava, Mozambique’s deputy environment minister who joined Steer at the launch of the competition and data book in Durban today.

“Local people also need access to this data - and in forms that they can use, so they can make the right choices over when to plant, when to harvest and when it is safe to go to sea to fish,” she said. We strongly support efforts to make climate data open and accessible for public use.”

Also present at the launch today, Stephen Zebiak, Director-General of International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Earth Institute, Columbia University, recognized the Bank as a critical facilitator on the issue of access to climate data, use and delivery.

Zebiak, who is leading the Climate Services Partnership, noted “These recent steps by the World Bank on the data initiative are absolutely in the right direction and will unleash the tremendous power of climate and other data and information towards realization of innovative climate solutions.”

Contacts:

In Durban: Robert Bisset, + 27 76 392 8202, rbisset@worldbank.org

In Washington: Karolina Ordon, +1 202 458 5971, kordon@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Mehreen Sheikh, +1 202 458 7336, msheikh1@worldbank.org

More about the work of the World Bank on climate change: http://climatechange.worldbank.org/

Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/worldbank

Be updated via Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/worldbank

For our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/worldbank

The project Preparation for Assistance to Mongolia on AHI". has changed to Closed

2011-12-02T05:00:00.000Z

The project Preparation for Assistance to Mongolia on AHI". has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Developing Countries to Receive Over $350 Billion in Remittances in 2011, Says World Bank Report

2011-12-01T01:00:00.000Z

Geneva, December 1, 2011 (Washington DC, November 30, 2011 8pm) – Remittance flows to developing countries are expected to total $351 billion this year, and worldwide remittances, including those to high-income countries, will reach $483 billion [corrected from $406 billion on December 5] for the current calendar year, according to a newly updated World Bank brief on global migration and remittances.

The top recipients of officially recorded remittances, estimated for 2011, are India ($58 billion), China ($57 billion), Mexico ($24 billion), and the Philippines ($23 billion). Other large recipients include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Vietnam, Egypt and Lebanon.

While the economic slowdown is dampening employment prospects for migrant workers in some high-income countries, global remittances, nevertheless, are expected to stay on a growth path and, by 2014, are forecast to reach $593 billion [corrected from $515 billion on December 5]. Of that, $441 billion will flow to developing countries, according to the latest issue of the Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, released today at the fifth meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Geneva.

“Despite the global economic crisis that has impacted private capital flows, remittance flows to developing countries have remained resilient, posting an estimated growth of 8 percent in 2011,” said Hans Timmer, Director of the Bank’s Development Prospects Group. “Remittance flows to all developing regions have grown this year, for the first time since the financial crisis.”

High oil prices have helped provide a cushion for remittances to Central Asia from Russia and to South and East Asia from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Also, a depreciation of currencies of some large migrant-exporting countries (including Mexico, India and Bangladesh) created additional incentives for remittances as goods and services in these countries became cheaper in U.S. dollar terms.

Remittance flows to four of the six World Bank-designated developing regions grew faster than expected --- by 11 percent to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 10.1 percent to South Asia, 7.6 percent to East Asia and Pacific and 7.4 percent to Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the difficult economic conditions in Europe and other destinations of African migrants.

In contrast, growth in remittance flows to Latin America and the Caribbean, at 7 percent, was lower than expected due to continuing weakness in the U.S. economy, while the Middle East and North Africa, affected by civil conflict and unrest related to the “Arab Spring”, registered the slowest growth (2.6 percent) among developing regions.

The Bank expects continued growth in remittance flows going forward, by 7.3 percent in 2012, 7.9 percent in 2013 and 8.4 percent in 2014.

There are, however, some serious downside risks to the Bank’s outlook for international remittance and migration flows. Persistent unemployment in Europe and the U.S. is affecting employment prospects of existing migrants and hardening political attitudes toward new immigration. Volatile exchange rates and uncertainty about the direction of oil prices also present further risks to the outlook for remittances.

More recently, some of the GCC countries, which are critically dependent on migrant workers, are considering tighter quotas for migrant workers to protect jobs for their own citizens.

“Such policies may impact remittance flows to developing countries in the longer term,” said Dilip Ratha, Manager of the Bank’s Migration and Remittances Unit and a co-author of the Migration and Development Brief. “But in the medium-term the risk of disruption to these flows is relatively low.”

Remittance flows would receive a further boost if the global development community achieves the agreed objective of reducing global average remittance costs by 5 percentage points in 5 years (the ’5 by 5’ objective of the G8 and the G20).

Remittance costs have fallen steadily from 8.8 percent in 2008 to 7.3 percent in the third quarter of 2011 due to increasing competition in large volume remittance corridors such as UK-Nigeria and UAE-India. However, remittance costs continue to remain high, especially in Africa and in small nations where remittances provide a life line to the poor.

“In addition to streamlining regulations governing remittance service providers, there is a pressing need to improve data on remittance market size at the national and bilateral corridor level,” said Ratha. “That will stimulate market competition and also help in more accurate monitoring of progress towards the ‘5 by 5’ objective.”

The World Bank has made considerable strides in developing financing instruments for leveraging migration and remittances for national development purposes. Diaspora bonds can be a powerful financial instrument for mobilizing diaspora savings to finance specific public and private sector projects, as well as to help improve the debt profile of the destination country. The Bank has established a Task Force on the Implementation of Diaspora Bonds to facilitate the provision of technical assistance to developing country governments.

“The Bank now houses considerable expertise in this area and we look forward to working with client governments in developing alternative sources of financing for development projects,” said Ratha.

The full report and 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:

Merrell Tuck-Primdahl +1 (202) 473-9516, mtuckprimdahl@worldbank.org
Indira Chand +1 (202) 458-0434, ichand@worldbank.org

For TV/Broadcast: Mehreen A. Sheikh +1 (202) 458-7336, msheikh1@worldbank.org

Empower Women and Be Better Prepared for Climate Change, Says World Bank Study

2011-11-28T14:51:10.000Z

WASHINGTON, November 28, 2011—As the United Nations conference on climate change opens in South Africa, a new World Bank study demonstrates that women, when fully empowered, can be an important force for change as countries and citizens grapple with the impacts of climate change and prepare to adapt to them.

World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte said a growing body of evidence shows that women tend to be disproportionately more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change compared to men. Because of their vulnerability – to more frequent and more extreme natural disasters like cyclones, floods, and droughts – it’s vital that women play a more central role in building their communities’ climate resilience.

“We are seeing time and time again that when women are empowered to play leadership roles within their communities, the whole community benefits from better preparedness for extreme weather events,” Kyte said. “It's smart economics, smart business, smart planning, and smart design to look at challenges with women’s realities in mind."

One example of this comes from Bangladesh. In 1991, Cyclone Gorky killed 140,000 people in that country. Deaths of women outnumbered deaths of men by a ratio of 14 to 1. Through the government’s intensive efforts to increase women’s involvement in preparedness – including providing women-only spaces in storm shelters and getting women more involved as community mobilizers – the number of deaths in a similar cyclone event in 2007, saw the gender gap in mortality rates shrink to 5:1.

“Now women are acting as powerful agents of change in Bangladesh,” Kyte said. “Women are getting the message out ahead of cyclones through early warning messages to other women in the community, encouraging them to use cyclone shelters. It’s not only had a dramatic effect in reducing the gender differential in those who are dying in cyclones, but it has also improved cyclone preparedness overall.”

In the paper, entitled “Gender and Climate Change: Three Things You Should Know”, the World Bank underscores the importance of gender equality for effective and equitable action on climate change.

The study refers to examples in India where poor women in drought-prone states like Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have improved their social and economic opportunities through self-help groups that have linked together to increase their bargaining power. Over time, these institutional platforms that have grown up around improved livelihoods can be used to build climate resilience, including accessing advice for dealing with drought and building better watershed management structures.

The paper’s author, Lead Social Development Specialist Robin Mearns, says the key to ensuring gender equality is ensuring equal access to resources and opportunities for everyone.

