The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
In a matter of six years, India emerged as the world’s third-largest economy in 2011 from being the 10th largest in 2005, moving ahead of Japan, while the US remained the largest economy closely followed by China, latest figures have revealed. “The economies of Japan and the UK became smaller …
Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 Target 5A calls for the reduction of maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. It has been a challenge to assess the extent of progress due to the lack of reliable and accurate maternal mortality data – particularly in developing-country settings where …
Pakistan and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday formally signed loan agreement wherein the Bank would provide $400 million to Islamabad for the much needed energy sector reforms. Werner E. Liepach, ADB’s Country Director for Pakistan and Nargis Sethi, Secretary, Economic Affairs Division, signed the agreement. Finance Minister Senator Ishaq …
Brazil has the world’s biggest reserves of fresh water. That most of it sits in the sparsely populated Amazon has not historically stopped Brazilians in the drier, more populous south taking it for granted. No longer. Landlords in São Paulo, who are wont to hose down pavements with gallons of …
Researchers say the fruit grown could be a replacement for staple crops under threat from climate change. It’s big and bumpy with a gooey interior and a powerful smell of decay — but it could help keep millions of people from hunger. Researchers say jackfruit — a large ungainly fruit …
In a unique judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld a Punjab Government’s move to dispense with the right to submit objections to acquire land in the 1990s for setting up World-Bank-assisted Government Polytechnic for Women in Amritsar. The High Court referred to the days of turmoil when …
SUPAUL: Destruction caused by breach in Kosi embankment at Kusaha on August 18, 2008, is still an issue in 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Supaul, which was the worst hit. Candidates are promising speedy implementation of the World Bank-aided reconstruction scheme including houses to the families displaced in the floods …
Seeking transparency, three NGOs working for wildlife conservation and tribal development at the grassroots have filed an application in the Supreme Court demanding a committee of independent experts or Controller and Auditor General (CAG) to examine implementation of the impugned Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. Many cases have come to …
Status check of 5 projects which could help the economy beat the slowdown blues and earn brownie points for the new government Whatever be the political coalition that comes to power at the Centre after May 16, the new government will have five ongoing projects to kick-start a sluggish economy. …
Countries such as India, which accounted for nearly a third of the people living in poverty globally, needed to complement efforts to enhance growth with policies that allocated more resources to the extreme poor, the World Bank said on Thursday. In a report, the global lender said resources could be …
The private sector strongly feels India is a difficult place to do business due to too many regulations, World Bank president Jim Young Kim said Thursday, calling for necessary reforms to create a better environment and spur growth. "The private sector has the strong sense that India is a difficult …
The World Bank is still failing to take climate change into account as it makes decisions about the projects it finances, according to a new report from the nonprofit World Resources Institute. The impacts of climate change were only taken into consideration in a quarter of all projects the bank …
South Asia needs up to $2.5 trillion of investment in infrastructure by 2020 if the region is to make further gains in battling poverty and provide for its growing population, the World Bank said on Wednesday. Despite boasting similar economic growth rates to East Asia, the region lags significantly in …
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has invested $20.2 million in Regent Energy & Power Limited to help develop an independent thermal power project at Ghorashal in Narsingdi. IFC issued a press release in this regard on Wednesday afternoon. According to the press note, the project will sell …
Less than half of Pakistanis have access to sanitation and only two-thirds to electricity, a latest report by the World Bank has revealed. The report, Reducing Poverty by Closing South Asia's Infrastructure Gap, is the first analysis of Pakistan's infrastructure needs by the World Bank. According to the Express Tribune, …
Street children and kids living in slums in four Asian cities, including Dhaka, are among those most vulnerable to everyday hazards, disasters and climate change amid rapid urbanisation in Asian countries, said a study of Plan International yesterday. The study “Understanding Children's Risk and Agency in Urban Areas and Their …
The World Bank is set to approve a ‘development policy’ credit of $500 million to help Pakistan design an efficient and consumer-oriented electric power system which will lead to reducing subsidies and improving tariff policy, entailing a reduction of the subsidies allocated in the federal budget from 1.8 per cent …
The Sindh government has sought additional financing of $150 million from the World Bank to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of irrigation water distribution with particular reference to reliability, equity and use-satisfaction in area water boards of Ghotki Feeder, Left Bank Canals and Nara Canal. The improved water management is …
An inordinate delay in awarding river training work (RTW) for the planned Padma Bridge has posed a fresh threat to protection of river banks along the country's longest bridge. Sources said the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA), the implementing agency of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, is now under pressure to …
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday organized a meeting approving seven development projects, held at the NEC conference room in city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. These projects involve Tk 3,190 crore including one project to build eight food silos having …
