2. Global Megatrends and Challenges
Demographic
transitions
Urbanization
Fragility and
violence
Climate change
Market volatility
and commodity
cycles
Technological
changes
Shifts in the
global economy
Renewed debate
about
globalization
3. Demographic
Transitions &
Urbanization
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
Middle East & North Africa Life
expectancy at birth, total (years)
50
52
54
56
58
60
62
64
66
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
Middle East & North Africa
Urban population (% of total)
Source: World Development Indicators, World Bank
Median Age
4. Well-managed urbanization can result in
better development outcomes
Proportion of urban population living in slums, 1990-2010Proportion of population living in urban areas, 1960-2011
5. Climate change risks undoing
development progress
Index of risk preparation across countriesGlobal disaster losses, 1980–2012
The number of disasters and losses has been rising. Cities are very vulnerable to
climate change but also have a critical role to play in the fight against climate change.
Development progress needs to integrate resilience to avoid undoing hard fought
development gains
6. The rate of technological advancement is
unprecedented
7. Plus 3 major society-wide divides
Source: The Future of Capitalism, Paul Collier
Geographic divide
between declining
provincial towns and
thriving metropolitan
centres
Value divide between
the educated/skilled
elite and the less
educated
Global divide
between rich
countries and poor
9. Adapted from: WDR 2019 Changing Nature of Work, World Bank
Managing these trends requires
a comprehensive response
Public policy: manage the direction and effects of
change
Invest in human
capital
Invest in
resilience (incl.
social protection)
Invest in
infrastructure
Policy
Enablers
Goal
Data Finance STI
10. The World Bank Group is supporting the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda at local
level
Promoting territorial development
Building resilience
Maximizing finance
11. Territorial and Spatial Development
A territorial lens allows policies & investments to be better tailored
to local endowments and constraints
12. Resilience to natural disasters and climate
change
Preparing cities for disaster and climate risks and strengthening urban
resilience are critical to development and poverty reduction efforts.
13. Maximizing finance
for development
(MFD) at local level
Global investment needed for urban infrastructure: $4.5-5.4
trillion per year, including a 9-27% premium to make this
low emission and climate resilient, most of which lies in
the developing world.
Only a very small fraction of this can be supplied by
official development assistance.
15. Source: Municipal Finances Handbook: Managing Local Expenditures, Morrell and Kopanyi
1. Preschool education
2. Primary and secondary school
3. Health care
4. Social assistance and poverty alleviation
5. Public order and civil protection
6. Infrastructure and public services
7. Environment protection
8. Social, cultural, recreational expenditures
9. Local economic development
10. Social housing
11. Urban development
12. Civil security
13. Transfer to sub-local government entities
14. Support to public utility companies
15. Loan repayment
16. Interest charges
17. Guarantees paid by the municipality
Expenditures
Sample Municipal Budget
16. Source: Municipal Finances Handbook: Managing Local Expenditures, Morrell and Kopanyi
Sample Municipal Budget
1. Property tax (rates) on land and/or buildings
2. Tax on the transfer of immovable property
3. Tax on motor vehicles
4. Local sales tax and/or tax on the sale of local products (or surcharge)
5. Tax on local businesses and services
6. Tax on electricity consumption (surcharge)
7. Tax on nonmotorized vehicles
8. Tax on tourism, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment
9. Tolls on roads, bridges, etc., within the limits of the local government
10. Charges for public works and public utilities such as waste collection, drainage, sewerage, and water supply
11. Charges for markets and rents for market stalls
12. Charges for the use of bus stations and taxi parks
13. Fees for approval of building plans and erection and re-erection of buildings
14. Fees for fairs, agricultural shows, cattle fairs, industrial exhibitions, tournaments, and other public events
15. Fees for licensing of businesses, professions, and vocations
16. Fees for other licenses or permits and penalties or fines for violations
17. Fees for advertisement
18. Fees on sales of animals in cattle markets
19. Fees for registration and certification of births, marriages, and deaths
20. Fees for education and health facilities established or maintained by the local government
21. Fees for other specific services rendered by the local government
22. Rent from land, buildings, equipment, machinery, and vehicles
23. Surpluses from local commercial enterprises
24. Interest on bank deposits or other funds
Revenues
17. Generate more
own source of
revenues
Increase fiscal
transfers based on
a formula (not ad
hoc)
Improve the
accounting and
financial
management
performance of
city governments
and service
delivery agencies
Establish
regulatory
frameworks for
facilitating private
investment in
urban entities and
projects
Strengthen building blocks of
sound city financing systems
Assist cities expand access to finance
18. The World Bank Group is supporting cities and national governments
put in place the financial framework to attract investment and grow in
a sustainable manner.