“Women very often don’t enjoy the same rights or the same socio-economic status as men and that structural disadvantage means that they are often more vulnerable than men to the impacts of the same climate or hazard events,” he said.

In developing countries, projects aimed at addressing climate change or improving energy access can have important benefits for women if gender considerations are factored into early planning.

For example, a new Bus Rapid Transit project in Lagos, Nigeria has helped cut carbon emissions in that city by 20 percent. A gender analysis undertaken ahead of the project highlighted the need for providing well-lit bus shelters and other safety measures for women to improve their likely use of the system. Now, women are significant users of public transport, improving their participation in the local economy.

The paper also highlights the important decisions that billions of women make every day that influence the amount of carbon that is released into the atmosphere. Women’s choices around cooking fuels, cooking technology and the foods to cook all have an important bearing on carbon emissions.

“Low-emissions development pathways can be more effective and more equitable where they are designed using a gender-informed approach,” said Mearns.

Contacts:

In Durban: Robert Bisset, +1 202 415 9646, rbisset@worldbank.org

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

For Broadcast Requests: Mehreen Sheikh, +1 202 458 7336, msheikh1@worldbank.org

More about the work of the World Bank on climate change: http://climatechange.worldbank.org/

More about the work of the World Bank on women and social development: http://www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment

Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/worldbank

Be updated via Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/worldbank

For our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/worldbank

Climate Change Portal Helps Visualize World Climate, Expand Access to Data

2011-11-23T15:30:00.000Z

New climate portal depicts future scenarios for temperature and rainfall and expands access to climate data.
Apps for Climate competition hopes to jumpstart ideas for assessing and dealing with risk.
As many as 31 climate open data websites could be launched in developing countries in the next year.

Washington, Nov. 23, 2011 - How much will temperatures rise in 30, 40, or 50 years? How could changing weather affect rain-fed crops in the Horn of Africa, or winter flooding and summer droughts in Uzbekistan? And what should countries do to prepare for more intense droughts and storms?

These are the kinds of questions the World Bank hopes to answer with a new initiative to expand access to climate data and spark innovation in the fight against climate change around the world.

A new Climate Change Knowledge Portal, launched today, includes visualization tools depicting temperature and rainfall scenarios to the year 2100. It links users to more than 250 climate indicators, and includes risk profiles for 31 countries where climate open data websites may launch in the next year.

In addition, a three-month competition – Apps for Climate – will kick off in December at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa. Modeled after the Bank’s 2010 Apps for Development challenge, the competition will encourage scientists, software developers, and others to create applications that use the wealth of climate data being made available to help solve the development problems that climate change poses.

The portal, competition, and data are the latest additions to the World Bank’s Open Data Initiative. They’re part of a new effort to make climate data more accessible and useful, and also complement a push for the practical application of climate change research driven by the Green Growth Knowledge Platform, a global network of researchers and development experts.

Making data available is one of the crucial steps toward building resilience to climate change.

—Saroj Jha, GFDRR Manager

"Development solutions have their foundation in access to data, analysis and knowledge," said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick. "This new initiative will put critical climate facts at the fingertips of policy makers, researchers, and development practitioners so the public and governments can debate and determine policies with better information about climate effects."

Adds World Bank Climate Change Envoy Andrew Steer: "This Climate Change Knowledge Portal enables ministers, development institutions, and non-governmental organizations in developing countries to see within minutes what’s going to happen 30 or 40 years from now, based on the best scientific modeling that exists in the world. It’s a great tool for opening up discussion on the issues."

Opening Climate Data ‘Increasingly Critical’

In the past, a wealth of raw data on climate has been under-used, often ending up as static PDFs or on specialists’ hard drives. The new Climate Portal aims to make it easier to access and use climate information from various sources, including the Bank’s open data catalogue.

"Opening climate data will encourage experts and innovators, wherever they may be, to come up with new tools for analyzing and managing the effects of climate change,” says Shaida Badiee, director of the Bank’s Development Data Group. “The combination of open data and innovative tools will be an excellent resource for countries as they develop plans for adapting to climate change."

The portal allows users to query, map, compare, chart and summarize climate and climate-related information, as well as to visualize the effects of changing patterns of rainfall and temperature. It aids government ministries and World Bank teams in 130 countries where adapting to climate change is a development priority.

Modeling Risk in Mozambique

The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), a partner of the Climate Portal, is supporting this effort through its Open Data for Resilience Initiative in 31 countries. GFDRR and government ministries are conducting disaster risk analyses, creating climate data websites, and developing applications to model risk.

"Making data available is one of the crucial steps toward building resilience to climate change," says GFDRR Manager Saroj Jha. "Open data enables countries to develop the kinds of counter measures needed to deal with extreme events and which must be at the core of every country’s policy and planning."

GFDRR expects 15 countries will have climate open data websites by May, and possibly 31 will have them by the end of 2012. Mozambique is likely to be first. The country already suffers from droughts, cyclones and coastal flooding, and is worried about projections that rainfall will decrease during the primary growing season.

Mozambique is one of many countries in the world facing such challenges. Mozambique’s disaster management agency and GFDRR are in the midst of building “climate decision” tools targeted to Mozambique’s needs, but which could be made freely available to other countries once they are developed, says Robert Soden of GFDRR’s technical Labs group.

One beneficiary could be the Horn of Africa, where the World Bank has committed $1.88 billion to help the region cope with severe drought and build drought resilience. The Bank, with GFDRR and other partners in the effort, including Google, the World Food Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), met earlier this month to discuss sharing data. A new Horn of Africa data website will be accessible through the Climate Change Knowledge Portal and the Open Data site.

"Because there is so much unknown and there is so much data out there, it’s going to be really important that the data is accessible," said Jason Kessler of NASA. "To be able to really meaningfully study and understand what’s going on, it’s going to require as much information as people can get their hands on."

"The Climate Change Knowledge Portal is a one-stop shop and will be an invaluable tool both for the Bank team and developing countries alike," says Marianne Fay, chief economist in the Bank’s Sustainable Development Network. "The portal provides an ideal web-based platform to assist in knowledge development, planning and knowledge sharing for green development and resilience to climate change."

The project Ulaanbaatar Clean Air Project is now in the pipeline.

2011-11-22T05:00:00.000Z

The project Ulaanbaatar Clean Air Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Strong growth in developing East Asia faces risks from global uncertainty and natural disasters

2011-11-22T02:00:00.000Z

Singapore, November 22, 2011 — Growth is still strong in developing East Asia, but continues to moderate mainly due to weakening external demand, underscoring the need for governments to refocus on reforms to increase domestic demand and productivity, says the World Bank in its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update released today.

The report, issued biannually, projects that amid uncertainties in Europe and a global growth slowdown, real GDP in developing East Asia will increase by 8.2 percent in 2011 (4.7 percent excluding China) and by 7.8 percent in 2012. Domestic demand in middle-income countries was the largest contributor to growth in the region, although it is easing driven by the normalization of fiscal and monetary policy.

"Lower growth in Europe in the course of fiscal austerity and the banks' needs to increase capital coverage would affect East Asia. Less credit from European banks can also affect capital flows to East Asia, but high reserves and current account surpluses protect most countries in the region against the impact of possible renewed financial stress," said Bert Hofman, World Bank Chief Economist for the East Asia and Pacific Region.

According to the report, the region's growth slow-down was more pronounced in industrial production. Exports of major regional industrial supply chains, especially electronics, have started to decline. Demand for commodities and raw materials remained strong, helping resource-rich economies maintain high levels of export and GDP growth.

As demand weakens in developed countries, China's share in world imports has grown, making it an increasingly important source of global demand. A shift to more consumer goods imports in China is also benefiting the region's manufacturing exporters.

