This annual publication analyses the global and national dimensions of the investment climate for developing countries, in terms of the policy and institutional environment. This edition examines the growth of regional trade agreements, which have risen eight-fold in two decades with currently, as much as 40 percent of global trade taking place among countries that have some form of reciprocal regional trade agreement. Issues discussed include: regional trading trends; effects of regional agreements on trade creation, trade facilitation and services, investment, intellectual property rights, and labour mobility; whether the proliferation of agreements poses risks for multilateral trading system, and if so, options for managing them. The report finds that agreements leading to open regionalism (that is, deeper integration of trade as a result of low external tariffs, increased services competition, and efforts to reduce cross-border and customs delays costs) are effective as part of a larger trade strategy to promote growth. Although regional agreements can prove beneficial to member countries, they can have adverse effects on excluded countries, and the lowering of border barriers around the world is crucial to minimising these effects. The completion of the Doha Development Agenda by all WTO countries will reduce the risk of trade diversion associated with regional agreements and will decrease trade losses of countries excluded from agreements.

Over the next 25 years developing countries will move to center stage in the global economy. Global Economic Prospects 2007 analyzes the opportunities - and stresses - this will create. While rich and poor countries alike stand to benefit, the integration process will make more acute stresses already apparent today - in income inequality, in labor markets, and in the environment. Over the next 25 years, rapid technological progress, burgeoning trade in goods and services, and integration of financial markets create the opportunity for faster long-term growth. However, some regions, notably Africa, are at risk of being left behind. The coming globalization will also see intensified stresses on the "global commons." Addressing global warming, preserving marine fisheries, and containing infectious diseases will require effective multilateral collaboration to ensure that economic growth and poverty reduction proceed without causing irreparable harm to future generations."

International migration, the movement of people across international boundaries to improve economic opportunity, has enormous implications for growth and welfare in both origin and destination countries. An important benefit to developing countries is the receipt of remittances or transfers from income earned by overseas emigrants. Official data show that development countries' remittance receipts totaled 160 billion in 2004, more than twice the size of official aid. This year's edition of Global Economic Prospects focuses on remittances and migration. The bulk of the book covers remittances.

“The crisis has deeply impacted virtually every economy in the world, and although growth has returned, much progress in the fight against poverty has been lost. More difficult international conditions in the years to come will mean that developing countries will have to place even more emphasis on improving domestic economic conditions to achieve the kind of growth that can durably eradicate poverty.� —Justin Yifu Lin, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President The World Bank 'Global Economic Prospects 2010: Crisis, Finance, and Growth' explores both the short- and medium-term impacts of the financial crisis on developing countries. Although global growth has resumed, the recovery is fragile, and unless business and consumer demand strengthen, the world economy could slow down again. Even if, as appears likely, a double-dip recession is avoided, the recovery is expected to be slow. High unemployment and widespread restructuring will continue to characterize the global economy for the next several years. Already, the crisis has provoked large-scale human suffering. Some 64 million more people around the world are expected to be living on less than a $1.25 per day by the end of 2010, and between 30,000 and 50,000 more infants may have died of malnutrition in 2009 in Sub-Saharan Africa, than would have been the case if the crisis had not occurred. Over the medium term, economic growth is expected to recover. But increased risk aversion, a necessary and desirable tightening of financial regulations in high-income countries, and measures to reduce the exposure of developing economies to external shocks are likely to make finance scarcer and more costly than it was during the boom period. As a result, just as the ample liquidity of the early 2000s prompted an investment boom and an acceleration in developing-country potential output, higher costs will likely yield a slowing in developing-country potential growth rates of between 0.2 and 0.7 percentage points, and as much as an 8 percent decline in potential output over the medium term. In the longer term, however, developing countries can more than offset the implications of more expensive international finance by reducing the cost of capital channeled through their domestic financial markets. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org/gep2010. To access Prospects for the Global Economy, an online companion publication, please visit www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook.