In East Africa, the World
Bank has an operational
portfolio of almost $1 billion
in urban projects focusing on
improving financial and
institutional performance in
Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania,
and Uganda.
In Morocco, a EUR 172 million
World Bank loan aims to improve
the city of Casablanca’s
investment capacity by
improving its revenue
management and attracting
private investment to municipal
infrastructure and services
through public-private
partnerships.
Assist cities expand access to finance
19. Assist cities expand access to finance
Provide capital directly to cities for investment in
infrastructure
The World Bank current urban portfolio encompasses 180
projects with a commitment value of around $24bn globally.
20. Assist cities expand access to finance
Innovative ways of leveraging investment from private
and non-traditional sources need to be explored
Through the capital raising
strategy of the World Bank
Cities Resilience
Programme, we are helping
cities around the world
raise the finance they need
to build resilience to
climate change and disaster
risks.
City Creditworthiness
Initiative strengthens the
financial performance of local
governments, and prepare
them to tap domestic and
regional capital markets
without a sovereign
guarantee. The initiative has
trained over 600 municipal
officials from 240 cities in 25
countries.
21. Assist cities expand access to finance
Unlock social, human, and economic wealth that cities
already own but is out of sight – or “hidden”
Understanding the city’s
balance sheet to better
recognize the long-term
consequences of political
decisions and make choices
that mobilize real returns
rather than rely on more
taxes, debt, or austerity.
Public assets: even poor
cities own large swathes of
poorly utilized land, or they
control underperforming
utilities and other
commercial assets. Most
cities could more than
double their investments
with smarter use of these
commercial assets.Source: The Public Wealth of Cities: How to Unlock Hidden Assets to Boost Growth
and Prosperity, Detter, Fölster, 2017
22. worldbankgroup.org/sdgs
Follow us on twitter @WBG2030
Mahmoud-Mohieldin on
@wbg2030
worldbank.org/sdgs
Mahmoud Mohieldin
Senior Vice President
World Bank Group
Editor's Notes
State of tech:
Although there are many individual success stories, the effect of technology on global productivity, expansion of opportunity for the poor and the middle class, and the spread of accountable governance has so far been less than expected. Firms are more connected than ever before, but global productivity growth has slowed. Digital technologies are changing the world of work, but labor markets have become more polarized and inequality is rising—particularly in wealthier countries, but increasingly in developing countries. These trends persist, not because of digital technologies, but in spite of them. So, while digital technologies have been spreading, digital dividends have not.
Why? For two reasons. 1. nearly 60 percent of the world’s people are still offline and can’t participate in the digital economy in any meaningful way. 2. some of the perceived benefits of digital technologies are offset by emerging risks. Many advanced economies have increasingly polarized labor markets and rising inequality—partly because technology augments higher skills while replacing routine jobs, forcing many workers to compete for low-paying jobs. Public sector investments in digital technologies, in the absence of accountable institutions, amplify the voice of elites, which can result in policy capture and greater state control.
To maximize the digital dividends requires better understanding of how technology interacts with other factors that are important for development—“analog complements.” Digital technologies can make routine, transaction-intensive tasks much cheaper, faster, and more convenient. But most tasks also have an aspect that cannot be automated and that requires human judgment, intuition, and discretion. When technology is applied to automate tasks without matching improvements in the complements, it can fail to bring broad-based gains. Technology can make workers more productive, but not when they lack the know-how to use it. Digital technologies can help monitor teacher attendance and improve learning outcomes, but not when the education system lacks accountability.