Looking ahead, East Asia's growth prospects are constrained by global uncertainties and by the impacts of natural disasters. The slow progress towards resolution of debt problems in the Eurozone intensified investors' concerns over global growth and stability. As capital flowed out of emerging markets into relatively safer havens, portfolio investments reversed and stock markets lost value in East Asia.

"Based on current growth forecasts, 38 million people in developing East Asia are expected to move out of poverty by the end of 2011. We are concerned about the possible effects of the global economic situation on the vulnerable in the region, as poverty reduction efforts may be hampered by events such as a sudden increase in food prices, in combination with sluggish income growth" said Hofman.

The effects of flooding in several countries are also likely to take a toll on growth this year. While damage estimates are not complete, Thailand's GDP growth in 2011 was revised downwards to 2.4 percent due to widespread flooding. Losses in production are felt in the entire region, as the impacts of the disaster are spreading through industrial supply chains. While reconstruction after the flood in 2012 is likely to contribute to growth, recovery of production to pre-disaster levels in the region will depend in part on the strength of global demand for electronics and cars.

In response to the global economic slowdown, policymakers in East Asia are rethinking their policy options. In the short-term, striking a balance between stimulating growth and fighting the effects of global uncertainty is the primary challenge, says the report. Policymakers are likely to hold off further policy tightening and stand ready to act should negative shocks to growth occur, or in the unlikely event of a disorderly resolution of the Eurozone debt problem. Fiscal positions, while not as strong as before the 2008 crisis, leave sufficient space for fiscal stimulus in most middle income countries should this become necessary. However, stimulus alone will not be enough given the outlook for protracted low global growth.

"Governments can take this opportunity to refocus on reforms that will enhance growth in the medium- and long- term. Higher investments in infrastructure, education and social security systems can help countries increase productivity and move toward higher value added production," said World Bank Senior Economist Ekaterina Vostroknutova, lead author. "Any possible stimulus programs should be fiscally sustainable, well-targeted and directed at promoting the structural transformation needed for stronger, domestically driven growth."

Where levels of investments are already high, increasing the quality and efficiency of these investments should take priority alongside rebalancing growth towards domestic consumption, says the report. Further investment in disaster management and prevention is also becoming more important for the region.

Contacts:

In Singapore: Rebecca Ong (65) 9231-3742, rebeccaOng7@gmail.com
In Washington DC:Mohamad al-Arief, (202) 458-5964, malarief@worldbank.org
For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

The East Asia and Pacific Update is the World Bank's comprehensive review of the region's economies. It is published twice yearly and is available for free on our website at: www.worldbank.org/eapupdate

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Transcript of the Audio Teleconference with World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick

2011-11-01T17:23:30.000Z

Transcript

Audio Tele-Conference

Robert B. Zoellick, World Bank Group President

November 1, 2011

MR. FERGUSON: Hi, good morning. Alex Ferguson from the World Bank. Thanks for joining us today. World Bank President Robert Zoellick is going to brief you on this week's G20 meetings.

Just for background, you should all have been sent his Washington Post piece that was published on Sunday.

After his statement, Mr. Zoellick will take a few questions. When we do get to the questions, please identify yourself and your organization before asking a question. All of Mr. Zoellick's remarks will be on the record.

Mr. Zoellick, please, go ahead.

MR. ZOELLICK: Okay. Thank you, Alex.

Well, thanks, all, for joining us. We're looking towards the G20 Summit this weekend, and the package developed by the Eurozone leaders last week was a positive step, but there's much still to do. What's most important now is not to waste the moment.

Markets are responding now to readings of confidence as much as pure finance, and the confidence challenge is now focused on governments and institutions, not only in the European Union. Market confidence remains very fragile, and we saw it evaporate in August after the EU agreement in July.

The global economy is still very much at risk from faltering economies in developing countries, and the Eurozone deal has bought some time, and the challenge is how to use the time.

I believe it would be very useful if the G20 leaders can send a strong signal on follow-through after the Eurozone announcement so as to sustain and build confidence, and I urge G20 leaders not to permit these primary messages to fray into tactical political positioning on secondary issues.

The world economy is still wobbling on the edge right now, and it could tip very quickly if momentum isn't maintained and built upon.

The one ray of economic light in this downturn has been emerging markets. Developing countries have accounted for two-thirds of global growth over the past five years. But as we saw in August and September, they also can be hit when developed countries trip up. We saw equity markets drop over 20 percent, bond spreads increase, currencies were tumbling, started to affect trade, and the real risk was if the slowdown in confidence in the European Union and United States spread to developing countries, consumer and business confidence and then would affect domestic demand.

Now, this has been stemmed somewhat with the Eurozone deal, but people will be looking to this G20 meeting.

The World Bank will be seeking to highlight three points: Some fallout from the Eurozone that we need to address; second, a broader growth and jobs agenda; and third, how we can try to stretch resources to assist.

So, first, we have to anticipate and help counter some of the second-order effects of the Eurozone arrangement. In particular, European banks are already selling assets and they'll be shrinking lending. Trade finance is a short-term type of loan and it can be run down quickly, but trade finance operations are also labor and operationally intensive. They're not easy to develop substitutes for, and we're already seeing some signs of a shrinking trade finance in West Africa and elsewhere.

Now, in 2008 and 2009, the World Bank Group's private sector arm, IFC, launched special trade finance facilities, and we're already activating those to provide support; though, in the area of liquidity, we leveraged it through private sector partnerships, and some of those institutions may be less able to provide liquidity themselves this time.

In addition, southeastern Europe, the Balkans, Eastern Europe are at particular risk of credit crunch in the European Union banks, and I've been working already with Thomas Mirow of the EBRD on trying to replicate the Vienna Initiative that we offered last time to make sure that there was credit support for those countries.

The Middle East and North African countries rely heavily on exports to the European Union. So, the slowdown in the EU comes at a very sensitive time given political developments. We can help here, too, but we'll need good cooperation with the European Union.

And there will be a greater temptation for protectionism in various guises from all countries. The best defense is a market-opening offense, but unfortunately trade liberalization has been stalled.

Second, developed and developing countries alike need to keep their eye on the fundamentals of future growth in jobs. Macroeconomic space for all countries is limited and so, what I'm referring to are structural reforms of tax policy, entitlements, labor, competition, investment, innovation, infrastructure.

In developing countries, the growth agenda shows the interconnection with food security, infrastructure, inclusive policies. These are not peripheral issues and especially in a fragile and crisis-prone world where--needs of human safety nets as well as financial safety nets.

In the area of food security, this involves both increasing production and productivity as well as dealing with price volatility.

Now, we've released a Food Price Watch today which shows that the index is up 19 percent over a year ago, even though it dropped somewhat in September, and it had revealed that we're in a period of continued serious volatility, which is especially high in low-income countries.

Now, you may recall that in June IFC, our private sector arm, launched a new agricultural price risk facility to help producers and consumers in developing countries cope with volatility. We had the first facility with JP Morgan to assist countries in Latin America, and today we're bringing to our Board a $100 million facility with SocGen of France to help producers and buyers in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. And with that amount of

financing, we should be able to leverage hedges many times that amount. So, pending Board action, there should be a separate release later today.

We also, at the G20, have been discussing the push for infrastructure development, cutting costs of remittances and linking them to savings in credit vehicles, developing local currency bond markets, and we're going to keep pushing for the spread of effective focused social safety nets for all countries. The poorest and most vulnerable are in particular need of a cushion in times like these.

Last week, I was in the Philippines where I saw one of the more recent of the over 40 Conditional Cash Transfer programs that the World Bank has helped support around the world, building on the initial programs in Mexico and Brazil, and these are impressive because they often deal with 10 to 15 percent of the population at the bottom for about a half of one percent of GDP.

And third, we'll be talking about how we can try to stretch resources. The World Bank has worked with the regional evaluation banks to assess what we could provide over fiscal years '12 and '13. We're almost halfway through Fiscal Year '12 because that starts on July 1. So, this is over a two-year period.

