The economy of Costa Rica has been very stable for some years now, with continuing growth in the GDP and moderate inflation, though with a high unemployment rate: 11.49% in 2019. Costa Rica's economy emerged from recession in 1997 and has shown strong aggregate growth since then. The estimated GDP for 2023 is US$78 billion, up significantly from the US$52.6 billion in 2015 while the estimated 2023 per capita is US$26,422.
Eduardo Augusto Doryan Garrón was Executive President of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) for the period 2010–2011. Until April 2010 he was the Executive Presidente of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. He assumed the role in May 2006, following the second election of president Oscar Arias. He has also previously served as Minister of Education (1994-1998) and Vice-Minister of Science and Technology (1986-1990), all under National Liberation Party governments. Doryan has also had a long and diverse career in academic, public service, consulting and with international organizations.
Social protection, as defined by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, is concerned with preventing, managing, and overcoming situations that adversely affect people's well-being. Social protection consists of policies and programs designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour markets, diminishing people's exposure to risks, and enhancing their capacity to manage economic and social risks, such as unemployment, exclusion, sickness, disability, and old age. It is one of the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10 aimed at promoting greater equality.
Costa Rica provides universal health care to its citizens and permanent residents. Both the private and public health care systems in Costa Rica are continually being upgraded. Statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) frequently place Costa Rica in the top country rankings in the world for long life expectancy. WHO's 2000 survey ranked Costa Rica as having the 36th best health care system, placing it one spot above the United States at the time. In addition, the UN has ranked Costa Rica's public health system within the top 20 worldwide and the number 1 in Latin America.
Román Macaya Hayes is a Costa Rican scientist, entrepreneur, diplomat, and public servant. From 2018-2022 he served as the Executive President and Chairman of the Board of the Costa Rican Social Security [Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS)], the institution that finances and provides universal coverage of public health care services in Costa Rica and manages the largest pension fund of the country. In this role he led the health care delivery response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Macaya spearheaded key priority programs, such as deploying the largest investment in physical and technological infrastructure in the history of the CCSS, promoting innovation throughout the institution, implementing the most ambitious digital transformation agenda, and revamping both the health care delivery and pension system to respond to a rapidly aging population.
Guido Miranda Gutiérrez was a Costa Rican civil servant and medical doctor. Miranda is credited with spearheading the effort to push the Costa Rican Department of Social Insurance from the capital of San José into smaller municipalities and rural regions.
China originally joined the World Bank Group (WBG) on December 27, 1945. However, after the Chinese Civil War, the World Bank recognized the Republic of China as its member, until the relationship ended in 1980, when the membership was replaced by the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China (PRC) did not become involved with the World Bank group until 1980, when it first joined the World Bank in April due to the market reforms known as reform and opening-up. Prior to the economic reform and its relation with the World Bank, according to CRS, "China maintained policies that kept the economy very poor, stagnant, centrally controlled, vastly inefficient, and relatively isolated from the global economy". Since its entry into the World Bank, China has transformed into a market-based economy and has experienced rapid economic and social development. Currently, although China has become the world's second largest economy with 1.4 billion population, it still has a close relationship with the World Bank in areas such as poverty, environmental protection and new challenges from the reform.
The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that has provided leveraged loans and monetary assistance to the Central American country of Honduras in order to assist with the funding of critical tasks needed to ensure security of Honduran access to financing, expansion of social program coverage, and rural development. The country is the second poorest in Central America and its high poverty rate of 66% in 2016 has prompted an increased focus on the importance of diversification of rural income sources, quality education, and targeted social programs as a way of spurring economic growth.
Sri Lanka has been involved with the World Bank since its initial entrance into the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) on August 29, 1950. Currently, Sri Lanka's quota in the IBERT is approximately 515.4 million dollars, thus allotting 5,846 votes or 0.25% of the total votes in the institution. Sri Lanka later became a member of the other institutions in the world bank such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on July 20, 1956, with a current quota of 7.491 million dollars, allotting 8,311 votes or 0.32% of the total votes; the International Development Association (IDA) on June 27, 1961, with a current share of 98,100 votes or 0.36% within the institution; the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on November 11, 1967; and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) on May 27, 1988, with a current quota of 4.78 million SDR. Sri Lanka is currently in the India-led constituency for these organizations, representing the country as part of the South Asian block.
The Russian Federation joined the World Bank after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which led to the formation of a new state and economy as a constitutional republic. The federation joined the World Bank on June 16, 1992. Since then, Russian projects funded by the World Bank have ranged from public administration and law to energy development and fishing. On March 2, 2022, the World Bank halted all programs in Russia as well as Belarus due to the war in Ukraine.
