Printable Version available here (PDF) The World Bank, Islamabad Office
March, 2008 Pakistan Infrastructure Implementation Capacity Assessment The report concludes that the construction industry does not have the capacity to deliver the Government’s planned infrastructure program. The major challenges to delivery of infrastructure are a lack of required human resources both in terms of adequate skills and numbers, and the inefficient processes in the business environment. These challenges which can only be addressed over the long term, while gaps in materials availability and efficient equipment (machinery) could be rectified in the short to medium-term. If Pakistan wants to deliver on the planned critical mega infrastructure, there is an urgent need to re-engineer the construction industry and the processes typically followed in delivering such mega projects. Chapter Summaries
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Press Release ========================================================= The World Bank President, Robert B. Zoellick's Visit to Pakistan The World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick pledged increasing World Bank support to drive competitiveness by investment in infrastructure and human development which are all critical to addressing poverty in Pakistan. “I have come here to learn and listen carefully. From what I’ve seen, investing in infrastructure and facilitating programs in the social sectors are the keys to strengthening competitiveness in the long term,” said Zoellick after meetings with President , Prime Minister and the country’s economic leadership team. Press Release
President Zoellick's visit to South Asia ========================================================= Ten things Worth knowing about the World bank in Pakistan The Federal and Provincial governments have been implementing various reform programs aimed at encouraging growth, investment and employment generation. Reforms at the provincial level are specifically aimed at improving delivery of social services like education, health, clean drinking water, and sanitation. Read more ========================================================= Eliminating Poverty in One Generation Headline-grabbing news is fast moving, mostly political, all too often violent. Poverty is a slow grind far from the front page. But as Pakistanis in all spheres of life are absorbed by daily political developments, it is important to remember the central challenge facing the leadership and citizenry alike: to effectively eliminate poverty in Pakistan within the next generation. To read more please click the printable version at the top right corner ========================================================= South Asia is transforming South Asian countries are facing an unprecedented opportunity to reduce massive poverty and confront widening rural-urban income disparities, according to World Development Report 2008, entitled "Agriculture for Development", which calls for a revival of agriculture in the region Feature ========================================================= Climate Change and South Asia Poverty in South Asia is still largely rural. About 70% of South Asia’s population lives in rural areas, and it accounts for about 75% of the poor. Most of the rural poor depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture employs about 60% of the labor force in South Asia and contributes 22% of regional GDP. The Green Revolution of 1970s and 1980s substantially increased food grain productivity and increased rural wages. Recent agricultural growth in South Asia, however, is less than 3% and is far below the growth rates of other economic sectors. Feature ========================================================= Latest Publications  Global Economic Prospects 2008: Technology Diffusion in the Developing World examines the state of technology in developing countries and the pace with which it has advanced since the early 1990s. It reveals both encouraging and cautionary trends. On the one hand, the pace of technological progress in developing countries has been much faster than in high-income countries-reflecting increased exposure to foreign technology as a result of linkages with high-skilled diasporas and the opening of these countries to international trade and foreign direct investment.On the other hand, the technology gap remains large, and the domestic factors that determine how quickly technologies spread within developing countries often stymie progress, especially among low-income countries.
 Finance for All?: Policies and Pitfalls in Expanding Access documents the extent of financial exclusion around the world; addresses the importance of access to financial services for growth, equity and poverty reduction; and discusses policy interventions and institutional reforms that can improve access for underserved groups. The report is a broad ranging review of the work already completed or in progress, drawing on research utilizing data at the country, firm and household level.
 The current share of women in the world's international migrant population is close to one half. Despite the great number of female migrants and their importance for the development agenda in countries of origin, there has until recently been a striking lack of gender analysis in the economic literature on international migration and development. This volume makes a valuable contribution in this context by providing eight new studies focusing on the nexus between gender, international migration, and economic development.
 The Moving Out of Poverty series launched in 2007 is under the editorial direction of Deepa Narayan, Senior Advisor of the World Bank and former director of the pathbreaking Voices of the Poor series. It features the results of new comparative research across more than 500 communities in 15 countries to understand how and why people move out of poverty, and presents other work which builds on interdisciplinary and contextually grounded understandings of growth and poverty reduction.
 Climate change remains a global challenge requiring international collaborative action. Another area where countries have successfully committed to a long-term multilateral resolution is the liberalization of international trade. Integration into the world economy has proven a powerful means for countries to promote economic growth, development, and poverty reduction. The broad objectives of the betterment of current and future human welfare are shared by both global trade and climate regimes. Yet both climate and trade agendas have evolved largely independently through the years, despite their mutually supporting objectives. Since global emission goals and global trade objectives are shared policy objectives of most countries, and nearly all of the World Bank's clients, it makes sense to consider the two sets of objectives together.
 This publication presents tools and techniques for measuring service delivery in health and education and people's experiences from the field in deploying these methods. It begins by providing an introduction to the different methodological tools available for evaluating the performance of the health and education sectors. Country specific experiences are then explored to highlight lessons on the challenges, advantages and disadvantages of using different techniques to measure quality in a variety of different contexts and of using the resulting data to affect change. This book is a valuable resource for those who seek to enhance capacity for the effective measurement of service delivery in order to improve accountability and governance and enhance the quality of service delivery in developing countries.
 The Road Not Traveled: Education Reform in the Middle East and North Africa Region evaluates the impact of past investment in education in the region and proposes a new approach to future education reforms. The book shows that the region has invested heavily in education, and was able to make remarkable progress. Most eligible children, boys and girls, are now enrolled at different levels of instruction. Fertility and infant mortality rates as well as life expectancy have all improved. However, the contribution of past investments in education to economic growth, poverty reduction and income distribution were modest. Moreover, the education systems are not fully prepared to deal with the increasing role of knowledge in economic development, an emerging youth bulge and the growing financial constraints on expending education. Nor are most economies of the region prepared to absorb an increasingly educated labor force in dynamic and productive sectors. Thus, the region must travel a new road.
========================================================= Pakistan Country Assistance Strategy Pakistan's Country Water Assistance Strategy Doing Business Pakistan Strategic Country Environmental Assessment Pakistan Promoting Rural Growth and Poverty Reduction Pakistan Higher Education Policy Note Pakistan Growth and Export Competitiveness Transport Competitiveness in Pakistan Pakistan Country Gender Assessment NWFP Economic Report Punjab Economic Report World Bank Documents & Reports website |
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