We've estimated with the regional development banks we could provide somewhat over $200 billion in financing, drawing on a full set of tools. This includes the ultra-concessionary financing such as IDA, our regular borrowing, private sector, the World Bank Group amount of that is about 115 billion of the over 200 billion.

And we also discussed with the G20 that, if we could get some more flexibility with maturity and pricing of loans, I believe we can even provide more support if needed.

So, at Cannes, the countries need to follow through on the Eurozone plan, they need to have attention to growth and job strategies, and they need to recognize that developing countries are now a key source of solutions to the world and then opportunity with the right investments and policies. We need to make the world safer for people, not just systems.

Pleased to take your questions.

MR. FERGUSON: Thanks. And we'll take your questions. As I said earlier, can you please identify yourself and your organization before asking your question. Can we now have the first question.

OPERATOR: If you'd like to ask a question from the phone, press star one, please unmute your phone and record your name. To withdraw your question, press star two. Once again, it's star one to ask a question, and you do need to record your name. Please standby for the first question.

MR. FERGUSON: Can we have the first question, please.

OPERATOR: The first question is from Sudeep Reddy from The Wall Street Journal.

QUESTION: Hi, Mr. Zoellick. How would you assess the latest European debt plan from a growth perspective, in particular what should some of the European countries that are under severe fiscal constraints such as Greece and Italy be doing to boost growth?

And secondly, what do you think about how Europe is going about raising money for the Fund, particularly how they continue to pursue emerging market governments to provide money?

MR. ZOELLICK: Well, on the first part, I think the Eurozone plan is really primarily focused on short-term liquidity stabilization. So, I actually distinguish it from a structural growth plan.

What that plan is designed to try to do is strengthen the banking system, give Greece a chance to recovery by cutting the debt, and multiply the resources of the EFSF so as to help make sure that Spain and Italy can roll over debt while also dealing with Ireland and Portugal and Greece. And so, that, to me, is sort of a classic example of buying time while one still has to work on the overall fundamentals.

And that's one reason why--so, my core point is I know how difficult this was to reach. I think they made some very important steps, but my read of the situation is that we're now dealing principally with assessments of market confidence, and market confidence is going to be based on assessments of whether the governments and the institutions follow through. So, to me, the key point is how they're using the time and being able to respond with the overall follow-through of activities.

So, I understood this morning that, in the case of Italy, there's going to be a budget process over the course of November to try to package the overall proposal in an up-or-down vote, and that will obviously be watched very closely in terms of trying to see whether Italy can take the appropriate follow-up actions.

The types of things that I've been referring to on the growth side have been discussed in national parliaments, but they haven't been so much at the heart of the Eurozone's rescue package, and those go to some of the issues that I mentioned about tax and investment policy and creating a competitive environment, a lot of the things that Germany had done quite successfully over the past years.

As for your second question about outreach to others, at least as I've been able to ascertain it, the picture is pretty clear: Europeans are going to have to be the principal agents in solving Europe's problems. Others will be willing to try to be of support. They are going to be principally doing it through the international institutional mechanisms such as the IMF.

I think as for the particular use of the EFSF that there are two vehicles that they have discussed: One is a form of an insurance model which is trying to multiply with a, for example, first-loss provision.

The second element which would allow others to invest, I think, needs further clarification to have a sense of what risk people would be taking in terms of investing in it. And frankly, Sudeep, from what I've seen is I think some--at least, I'm not referring particularly to your paper, but I think some of the earlier reporting got a little bit ahead of itself in assuming that some of the developing countries would rush in, because I didn't think they would and so far I don't think they have.

MR. FERGUSON: Thank you. Can we have the next question, please?

OPERATOR: The next question is from Alan Beattie from the Financial Times.

QUESTION: Hi, good morning, Mr. Zoellick. You were mentioning the possible impact of the Eurozone crisis on the rest of the world and specifically the developing world. How much independent growth momentum do you think the emerging markets have, I mean, particularly given that, for lots of talk about rebalancing, there still seems to be a lot of dependence in the emerging market world on exports to the U.S. and to Europe?

MR. ZOELLICK: Well, I think the interconnections are strong. I think prior to August we did see a multispeed recovery where the emerging markets had recovered quite well, had come back beyond the initial point of the crisis and, if anything, the risk was of overheating. I think the events in August in the Eurozone and, to a degree, the U.S., showed that the effects on financial markets flowed quite quickly to the developing world. So, as I mentioned, equity markets came down to over 20 percent. There has been some recovery with the deal. Bond spreads had gone up about 100 to 180 basis points. They've come back down, again, with the deal.

You've seen what's happened in some currency markets.

And as I suggested, we already started to see the effect of the slowdown in the trade area. So, and the next category that we were most watchful of was the one that I referred to of, if the confidence that has affected consumers and businesses in the developed world also infected the developing world--and there, it was a little hard to tell. You could see through some of the PMIs that they were starting to show some deterioration, I think, with the Eurozone deal, you've seen some pop-back but, frankly, high degrees of uncertainty.

And so, it's the core message that I think coming out of this G20 meeting, people are going to look through to see the follow-through on the principle areas that the Eurozone has outlined, but they're also going to look to see whether there's a tension to the ongoing growth agenda that I mentioned.

MR. FERGUSON: Thanks. Can we have the next question, please.

OPERATOR: The next question is from Howard Schneider from The Washington Post.

QUESTION: Hi, Bob, and thanks for doing this. My question is a little--I want to just sort of step back on the last couple of days, here, you know, the whole ethic of the G20, the whole idea was, you know, coordinated policy across the major economies, and yet you see this intervention by the Bank of Japan now just a couple days before the Summit, you know, without really discussing or coordinating it. And now, you see this call for a referendum in Greece really catching all of the European leaders off guard, a clear example, it seems to me, that they in a sense really don't have control of their own agenda.

So, [technical difficulties] two years ago in London, is this group really living up to [technical difficulties].

MR. FERGUSON: Sorry, we lost you the last bit. Can you repeat the last--

QUESTION: I'm saying, just, I mean, isn't it pretty clear that this Group is not living up to its potential--that this forum is not living up to its potential as a place to coordinate these important policy decisions?

MR. ZOELLICK: I think we have to see what comes out of this weekend's meeting.

I think that the Eurozone arrangement--I know, because I was with the Finance Ministers a week before--was not easily achieved. And I think, as I mentioned, it's an important step, but it's only a step.

In the case of Japan, obviously, part of the G20 but not part of the Eurozone discussions, Japan has been intervening modestly over this time period.

My own view is that, particularly for the G7, that interventions in a flexible exchange rate system would be better off being coordinated. So, I think that if they haven't been--and I just don't know for sure with all the Finance Ministers, but from the reporting I haven't seen evidence of it--that would be disappointing.

In terms of the Greece referendum, that's less of a G20 issue and more of a EU issue and to me it looks like a roll of a dice, and you know, I just--I don't know how the question will be phrased. We don't have the exact timing of the referendum. For certain, it's going to add uncertainty to markets at a time when, I think, people had hoped that the Eurozone deal and the actions to be taken would help to alleviate some of that uncertainty.

So, this is an evidence of some of the fundamental problems that have been plaguing Greece throughout the whole process. And so, in that sense, it certainly makes the hill steeper for the G20.

MR. FERGUSON: Thank you. Can we have the next question, please.

OPERATOR: The next question is from Alessandro Merli from Il Sole.

QUESTION: Yes, good morning. I wonder if you can tell us what do you think is missing from the European plan. You talked about rebuilding confidence and stabilizing the situation. This seems to have lasted a little more than 24 hours. Do you think anything in particular was missing there as a tool of reestablish [unclear]--

MR. ZOELLICK: I think it's more a question of the follow-through, and most of the commentators focus on three elements. I focus on five, in part, from some of my discussions with some of the Europeans who have been part of it.

First, you have the bank recapitalization. That is, I think, an important step. I think you had an initial positive reaction in terms of some of the bank equities, but it has to be accomplished, as I recall, by about the middle of 2012. So, the devil will be in the details of the execution.

