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The World Bank Group's Response
 to the Global Economic Crisis : Phase 1The global economic crisis that began in
 2008 threatened to erase years of progress in developing
 countries. In response, the World Bank Group increased
 lending to unprecedented levels. The World Bank posted a
 large increase in middle income countries (MICs), and a much
 smaller one in low income countries (LICs). The
 International Finance Corporation (IFC) focused on trade
 finance, mainly in LICs. Its new business initially fell in
 MICs, rebounding only in late fiscal 2010. The Multilateral
 Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) concentrated on
 guarantees in Eastern Europe. Analytic and advisory work
 helped inform government and private sector responses to the
 crisis. This report presents an initial real-time evaluation
 of the readiness, relevance, quality-at-entry, short-term
 results, and likely sustainability of the Bank Group
 response from the start of the crisis through fiscal 2010.
 This evaluation builds on a 2008 Independent Evaluation
 Group (IEG) assessment of Bank Group interventions during
 past crises and draws extensively on 11 country case studies
 and field visits. Given the short time since the crisis
 response started, the evaluation is geared more to raising
 flags than to presenting definitive conclusions.
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Sovereign Wealth Funds and Long-Term Development Finance : Risks and OpportunitiesSovereign wealth funds represent a large
 and growing pool of savings. An increasing number of these
 funds are owned by natural resource exporting countries and
 have a variety of objectives, including intergenerational
 equity and macroeconomic stabilization. Traditionally, these
 funds have invested in external assets, especially
 securities traded in major markets. But the persistent
 infrastructure financing gap in developing countries has
 motivated some governments to encourage their sovereign
 wealth funds to invest domestically. This paper proposes
 some basic elements of a conceptual framework to create a
 system of checks and balances to help ensure that the
 sovereign wealth funds do not undermine macroeconomic
 management or become a vehicle for politically driven
 "investments." First, the risks and opportunities
 of domestic investment by sovereign wealth funds are
 analyzed. Central issues are the relationship of sovereign
 wealth fund financing to the budget process and to the
 procurement systems of sector ministries, as well as the
 establishment of appropriate benchmarks and safeguards to
 ensure the integrity of investment decisions. The paper
 argues that a well-governed sovereign wealth fund, with a
 sound mandate and professional management and staffing, can
 possibly improve the quality of the public investment
 program. But its mandate should not duplicate that of other
 government institutions with investment mandates, such as
 the budget, the national development bank, the investment
 authority, and state-owned enterprises. Establishing rules
 on the type of investment (for example, commercial and/or
 quasi-commercial) and its modalities (for example, no
 controlling stakes, leveraging private investment) is one
 way to ensure separation between the activities of the
 sovereign wealth fund and those of other institutions. The
 critical issue remains that of limiting the sovereign wealth
 fund's investment scope to that appropriate for a
 wealth fund. If investments that generate quasi-market
 returns are permitted, the size of the home bias should be
 clearly stipulated and these investments should be reported separately.
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Financing for Development Post-2015This paper is a contribution to United Nation (UN)-led efforts to articulate a post-2015 development framework, building on the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It focuses on the challenge of financing development goals and complements the extensive work conducted by the United Nations1 and other institutions, including the World Bank Group. The paper is structured as follows. Section one outlines elements of what it will take to achieve development outcomes, the importance of a global development cooperation framework, the role of targeted, evidence-based policies and sound institutions; and the mobilization of resources for global public goods. Section two focuses on how best to support developing countries in mobilizing domestic resources for development, by boosting taxation capacity, harnessing natural resource revenue, improving expenditure efficiency, and curbing illicit financial flows. Section three examines issues of aid effectiveness and considers ways for development actors to provide better and smarter aid. Section four discusses trends in private financial flows to developing countries and the growing mismatch between available financing and investment needs. It then turns to strategies for mobilizing financing for long-term infrastructure. Finally, section five explores a range of emerging and innovative sources of finance, and the role an inclusive financial system can play to promote development.