This is the 14th edition of this annual publication which analyses the global and national dimensions of the investment climate for developing countries, in terms of the policy and institutional environment. It considers the key multilateral trade issues and suggests policy options to help raise living standards in developing countries and reduce global poverty. Topics discussed include: the short, medium and long term global economic outlook, including driving forces, commodity prices and capital flows; exports from developing countries, trade barriers and policies to reduce inequities in the world trading system; trade in agriculture including possible changes in subsidies and the potential for liberalisation measures; the temporary movement of labour (within the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)); trade facilitation in the light of post-September 11 security concerns; the role of trade preferences, exemptions from WTO rules and technical assistance to implement WTO trade regulations.

International migration, the movement of people across international boundaries to improve economic opportunity, has enormous implications for growth and welfare in both origin and destination countries. An important benefit to developing countries is the receipt of remittances or transfers from income earned by overseas emigrants. Official data show that development countries' remittance receipts totaled $160 billion in 2004, more than twice the size of official aid. This year's edition of 'Global Economic Prospects' focuses on remittances and migration. The bulk of the book covers remittances, including their size, determinants, development impact, and steps to strengthen financial infrastructure and reduce transaction costs. It also presents available data on migration flows and examines current thinking on issues pertaining to migration and its development impact.

'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. This year's 'Global Economic Prospects' comes on the heels of an extended period of strong growth and a 15 year period of strong performance in much of the developing world, which has contributed to substantial declines in global poverty. While high oil prices and heightened market volatility may signal a coming pause in this process, over the longer term continued technological progress should continue to push back poverty. 'Rapid technological progress in developing countries has been central to the reduction of poverty in recent decades. While the integration of global markets has played and will continue to play a key role in this, future success will increasingly depend on strengthening technical competencies and the business environment for innovative firms in developing countries.' - Graeme Wheeler, Managing Director, The World Bank

The eruption of the worldwide financial crisis has radically recast prospects for the world economy. 'Global Economic Prospects 2009: Commodity Markets at the Crossroads' analyzes the implications of the crisis for low- and middle-income countries, including an in-depth look at long-term prospects for global commodity markets and the policies of both commodity producing and consuming nations. Developing countries face sharply higher borrowing costs and reduced access to capital. This will cut into their capacity to finance investment spending ending a five-year stretch of developing-country growth in excess of 6 percent annually. The looming recession presents new risks, coming as it does on the heels of the recent food and fuel crisis. Commodity markets, meantime, are at a crossroads. Years of fast GDP growth contributed to the rise in commodity prices, while the slowdown provoked by the financial crisis has seen those same prices plummet. However, other factors were also at play, notably a period of low investment in commodity supply capacity during the 1990s due to low prices and reduced demand from the countries of the former Soviet Bloc. In the longer run, slower population growth is expected to ease the pace at which commodity demand grows, while commodity producers are expected to discover sufficient new supplies and improved production techniques to prevent any acute shortages from developing. In part, this is because prices are projected to be higher than they were in the 1990s, which will induce necessary investment in exploration and production by firms. Higher prices will also promote greater conservation and substitution with more abundant alternatives, while policies to limit carbon emissions and boost agricultural investment and the dissemination of efficient techniques will also contribute. This year s 'Global Economic Prospects' also looks at government responses to the recent price boom. Producing-country governments have been more prudent than during earlier booms, and because they have saved more of their windfall revenues, they are less likely to be forced to cut into spending now that prices have declined. The spike in food prices tipped more people into poverty, which led governments to expand social assistance programs. Ensuring such programs are better targeted toward the needs of the very poor in the future will help improve the capacity of governments to respond effectively the next time there is a crisis.

As in previous years, global growth disappointed in 2014, but a lackluster recovery is underway, with increasingly divergent prospects in major economies and developing countries. Looking ahead, growth is expected to rise slowly, supported by continued recovery in highincome countries, low oil prices, and receding domestic headwinds in developing economies. However, continued weak global trade growth and gradually tightening financial conditions will constrain the recovery. Risks to the outlook remain tilted to the downside. In addition to discussing global and regional economic developments and prospects, this edition of Global Economic Prospects includes four essays that analyze key challenges and opportunities currently confronting developing countries: fiscal policy as a countercyclical policy tool; causes and implications of cheap oil; weak trade that fails to act as an engine of growth; and remittances as a means of steadying consumption during sudden stops. Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report. On a semiannual basis (January and June), it examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on developing countries. The report includes analysis of topical policy challenges faced by developing countries through in-depth research in the January edition and shorter analytical pieces in the June edition.