Second, you have the multiplication of the EFSF's facilities, and that one was somewhat vaguer about how it was going to be accomplished and, as I mentioned, the idea of using some of the EFSF funds for first loss insurance provision is a viable alternative.

The other method, frankly, I think, required clarification, and my sense of it was that the leaders, understandably, wanted to try to take those models and further define them with markets, including potential investors, to see how they could get the greatest effect.

Third is the actions that Italy and Spain take themselves. You know, these countries should be able to make it if they continue to take the right actions at home. And so, in that sense, it's linked to the EFSF's ability to help them roll over their debt, but in a world where markets are--depending on confidence--it's going to depend a lot on the governmental actions.

And Spain actually has taken a series of significant actions. I think that distinguished itself somewhat from Italy. We'll have to see whether this most recent proposal that I mentioned about a package of reforms during the month of November can be pursued and, if so, whether that can help boost confidence.

Fourth, you have the Greek debt, and there will be debates about whether the reduction is deep enough, but it certainly gave Greece a much better chance, and now we have the uncertainty related to the decision the Greeks will have to make in their own referendum.

And the fifth element is one that I think is important to connect the immediate to the medium and long term, and that is what some in Germany have discussed as political and fiscal union or, sometimes, in France, is talked about as economic governance, and that is recognizing that these steps fundamentally buy time. What will be the future structure of the European system of fiscal support that complements the monetary union.

So, the monetary union as constructed without the fiscal discipline clearly ran into trouble, and markets are well aware of that. So, the question will be what type of political and fiscal union will be built on the Eurozone on top of it. That's not going to be done overnight, but I think people will be looking to see what are the directions and steps that are taken.

So, again, I'm not critical of the package. What I'm saying is that the devil will now be in the details of the follow-up, and this is why the G20 leaders shouldn't waste the moment.

MR. FERGUSON: Thank you. Can we have the next question, please.

OPERATOR: The next question is from Phil Thornton from Emerging Markets.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. Zoellick. Can I just pick up the theme about the role that emerging markets and developing countries can play. You've highlighted their strong level of growth, but a lot of the recommendations you're talking about seem to be quite long-term.

Isn't the G20 an excellent opportunity for the emerging markets to really step up to the plate and take the sort of immediate action that was taken by the G20 in London?

MR. ZOELLICK: Well, I don't know what actions in particular you have in mind, and remember, what--at least, the way I see things is markets are now looking for a sustained boost of confidence, and I've outlined how the Eurozone could take first steps, but I think there need to be follow-up steps and others need to be taking steps in support of that.

So, as I said, I think that if the G20 leaders have the primary message of supporting these steps that the Eurozone has taken plus the pro-growth steps that I referred to in avoiding sort of fraying at the edges with sort of domestic political positioning, that would send a positive signal to markets, and developing countries will be part of that.

At the same time, I think the best thing the developing countries can do is to continue to have the pro-growth strategies that they have. They've been the bright light in the picture, and so, they do have a common interest in Europe and the United States and Japan enjoying full recovery.

But I don't want to--I don’t think one should raise expectations about what one could expect them to be able to do to help Europe and the United States solve their own problems.

And in fact, I think that one of the misleading paths is to assume for any of these countries that somebody else is going to bail you out and solve your own problems. Europe's got to solve its problems, United States has got to solve its problems, Japan's got to solve its problems, and what one wants to avoid is people doing dumb things that will make it harder, such as slipping into protectionism or trade conflicts.

But by and large, for the emerging markets, if they can participate in financial support through the IMF arrangements as they have before or through special agreements to borrow, that can be constructive, but I don't think that, for example, in the Eurozone, that people should be looking for a silver bullet from the Chinese when the per capita income in China is about $4,000 a person and it's about $38,000 in Europe.

MR. FERGUSON: Thank you. We have time for one more question.

OPERATOR: The next question is from Ruben Barrera from Notimex.

QUESTION: Yes, thank you for doing this. Mr. Zoellick, I would like to go back to the issue of Greece, and my question is, if--do you think that this position by the Greek authorities to seek a referendum on the bailout could set a bad precedent for a future rescue plan for other countries, either in Europe and other parts of the world?

MR. ZOELLICK: Well, ultimately, countries have to make their own decisions here. I mean, my--I guess the theme is whether it's a group of countries or individual countries, they need the political support and they have to take the tough actions. So, I'm not in a place to second-guess the Greek political authorities feeling about what sort of vote of confidence or referendum they need.

I did say it's a roll of the dice. If it passes, that could be a positive signal for people. If it fails, it's going to be a mess.

And one of my concerns is that, in the meantime, it adds to degrees of uncertainty. Europe can cope with that if it has the additional support and facilities that we've been discussing because Greece is only about 2 percent of the EU's GDP. But at this moment, it adds one other element of uncertainty in what's already a difficult time.

MR. FERGUSON: Thank you very much. I'm afraid that's all we've got time for today. So, thank you for calling in and goodbye.

MR. ZOELLICK: Thank you.

MR. FERGUSON: Thanks, good-bye.

Global Food Prices Remain High and Volatile Affecting Poorest Countries the Most

2011-11-01T13:30:00.000Z

Floods in Thailand add further uncertainty. Food crisis in the Horn of Africa continues

WASHINGTON, November 1, 2011–Global food prices remain high and volatile, hitting the poorest countries hardest and adding to the strains facing the global economy, according to the World Bank Group’s new Food Price Watch released ahead of the G-20 Summit in Cannes, France. While the Bank’s food price index has dropped 5 percent from its February 2011 peak and dipped marginally in September by one percent, it remains 19 percent above its September 2010 levels.

“The food crisis is far from over,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick, who has urged the G-20 to put food first. “Prices remain volatile and millions of people around the world are still suffering. The World Bank has been working closely with the French Presidency of the G-20 and our partner international organizations on actions to protect the most vulnerable from the dangers of food price volatility, while also addressing some of its root causes. Let's remember, averting crisis is not just about banks and debt. Millions of people around the world face a daily crisis of hunger and malnutrition. At Cannes, the G-20 can and should take steps to address their needs."

The Group of 20 heads of government, who are meeting in Cannes Nov. 3– 4 to discuss the global economy, are expected to endorse a package of concrete actions to improve transparency and policy coordination to detect and correct problems early; to help countries manage price volatility using sound risk management tools; to promote more productive and resilient agriculture; and to get food to the needy fast through emergency regional humanitarian food reserves and agreement not to ban exports of food for World Food Programme. As the world population reaches a staggering 7 billion people, it is more important than ever for the global community to galvanize around actions to improve food security.

According to Food Price Watch, a quarterly report, recent floods in Thailand−the worst in 50 years−may add uncertainty in the short run following estimated production losses of between 16 to 24 percent of total production. In the meantime, the food crisis in the Horn of Africa continues, affecting over 13.3 million people in the region–an additional million since August, and the outlook remains frightening.

The report said prices of grains rose 30 percent (September 2010–September 2011), with maize increasing by 43 percent, rice by 26 percent and wheat 16 percent. Soybean oil went up by 26 percent. Over the last quarter, however, an increase of 3 percent in the price of grains was roughly offset by a 3 percent decline in the prices of fats and oils.

Volatility, which is higher in low income countries, is expected to persist in the medium term due to multiple global and domestic factors. Structural factors contributing to the volatility include rising populations and changing diets, increasingly intertwined relations between food and energy prices, and increasing production of biofuels.

On the other hand, a favorable outlook on supply and stocks is likely to relieve some of the pressure on global food prices. Latest forecasts show global wheat stocks reaching a 10-year high in 2011-12, global production of maize to rise by 4 percent from increased production in Argentina, Brazil, China, Russia, and Ukraine. Global rice output is also likely to get a boost in 2011-12 due to an expected bumper harvest in India following very favorable monsoon rains.

