World Bank Supports SME Development with Focus on Financial Reporting in Europe and Central Asia

Ministers of Finance, business leaders, accounting professionals, and academics from Europe and Central Asia, together with representatives of the World Bank and key EU and international institutions in financial reporting and auditing, met today in Vienna for the 5th Ministerial Conference of

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Turkey’s Public Finances: Time for a Fiscal Policy Pivot?

New World Bank report recommends shift to more sustainable growth model. The World Bank today launched a new report, Turkey in Transition: Time for a Fiscal Policy Pivot?, at a conference held in Ankara in partnership with the Ministry of Finance and

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World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim to Visit Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, will visit Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan from June 1-4, to focus on the challenges and opportunities facing the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and underscore the Bank’s commitment and support. This

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Paul Krugman: A Plea for a Return to Basics in Finance

Author of no less than twenty books, over 200 scholarly essays in peer-reviewed academic journals and more than 750 articles as a columnist, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman is not one to hide his mostly liberal opinions. As an economist, Mr

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Nicholas Brady: Soccer Finance and the Pragmatist Who Fixed a Debt Crisis

Back in the days when a top-scoring soccer player could be enticed for a few million, Brazilian attacker Romario set a record when PSV put down all of six million dollars to have him play for the club in Eindhoven,

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The World Bank: Local Currency Bonds Catch On as Countries Aim to Catch Up

Two years ago, the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation tried something that had never been done in the Dominican Republic. In a bid to increase access to finance to entrepreneurs and home-buyers, the Bank Group’s private sector arm became

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Restoring Public Confidence: Industrialising Delivery of Pension and Retirement Solutions

Over the past century, governments, as well as public and private sector pension and retirement providers, focused on expanding existing and introducing new systems with a core focus on payment of benefits. Strong investment performance limited the perceived need to

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Jacques Delors: Despite Design Flaws Euro Success Assured

Hindsight may offer some comfort and solace from contemporary reality. It is thus that Jacques Delors – aka Mr Euro – concludes that Europe’s much-maligned common currency suffers from a few design flaws. Those imperfections may even have doomed the

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MIGA (World Bank) – A New Boon for Emerging-Market Financing: Achieving Investment-Grade Bonds with MIGA’s Credit Enhancement

Many investors, lenders, and government officials are familiar with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group. For 25 years, the agency has insured investments in developing countries against political risk. This insurance facilitates productive foreign direct

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Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market: Foreign Investors Told “Not Just Yet”

The regulator of the Saudi Arabia stock market – by far the largest of the Gulf Region – isn’t making any promises to foreign investors yet. Former World Bank executive director Mohammed al-Sheikh, now chairman of the Capital Market Authority

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