The Government of Uzbekistan (GoU) has
recently adopted a policy to mechanize the cotton harvest as
part of its drive to modernize the agricultural sector.
Under Uzbekistan’s state-order system it is compulsory for
many farmers to grow cotton. They are contractually
obligated to produce stipulated quantities that are annually
set by the government, and must sell these to the GoU at a
price fixed by the government. Almost all cotton in

People living in poverty are
particularly vulnerable to shocks, including those caused by
natural disasters such as floods and droughts. Previous
studies in local contexts have shown that poor people are
also often overrepresented in hazard-prone areas. However,
systematic evidence across countries demonstrating this
finding is lacking. This paper analyzes at the country level
whether poor people are disproportionally exposed to floods

The Indonesia Economic Quarterly (IEQ)
has two main aims. First, it reports on the key developments
over the past three months in Indonesia’s economy, and
places these in a longerterm and global context. Based on
these developments, and on policy changes over the period,
the IEQ regularly updates the outlook for Indonesia’s
economy and social welfare. Second, the IEQ provides a more
in-depth examination of selected economic and policy issues,

Analysis of Sri Lanka’s recent progress
in reducing poverty and inequality is directly relevant to
the new government’s development agenda. The newly sworn-in
president ran for election on a platform that featured,
among other goals, inclusive growth and support to the
agricultural sector. The pursuit of these and other goals of
the new administration can be informed by a fuller
understanding of recent developments in household living

Bhutan’s hydropower generation potential
raises the prospect of tremendous development opportunities
for the country: fast increasing export revenue, sustained
economic growth, and rapid poverty reduction. Driven by
developments in the hydropower sector, the country has grown
at an average rate of 7 percent per year over the last
decade, while poverty has declined remarkably fast. But
hydropower development also creates significant challenges

Market-based reforms and the opening up
of trade and investment initiated over the past four years
have had a positive impact on growth in Myanmar. These have
enhanced private sector participation and increased the role
of exports in the economy. Reforms have included streamlined
business entry procedures, reduced export and import
licensing requirements, and enhanced public-private
partnerships and dialogue. Promoting private sector

Costa Rica stands out for being among the most politically stable, progressive, prosperous, and environmentally conscious nations in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Its development model has brought important economic, social, and environmental dividends, with sustained growth, upward mobility for a large share of the population, important gains in social indicators, and significant achievements in reforestation and conservation. However, there are a number of development challenges that need to be addressed to maintain the country’s successful development path.

The World Bank Group in 2013 made the elimination of extreme poverty by 2030 a central institutional focus and purpose. This evaluation examines how, and how well, the Bank Group has focused its support on poverty reduction over the past decade, and what lessons to draw from this moving forward. The lessons aim to strengthen the Bank’s country diagnostics, improve the design of country strategies, and build greater learning opportunities from program experience.

Megacity Dhaka encounters various kinds
of natural disasters quite frequently owing to its
geographical location and a number of other physical and
environmental conditions including low topography, land
characteristics, multiplicity of rivers and the monsoon
climate. Climate and disaster resilience is not the same in
all parts of a city. Spatial variations in resilience
patterns result from differences in the strengths and

The authors have assembled 1960–2012
infrastructure stock data from 145 countries to estimate the
demand for infrastructure services in emerging markets and
developing economies. This paper identifies that the
required resource flows to satisfy new demand while
maintaining service for existing infrastructure amounts to
$836 billion or 6.1 percent of current gross domestic
product per year over the period 2014–20. The annual

Tajikistan’s economy exceeded
expectations during the first six months of 2015 despite a
challenging external environment. According to official
data, GDP growth slowed only moderately from 6.7 percent in
the first half of 2014 to 6.4 percent year on year (y/y) in
the first half of 2015, even as remittances from Russia
fell, global demand weakened, and prices for the country’s
key export commodities such as aluminum and cotton dropped

The Myanmar Economic Monitor (MEM) aims
to periodically take stock of economic development and
highlight economic prospects and policy priorities in
Myanmar. Myanmar grew at an estimated 8.5 percent in real
terms in 2014/15. The MEM touches on continued recovery in
growth, public consumption, private investment, services,
investment in manufacturing and industry, rebound in
agriculture and the impact of floods. The monitor examines