These production gains in some markets underscore the critical need to keep international markets open, to get food where it is needed, provide incentives to farmers who expand production, and avoid panic behavior created by export bans.

While a troubled global economy could dampen demand and push food prices down, the effect on developing countries would be mixed−hurting food exporting countries and poor producers in rural areas, and benefiting food importers and consumers. The problem, Food Price Watch warns, is that developing countries might have now limited resources to protect vulnerable populations following the economic crisis and stimulus spending.

In addition, fears associated with the global economy may affect medium to long-term investments in agricultural research and more productive agricultural techniques, especially amid persistent volatility.

Among the ongoing efforts to improve volatility-related information, the G-20 agriculture ministers introduced the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), officially launched in September, to increase market transparency on the short-term global food outlook, especially stocks, and to identify abnormal international market conditions in order to prompt early responses.

How the World Bank Group is helping to put food first

· In the Horn of Africa, the World Bank Group is providing $1.88 billion to save lives, improve social protection, and foster economic recovery and drought resilience. More than 13 million people are affected by the crisis.

· A first-of-its-kind World Bank Group risk management product, provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will enable up to $4 billion in protection from volatile food prices for farmers, food producers, and consumers in developing countries.

· The Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP) is helping some 40 million people through $1.5 billion in support.

· The World Bank Group is boosting its spending on agriculture to some $6 to $8 billion a year from $4.1 billion in 2008.

· Supporting the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), set up by the World Bank Group in April 2010 at G-20’s request, to assist country-led agriculture and food security plans and help promote investments in smallholder farmers. To date, six countries and the Gates Foundation have pledged about $971.5 million over the next three years, with $571 million received.

· The World Bank Group is coordinating with UN agencies through the High-Level task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis and with NGOs.

· The World Bank Group supports the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research (CGIAR), which it helped to establish in 1971. In 2008, the CGIAR with the support of the World Bank and other donors launched a reform process, which culminated in the adoption of a comprehensive strategy that determines the new global research programs and a new funding model that prepares CGIAR to absorb and attract vastly more program funding, with a target annual budget of $1 billion by 2013, to which the World Bank contributes some $50 million per year. With agriculture production needing to rise some 70 percent by 2050, and with a five- to ten-year window to develop new varieties and get them to farmers, increased funding from the international community for global research is critical.

Contacts:

In Washington: Alejandra Viveros, (202) 473-4306, aviveros@worldbank.org

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

To access Food Price Watch, please click:

http://go.worldbank.org/26VBL9Q3F0

Food Price Watch author, Jose Cuesta will take part in World Bank Live online discussion about Global Food Prices on Tuesday, November 8 at 10:00 am EST (15:00 GMT). Participate and submit questions in advance here: http://live.worldbank.org/qa-global-food-prices-nov-2011

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Mongolia Improves its Credit Information System as Business Regulations Advance in East Asia and the Pacific

2011-10-20T07:45:00.000Z

Washington D.C., October 20, 2011— A new report from IFC and the World Bank finds that Mongolia made doing business easier by improving its credit information system. Globally, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR (China), provide the friendliest regulatory environments for local entrepreneurs. Within the East Asia and the Pacific region, China advanced the most in making its regulatory environment more business-friendly over the past six years.

Released today, Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World assesses regulations affecting domestic firms in 183 economies and ranks the economies in 10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, resolving insolvency, and trading across borders.

Mongolia improved its credit information system in 2010/2011 by eliminating the minimum threshold for loans included in the database, allowing all loans to be captured and hence improving access to credit for small entrepreneurs. The news comes two days after Mongolian officials and IFC Vice President Dorothy Berry signed agreements aimed at making Mongolia’s business inspection more efficient and transparent. The initiatives aim to further improve the country’s investment climate and increase firms’ competitiveness.

This year, the rankings on ease of doing business have expanded to include indicators on getting electricity. The report finds that getting an electrical connection is most efficient in Iceland; Germany; Taiwan, China; Hong Kong, China; and Singapore.

Fourteen of the region’s 24 economies improved business regulations in the past year. The Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Malaysia improved in three or more areas measured by Doing Business. Malaysia rose five places in the global ranking, to 18, by implementing regulatory reforms—including a new one-stop shop for start-ups, computerization of commercial courts, and improved insolvency proceedings. Brunei Darussalam’s rank climbed to 83, partly because the country made it easier for businesses to get an electrical connection.

Over the past six years, a new measure shows that 22 economies in East Asia and the Pacific have made their regulatory environment more business-friendly. “Making business regulation more transparent and efficient increases opportunities for economic growth,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group. “In East Asia and the Pacific, businesses have benefited from the region’s broad and sustained regulatory reforms.”

About the Doing Business report series

Doing Business analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency. The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on 10 indicators and cover 183 economies. Previous year’s rankings are back-calculated to account for the addition of new indicator(s), data corrections, and methodology changes in existing indicators so as to provide a meaningful comparison with the new rankings. Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure security, macroeconomic stability, corruption, the level of skills, or the strength of financial systems. Its findings have stimulated policy debates in more than 80 economies and enabled a growing body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to economic outcomes across economies.

For more information about the Doing Business report series, please visit: www.doingbusiness.org.

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DoingBusiness.org.

Compare Doing Business data on your iPhone: www.doingbusiness.org/iphone

About the World Bank Group

The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It comprises five closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each institution plays a distinct role in the mission to fight poverty and improve living standards for people in the developing world.

For more information, please visit

www.worldbank.org

www.miga.org

www.ifc.org

Media contacts:

In Ulaanbaatar:

Jigjidmaa Dugeree

Phone: +976 11 312 694

E-mail: jdugeree@ifc.org

In Beijing:

Jing Yu

Phone: +86 10 5860 3098

E-mail: jyu1@ifc.org

Regional Media Contacts:

East Asia and the Pacific
Hannfried von Hindenburg +852 2509-8115 Carl Hanlon +1 (202) 473-8087

E-mail: hvonhindenburg@ifc.org E-mail: chanlon@worldbank.org

Universal Access to Modern Energy Within Reach in East Asia Pacific

2011-10-18T02:00:00.000Z

JAKARTA, October 18, 2011− Despite impressive growth, around 170 million people in the East Asia-Pacific region still have no electricity connections while another 1 billion people still use solid fuels for cooking. Nonetheless, universal access to modern energy is still within reach in this region, says a joint World Bank-AusAID report, released today. One Goal, Two Paths: Achieving Universal Access to Modern Energy in East Asia and Pacific outlines an ambitious program to overcome energy poverty in the region by 2030. The report was funded by AusAID as part of a wider partnership with the World Bank to help develop sustainable infrastructure in East Asia-Pacific.

“In East Asia Pacific, people at the bottom billion still face energy poverty and lack access to modern energy solutions,” says John Roome, the World Bank’s Director for Sustainable Development, East Asia Pacific Region. “With every second household in the region still depending on solid fuels for cooking, the indoor air pollution is a major health risk factor and women and children are especially vulnerable”.

The report urges the governments in the region to work simultaneously on two paths:

1) Achieve universal electricity access by accelerating both grid and off-grid programs; reducing costs through appropriate policies and technical innovations; improving reliability, and providing timely service to all households.

2) Increase access to clean cooking fuels (natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, and biogas) and advanced cooking stoves, particularly in poor rural areas. This can go a long way in improving health and reducing the number of premature deaths. Currently over 600,000 people die in the region each year from indoor air pollution.

“Both of these paths are affordable. It would cost an estimated $78 billion over the next two decades for the region to attain universal access to electricity, modern cooking fuels, and advanced cooking stoves. This is 40 percent more than what it would cost to maintain the ‘business-as-usual’ scenario over the same period, but it is a small fraction of Regional GDP,” says Dejan Ostojic, the report’s lead author.

