Download or read book Connecting the Disconnected written by Cecile T. Niang and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Connecting the Disconnected presents the findings of the field research designed to evaluate financial practices and strategies among urban and rural Bhutanese households. The study was commissioned in 2012 by the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan and the World Bank to provide qualitative evidence to the country's Financial Inclusion Policy. The book explores where, how, and why diff erent demographic groups save, borrow, send remittances, and insure themselves; it also evaluates the potential for innovations to extend fi nancial inclusion. Analysis of results from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews reveals three key patterns: Bhutan is a cash-based economy where households have a vibrant, if informal, savings and lending culture; rural areas are particularly underserved by formal fi nancial services; and women and youth represent an untapped market segment. The book reveals a demand for financial services with less complex and time-consuming banking procedures than are currently off ered-in particular, small, periodic savings and loan services; more accessible deposit and withdrawal services; and flexible loan requirements. In response to the demand for saving locally and in small amounts, group savings schemes and cooperatives are slowly emerging in Bhutan. These could serve rural communities until households become integrated into the formal financial system, though support and capacity building will be critical to ensure that savings are protected. Households struggle with banks' requirements and procedures and turn instead to informal lenders. Even households with some access to the formal fi nancial sector continue to use informal financing. The findings highlight a need for formal microfinance services providing small group and individual loans with flexible repayments. Savings strategies and attitudes suggest that Bhutanese households could benefit from fi nancial literacy education. More eff ective consumer protection is also needed. For instance, dispute resolution that is easily accessed would increase trust in the fi nancial sector. Also, the spread of mobile phone banking has been constrained by the limited mobile banking technology in use and low English-language literacy. However, the widespread use of mobile phones suggests that innovative technology could create new opportunities. Other innovative strategies worth considering include branchless banking to improve fi nancial access in remote areas. Finally, use of insurance services appears to be limited by a lack of knowledge. Remittances are used to send money both within Bhutan and abroad, but many rural communities lack access to formal remittance services and must rely instead on informal-and often expensive-options.
Download or read book Technical Assistance financed by the Japan Special Fund to the Kingdom of Bhutan for Strengthening the Capacity of the Royal Monetary Authority and Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan written by Asian Development Bank and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Technical Assistance to the Kingdom of Bhutan for Financial Sector Review written by Asian Development Bank and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Technical Assistance financed from the Japan Special Fund to the Kingdom of Bhutan for Strengthening the Banking Supervision Function of the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan written by Asian Development Bank and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Three Decades of Development Partnership written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Technical Assistance financed from the Japan Special Fund to the Kingdom of Bhutan for Project Appraisal and Portfolio Management for Financial Institutions written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Annual Report for written by Asian Development Bank and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Global Trends 2040 written by National Intelligence Council and published by Cosimo Reports. This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.
Download or read book ADB Review written by Asian Development Bank and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Lifelines written by Stephane Hallegatte and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-07-16 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infrastructure—electricity, telecommunications, roads, water, and sanitation—are central to people’s lives. Without it, they cannot make a living, stay healthy, and maintain a good quality of life. Access to basic infrastructure is also a key driver of economic development. This report lays out a framework for understanding infrastructure resilience - the ability of infrastructure systems to function and meet users’ needs during and after a natural hazard. It focuses on four infrastructure systems that are essential to economic activity and people’s well-being: power systems, including the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity; water and sanitation—especially water utilities; transport systems—multiple modes such as road, rail, waterway, and airports, and multiple scales, including urban transit and rural access; and telecommunications, including telephone and Internet connections.
Download or read book Technical Assistance financed from the Japan Special Fund to the Kingdom of Bhutan for Upgrading the Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan Restructuring the Government Employees Provident Fund and Introducing a Pension Scheme written by Asian Development Bank and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book World Development Report 1994 written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1994 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Development Report 1994 examines the link between infrastructure and development and explores ways in which developing countries can improve both the provision and the quality of infrastructure services. In recent decades, developing countries have made substantial investments in infrastructure, achieving dramatic gains for households and producers by expanding their access to services such as safe water, sanitation, electric power, telecommunications, and transport. Even more infrastructure investment and expansion are needed in order to extend the reach of services - especially to people living in rural areas and to the poor. But as this report shows, the quantity of investment cannot be the exclusive focus of policy. Improving the quality of infrastructure service also is vital. Both quantity and quality improvements are essential to modernize and diversify production, help countries compete internationally, and accommodate rapid urbanization. The report identifies the basic cause of poor past performance as inadequate institutional incentives for improving the provision of infrastructure. To promote more efficient and responsive service delivery, incentives need to be changed through commercial management, competition, and user involvement. Several trends are helping to improve the performance of infrastructure. First, innovation in technology and in the regulatory management of markets makes more diversity possible in the supply of services. Second, an evaluation of the role of government is leading to a shift from direct government provision of services to increasing private sector provision and recent experience in many countries with public-private partnerships is highlighting new ways to increase efficiency and expand services. Third, increased concern about social and environmental sustainability has heightened public interest in infrastructure design and performance.
Download or read book Gross National Happiness and Macroeconomic Indicators in the Kingdom of Bhutan written by Sriram Balasubramanian and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-01-17 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines the origins and use of the concept of Gross National Happiness (or subjective well-being) in the Kingdom of Bhutan, and the relationship between measured well-being and macroeconomic indicators. While there are only a few national surveys of Gross National Happiness in Bhutan, the concept has been used to guide public policymaking for the country’s various Five-Year Plans. Consistent with the Easterlin Paradox, available evidence indicates that Bhutan’s rapid increase in national income is only weakly associated with increases in measured levels of well-being. It will be important for Bhutan to undertake more frequent Gross National Happiness surveys and evaluations, to better build evidence for comovement of well-being and macroeconomic concepts such as real national income.
Download or read book World Urbanization Prospects written by United Nations Publications and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-18 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The report presents findings from the 2018 revision of World Urbanization Prospects, which contains the latest estimates of the urban and rural populations or areas from 1950 to 2018 and projections to 2050, as well as estimates of population size from 1950 to 2018 and projections to 2030 for all urban agglomerations with 300,000 inhabitants or more in 2018. The world urban population is at an all-time high, and the share of urban dwellers, is projected to represent two thirds of the global population in 2050. Continued urbanization will bring new opportunities and challenges for sustainable development.
Download or read book The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-09-14 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New evidence this year corroborates the rise in world hunger observed in this report last year, sending a warning that more action is needed if we aspire to end world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. Updated estimates show the number of people who suffer from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to prevailing levels from almost a decade ago. Although progress continues to be made in reducing child stunting, over 22 percent of children under five years of age are still affected. Other forms of malnutrition are also growing: adult obesity continues to increase in countries irrespective of their income levels, and many countries are coping with multiple forms of malnutrition at the same time – overweight and obesity, as well as anaemia in women, and child stunting and wasting.
Download or read book Bhutan written by Asian Development Bank and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2014-03-01 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bhutan has experienced extraordinary change since the 1960s when it opened itself to the world and started the process of planned development. It has transformed itself from a subsistence economy into a middle-income country with rising human development indicators. Yet progress comes with new challenges. These include differences in living conditions and opportunities between rural and urban areas that fuel rural-urban migration, labor shortages in agriculture, and unemployment. There are gender dimensions to each of these challenges, prompting the Government of Bhutan and its development partners to mainstream gender in its policies, programs, and projects. This publication intends to support this process by providing insights into gender issues in agriculture and rural livelihoods, education, energy, environment, private sector development, transport, urban development, and work and unemployment.
Download or read book The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-30 with total page 755 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