The World Bank Group country partnership framework aims to support Haiti's efforts to reduce poverty and provide economic opportunities for all Haitians. The framework aims to strengthen institutions, government capacity, and public financial management as aid and concessional financing rapidly decline.
Morocco's involvement with the World Bank primarily focuses on infrastructure, such as road, transport and water sanitation. In addition the bank supports projects across the health sector, youth development, renewable energy, governance and the support of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 27 projects are ongoing, including three projects initiated in 2017. The World Bank invested over US$1 billion every year from 2014 to 2016.
Mexico has a thriving, diverse economy with strong macroeconomic institutions and is open to trade and private investment. With a population of over 130 million, Mexico is filled with citizens in the upper middle income bracket. Its economy is the 11th fastest growing in the world. Low growth rates and significant inequalities continue to hamper the growth of the Mexican economy. This is a central issue and is addressed in the systematic country diagnostic. The World Bank Group (WBG) discussed its support for the new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Mexico on February 27, 2020. The CPF covers a six-year period (2020-2025) and aligns the WBG’s engagement with the government’s National Development Plan. The CPF builds on the analysis of the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) and reflects the views and strategy of the authorities on the way to foster growth and poverty reduction.
Vietnam joined the World Bank Group (WBG) on 21 September 1956. Before the mid-1980s, Vietnam was one of the world's least developed countries. A series of economic and political reforms launched in 1986, known as Đổi Mới, caused Vietnam to experience rapid economic growth and development, becoming a lower middle-income country. The World Bank (WB) has maintained a development partnership with Vietnam since 1993. As of 25 March 2019, it has committed a total of US$24 billion in loans, credits, and grants to Vietnam through 165 operations and projects, 44 of which are active as of 2019 and comprise US$9 billion. With an estimated extreme poverty rate below 3% and a GDP growth rate of 7.1% in 2018, Vietnam's economy continues to show fundamental strength and is supported by robust domestic demand and export-oriented manufacturing.
In 1980, Djibouti became a member of the World Bank Group (WBG). The WBG includes five different organizations: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Accounting for more than thirteen thousand projects across 173 countries, the WBG is one of the main lending facilities of the world. The WBG works together with governments and private sectors in order to enhance countries efforts towards development and poverty reduction.
Croatia joined the World Bank in 1993, two years after declaring independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991. The World Bank's projects from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s primarily focused on infrastructural and environmental projects.
Myanmar is considered a lower-middle income state, and although there are areas in the country that are lagging there have been measurable improvements in terms of development since 2005. The World Bank's current strategy in Myanmar is to focus on rural development. Due to the conflict in the Rakhine area the World Bank Group (WBG) has increased its focus on social inclusion. Implementation of projects within Myanmar have increased access to electricity, schools, and healthcare. The current framework is laid out in the Myanmar Country Partnership Framework 2015-2019.
The World Bank Group, composed of five institutions, works together with the Panamanian government to reduce poverty and increase prosperity. Panama first became a member of the World Bank Group on March 14, 1946. In the past decade, Panama's annual growth has increased by 7.2% in the span of 12 years, making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. In 2019, Panama was ranked the second fastest growing economy in Latin America by the World Bank. As of 2019, Panama has $435.59 million US dollars being distributed amongst seven projects, all geared toward their overall goal of poverty reduction and indigenous inclusion. Continuing with their efforts to reduce extreme poverty, the World Bank along with efforts of the Panamanian government has reduced poverty from 39.9% to 26.2% while extreme poverty has been reduced by an estimated 15.6% to 11.3% from 2014 to 2019. As of late 2019, there is an estimated $213.26 million US dollars of undisbursed loans.
The World Bank Group is a large international financial institution that continuously provides loans and grants in order to fund capital projects in poor and developing nations across the globe. Its main goal is to reduce poverty worldwide. It consists of five other large international financial banks within in, each providing funding for different types of projects. Belarus joined the World Bank back in 1992 and has since then received over $2.5 billion in lending commitments since then and in the form of grant financing, it has received $31 million, with much of this funding going towards programs that include civil society partners. Currently, Belarus's active portfolio within the World Bank has a total of $933 million, with it containing a total of nine different projects, as well as two more projects that are currently still in preparation in the areas of energy efficiency and higher education. The majority of this funding has been directed towards the themes of pollution management and environmental health, climate change, and rural services and infrastructures, with the majority of the funding going directly into the central government, other agencies and extractives, and forestry sectors of the country, as well as sustainable energy. In looking to have more economic growth, improving the private sector environment within Belarus could help.