“The Australian Government aid program focuses on the Asia Pacific region and is committed to assisting developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” said AusAID Minister Counsellor for Indonesia Mrs Jacqui De Lacy, “Access to modern forms of energy is crucial to improving the lives of men, women and children, and funding this report is one of AusAID’s many strategies to look at alleviating poverty in developing countries.”

For the full report, please click here

Contacts:
In Washington: Carl Hanlon (202) 473-8116, E-mail: chanlon@worldbank.org
In Jakarta: Randy Salim +62-21-5299-3259, E-mail: rsalim1@worldbank.org
For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

Improvements in Higher Education Needed to Sustain Growth in Low and Middle Income East Asia

2011-10-13T02:00:00.000Z

World Bank releases new East Asia and Pacific Regional Report

TOKYO, October 13, 2011 - Low- and middle-income countries in East Asia need to make their higher education systems more responsive to labor market demands and the economy as a whole to climb up the income ladder, says a new World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Report released today.

Across the region, higher education institutions can realize their full potential by providing skills and research to spur productivity and innovation, considered critical to achieving growth in a competitive global environment.

Titled “Putting Higher Education to Work: Skills and Research for Growth in East Asia”, the report sheds light on the functional skills that workers must possess to be employable and to support firms’ competitiveness and productivity. It also examines how higher education systems can produce research that will help apply, adapt and develop new technologies that will drive growth.

Impressive gains have been made in expanding access to higher education over the past two to three decades in the region, with enrollment rates rising to 20 percent or more in many countries from very low levels. The greater challenge overall is improving quality, to address vulnerabilities in developing and deploying enough of the right type of skills and research.

“With aging populations, developing economies in the region face the challenge of achieving growth led by gains in productivity. The significance of higher education will increase as countries work to escape the middle income trap,” said James W. Adams, World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President.

According to the report, higher education institutions in developing East Asia do not sufficiently provide their graduates with the skills that firms need. “Employers in both manufacturing and services are looking for problem-solving, communications, management and other skills that will support higher productivity. Yet employer perceptions and wage skill premiums point to gaps in these skills in newly hired professionals,” said World Bank Lead Economist Emanuela di Gropello, lead author of the report.

"The mismatch between the skills that firms need and that higher education institutions produce may mean longer lags in getting a good job after graduation -- lags that may frustrate expectations among the young," said Emmanuel Jimenez, World Bank Human Development Sector Director, East Asia and Pacific Region.

In addition, higher education institutions are not contributing the type of research needed to boost technological upgrading in firms. Universities can produce ideas for the business community, contributing to knowledge and technological innovation through basic and applied research and technology transfer. But university involvement is limited in most countries, even in technology adaptation and upgrading.

“The evolving links between higher education systems and the business sector are becoming a major focus of policy as the role of technology in development expands. Not only do they impart education, but universities are viewed more and more as sources of industrially valuable technical skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship,” said co-author Prateek Tandon, World Bank Economist.

Why isn’t higher education fulfilling its potential? The main reason identified by the report is that higher education institutions have been managed as “disconnected” individual institutions. Governments have a fundamental role in making higher education work as a system where individual institutions are well connected among themselves and to firms, research institutions and earlier levels of education.

The report suggests three priority areas where public policy can play a constructive role in improving higher education outcomes:

More efficient and effective financing

Adequately finance and incentivize research
Prioritize underfunded fields such as science and engineering
Provide sufficient scholarships and loans for the poor and disadvantaged

Better management of public institutions

Improve the management of public higher education institutions, where 70 percent of all East Asian students are enrolled, by encouraging greater autonomy and accountability
Greater decision making autonomy in areas such as academic curricula, staffing and budgeting should be encouraged
Accountability can be enhanced by delegating more power and responsibilities to institutions and governing boards and by providing students with information to choose and move across institutions

Stewardship of the higher education system

Put in place adequate incentives for private institutions so that they can further help governments increase enrollment and strengthen skills
Ensure stronger links between industry and universities
Take advantage of opportunities provided by international higher education markets

Contacts:

In Washington: Claudia Gabarain, +1 (202) 473-8116, cgabarain@worldbank.org

In Tokyo: Chisako Fukuda, +81-(0)80-5982-7424, cfukuda@worldbank.org

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

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

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Building World Class Research Universities Is Significantly More Complex than Many Countries Estimate―New World Bank Report

2011-10-06T13:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, October 6, 2011 - In a global economy that depends on sophisticated innovation and knowledge to drive growth and wealth, a new World Bank report on higher education suggests that low- and middle-income countries should resist the temptation to establish world-class universities to cash in on research earnings and court global prestige before educating their own citizens to high tertiary standards.

According to the new report, The Road to Academic Excellence: The Making of World-Class Research Universities, which charts the experience of 11 leading public and private research universities in nine countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, elite research universities are outpacing the smartest companies in the world with their original research. In one recent global study on new patents, for example, leading universities and research institutions are driving more scientific strides in biotechnology than private companies and firms.

“Looking at the elite research and grant money cascading out of world-class universities, as well as their new thinking in the humanities and social sciences, you can certainly understand why countries might think that a top-flight research institution is all that stands in their way of reducing poverty, leaping forward in their national development, and establishing new footholds in the global knowledge economy,” says Dr. Jamil Salmi, the Bank’s Higher Education Coordinator, and a co-author of the new report. “But this decision cannot be simply tactical. It must be a long-term strategic decision that aspiring countries take, weighing all the facts, while banishing any notion of fast results.”

The new report concludes that top-performers in the research university world share three common characteristics, without which 21^st Century universities cannot survive, let alone, excel: a high concentration of talented academics and students, significant budgets, and strategic vision and leadership.

In most cases, world-class universities have students and faculty who are not exclusively from the country where the university operates. This enables them to attract the most talented people, no matter where they come from, and open themselves to new ideas and approaches. Unquestionably, the world’s best universities enroll and employ large numbers of foreign students and faculty in their search for the most talented. In this respect, the fact that world-class universities succeed in mobilizing a broadly diverse national and international academic staff is likely to maximize these research institutions’ knowledge-networking capacity.

It Costs Millions

Another conclusion from the new Bank study is that building and operating world-class universities can cost millions of dollars. For example, the authors show that in late 2007, Saudi Arabia announced plans for a new $10 billion graduate research university; Pakistan plans to spend $750 million for each of its new universities of engineering, science, and technology during the next few years; and the school of medicine established by Cornell University in Qatar in 2002 cost $750 million. The availability of abundant money and international prestige creates a virtuous circle that allows elite universities to attract more top professors and researchers, as is often the case for leading U.S. colleges.

Recent years of global economic crisis, though, have significantly affected research universities, potentially boosting East Asia’s universities. East Asian countries have weathered the economic storm better than their Western counterparts, as they seek to join the top ranks of the global research elite. For example, India has increased its higher education investment by 31 percent since 2010, and China has continued to fund its excellence programs in support of the nation’s leading universities.

Vision and Leadership Matter

Although unlimited money and attracting the world’s best and brightest students and teachers helps strengthen a country’s bid to create a world-class university, strategic vision and leadership are also vital, without which national aspiration to a world-class university ranking falls short.

According to the new report, world class universities thrive in environments that foster competitiveness, unrestrained scientific inquiry and academic freedom, critical thinking, innovation, and creativity. Moreover, institutions that have complete autonomy are also more flexible because they are not bound by cumbersome bureaucracies and externally imposed standards, even in light of the legitimate rules and statutes that bind them. As a result, they can manage their resources with agility and quickly respond to the demands of a rapidly changing global market.

“To make the grade, you also need inspiring and persistent leaders, a strong strategic vision of where the institution is going, a philosophy of success and excellence, and a culture of constant reflection, organizational learning, and change. On top of that, you can’t be impatient, either,” says Professor Philip G. Altbach, Director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, and a co-author of the new Bank report.