What should countries do? Making the internet universally accessible and affordable should be a global priority. The internet, in a broad sense, has grown quickly, but it is by no means universal. For every person connected to high-speed broadband, five are not. Worldwide, some 4 billion people do not have any internet access, nearly 2 billion do not use a mobile phone, and almost half a billion live outside areas with a mobile signal. The unfinished task of connecting everyone to the internet—one of the targets in the recently approved Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—can be achieved through a judicious mix of market competition, public-private partnerships, and effective regulation of the internet and telecom sector.
Access to the internet is critical, but not sufficient. The digital economy also requires a strong analog foundation, consisting of regulations that create a vibrant business climate and let firms leverage digital technologies to compete and innovate; skills that allow workers, entrepreneurs, and public servants to seize opportunities in the digital world; and accountable institutions that use the internet to empower citizens. The long-term development impact is by no means definitive, being continuously shaped by the evolution of technology (connectivity) and the country’s choice of economic, social, and governance arrangements (complements). Countries that are able to swiftly adjust to this evolving digital economy will reap the greatest digital dividends, while the rest are likely to fall behind.
The triple complements—a favorable business climate, strong human capital, and good governance— will sound familiar—and they should because they are the foundation of economic development. But digital technologies add two important dimensions. First, they raise the opportunity cost of not undertaking the necessary reforms. They amplify the impact of good (and bad) policies, so any failure to reform means falling farther behind those who do reform. With digital technologies, the stakes have risen for developing countries, which have more to gain than high-income countries, but also more to lose. Second, while digital technologies are no shortcut to development, they can be an enabler and perhaps an accelerator by raising the quality of the complements.
How disruptive is disruptive tech:
Technology is disrupting traditional economic, social, and political models. Disruption has a negative connotation, but if we invest in our ability to adjust to change and maximize its positive utility, these disruptions are quite an opportunity to meet our development goals and improve the quality of life for people everywhere. For example, technology can allow people living in rural communities without access to the grid, and thus no access to electricity, to still get power by installing solar panels or farms. In post-disaster areas or areas affected by conflict, satellite imaging technology can provide accurate pictures of the situation on the ground, and thus allow for better delivery of services and more effective and efficient reconstruction efforts.
On the other hand, technology is disrupting traditional labor markets. Developing countries’ traditional path to development is often driven by manufacturing. New technology, including advanced robotics, industrial automation, and 3-D printing, are changing the landscape of global manufacturing, and the criteria for becoming an attractive production location are changing.
Although there are challenges, opportunities remain for developing countries to adapt and benefit from the rapidly changing global landscape. However, what we’ve learned is that developing countries do surprisingly little when it comes to adopting advanced-country techniques to upgrade their products, technologies, and business processes. “The ability of … countries to tap into a now-massive stock of global know-how and technical knowledge — to be able to adopt what has already been invented — is a potential transfer of wealth … of historic proportions, … yet relatively few developing countries have proven able to leverage this stock of knowledge. They invest relatively little to realize this potential.” That’s the origin of what the World Bank has termed ‘The Innovation Paradox’. -Maloney, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group’s Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions practice group.
The problem is most readily visible at the firm level. “Many companies in developing countries have proven to be unable to recognize and adopt higher-level technologies. Yet the problem is aggravated by weaknesses in the public sector, which shape enabling environments that offer little support for innovative thinking and that have little capacity to design and implement policies that promote innovation through the upgrading of management techniques and firm-level processes.”
“Firms in developing countries should focus on building the foundations for successful innovation,” said Cirera, Senior Economist in the WBG. “Innovation policies in developing countries cannot focus primarily on research and development. Instead, they must begin with strengthening managerial and organizational practices.”
Stronger management and a more nimble application of organizational science can help unlock economies’ growth potential – which hinges on moving countries closer to the “technological frontier.”
For the private sector in developing countries, the adoption of better firm-level managerial and organizational practices is an overlooked ingredient of success – a critical factor in innovating in products, processes, and upgrading the quality of their goods. These practices are also the building blocks to developing more sophisticated innovation projects that include the invention of new products and technologies.
Developing-country ministries and agencies often lack human capital and effective organizational structures at a time when designing and implementing innovation policy is becoming even more complex. Effective innovation policy requires choosing the appropriate combination of policy instruments in the context of scarce government capabilities.