The report says that not every country needs comprehensive world-class universities, at least not while more fundamental tertiary education needs are not being met. Many countries, it adds, would be better off initially focusing on developing the best national universities possible. For example, higher-level research institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa that are equipped to provide quality education and conduct relevant applied research can play a key role in training skilled workers to be fluent in the latest technologies and apply them in industries to make a broader range of products that win customers worldwide.

“Good-quality tertiary education is also key to stimulating innovation, from producing new varieties of crops and sources of energy that can speed progress toward reducing poverty, achieving food security, fighting disease, improving health, and creating new jobs,” says Ghana’s Education Minister, the Honorable Betty Mould-Iddrisu.

In the foreword to the new report, India’s Minister of Human Resource Development, Dr. Kapil Sibal, writes that the ultimate test of modern research universities is whether they can be flexible enough to encourage learning across disciplines and to harmonize education with the needs of society. Innovation, he writes, is seen as the mantra for development, “a realization so pervasive that nations are scrambling to create institutions and organizations that would facilitate the process of knowledge creation.”

“The world today is ripe for another tectonic shift in our understanding of the university as an institution. India can emerge as a knowledge power only if an appropriate architecture for higher education is put in place. Indian youth have demonstrated their inventiveness and energy in the past. Higher education that channels this capacity for innovation will unleash the latent potential of India’s demographic dividend.”

The World Bank and Education

By investing in people, the World Bank believes that education is a powerful driver of human development and economic growth, and is also one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty. The Bank manages a portfolio of $11.2 billion with operations in 82 countries, and invested more than $1.8 billion in education in 2011. During the last ten years, education financing by the International Development Association, the Bank’s zero-interest fund for the poorest countries, has helped recruit or train 3 million additional teachers and build more than 2 million new classrooms, benefiting more than 100 million children every year.

Contacts:

In Washington: Phil Hay, (202) 473-1796 (work) / 202-409-2909 (cell), phay@worldbank.org

In Washington: Melanie Mayhew, (202) 458-7891 (work) / 202-406-0504 (cell), mmayhew1@worldbank.org

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

For more information or to read the report, please visit: www.worldbank.org/education.

Education blog: http://blogs.worldbank.org/education

Facebook: www.facebook.com/worldbank

Twitter: www.twitter.com/worldbank

YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/worldbank

The project TA : Economic Capacity Building TA has changed to Closed

2011-10-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project TA : Economic Capacity Building TA has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of the Economic Capacity Building Technical Assistance Project for Mongolia is to design and implement a public sector management reform program aimed at improving: (a) budgetary and public expenditure management systems and processes; and (b) civil service and public administration performance. These project funds have been reallocated to support the ongoing fiscal, budget and public investment planning reforms that are a high priority for Mongolia and a focal area of Bank engagement. It is now expected that the project will fully disburse shortly after the closing date of September 2011 and no further extensions will be required. The reallocations do not change the project development objectives, key performance indicators, or the key activities of the project.

The project Mongolia: Post Compliance I is now in the pipeline.

2011-08-18T04:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia: Post Compliance I is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Second Ulaanbaatar Services Improvement Project has changed to Closed

2011-07-04T04:00:00.000Z

The project Second Ulaanbaatar Services Improvement Project has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Mongolia Phase II: EITI Implementation has changed to Closed

2011-07-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia Phase II: EITI Implementation has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Mongolia Global Partnership for Education Early Childhood Education Project is now in the pipeline.

2011-07-01T04:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia Global Partnership for Education Early Childhood Education Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Community-led Infrastructure Development for the Urban Poor in Ulaanbaatar Phase 2 is now in the pipeline.

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project Community-led Infrastructure Development for the Urban Poor in Ulaanbaatar Phase 2 is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project MONSTAT: Strengthening the National Statistical System of Mongolia is now in the pipeline.

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project MONSTAT: Strengthening the National Statistical System of Mongolia is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Second Sustainable Livelihoods Project Additional Financing is now in the pipeline.

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project Second Sustainable Livelihoods Project Additional Financing is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of the Additional Financing for the Second Sustainable Livelihoods Project is to enhance livelihood security and sustainability by scaling up institutional mechanisms that reduce the vulnerability of communities throughout Mongolia. This Project Paper seeks the approval of the Executive Directors to provide an additional credit in an amount of SDR6.8 million, equivalent to approximately USD11 million to Mongolia Second Sustainable Livelihoods Project. The additional credit will help finance the costs associated with scaling up the project activities to increase the impact of the project. The performance of the parent project has consistently been rated as satisfactory, and has contributed to the emergence of a new policy agenda for decentralization and increased levels of community participation in budget allocation and implementation. Following the completion of the additional financing period there is an opportunity for continued International Development Association (IDA) engagement in institutionalizing approaches to enhance livelihood security and reduce vulnerability in Mongolia. No major changes to the project design are, and the majority of the funds will finance the community initiatives fund and the pastoral risk management fund, both of which finance priority investments identified and implemented by local communities.

The project Solid Waste Management Demonstration Project for the Urban Poor in Ulaanbaatar is now in the pipeline.

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project Solid Waste Management Demonstration Project for the Urban Poor in Ulaanbaatar is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Third Ulaanbaatar Urban Services Improvement Project is now in the pipeline.

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project Third Ulaanbaatar Urban Services Improvement Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project MN-Mining Infrastructure Investment Supp has changed to Active

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project MN-Mining Infrastructure Investment Supp has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objectives of the Mining Infrastructure Investment Support Project (MINIS) for Mongolia are to facilitate investments in infrastructure to support mining and downstream processing activities, regardless of funding source, and to build local capacity to prepare and transact infrastructure projects. There are four components to the project, the first component being support for infrastructure investments. The project will provide financing to prepare regional infrastructure investment plans, conduct feasibility studies to assess technical options and determine economic and financial implications of proposed projects, and address emerging priority issues as a result of the country's nascent enabling environment governing private participation in infrastructure. The second component is the capacity building and knowledge transfer. A long-term approach for building capacity and developing the requisite skills to prepare infrastructure projects and transactions with investors will be necessary to develop local skills. The third component is the strengthening groundwater management. Support will be provided to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to manage groundwater resources in the region. The government has established a framework of 29 water basins for the entire country. For Southern Mongolia, these basins are centered on groundwater, as surface water is of minor importance in the southern part of the country. It is expected that a new institutional structure will be piloted at two locations in Southern Mongolia with jurisdictional responsibilities defined along groundwater boundary basins. Finally, the fourth component is the project management.

The project Mongolia - Development Policy Credit 2 has changed to Closed

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia - Development Policy Credit 2 has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

This Second Development Policy Credit Program (DPC2) for Mongolia supports the continued efforts of the government to use the crisis as an opportunity to improve macro and fiscal sustainability in a mineral-based economy, protect the poor and vulnerable, restore confidence in the financial sector, and encourage transparent and prudent mining investments. The global downturn hit Mongolia hard. This downturn was most immediately felt through the collapse of mineral prices, in particular that of copper. Given Mongolia's high reliance on copper revenues in the budget (with mineral revenues accounting for more than one-third of the total budget revenues), the fiscal shock was very large, causing the overall government balance to shift from a 2.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surplus in 2007 to a 5.4 percent deficit in 2009. Improving the policy environment is now the overriding priority for the government. Multilateral and bilateral donor activities in the form of budget financing, technical assistance and analytical work provide an important support for the government's policy agenda. Considerable fiscal adjustment remains necessary over the next couple of years. Donor budget financing can play a crucial role in facilitating the process of fiscal adjustment, helping to protect key expenditures such as social protection and investment programs or to limit the recourse to alternative, potentially destabilizing, and financing options.

The project Ulaanbaatar Clean Air has changed to Dropped

2011-06-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project Ulaanbaatar Clean Air has changed to Dropped. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Mongolia - Development Policy Credit 2 has changed to Active

2010-10-19T04:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia - Development Policy Credit 2 has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Mongolia - Development Policy Credit 2 is now in the pipeline.

2010-03-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Mongolia - Development Policy Credit 2 is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database