The World Bank publishes a report on the use of natural resources in Eurasia prepared in cooperation with EDB
Almaty, 11 February 2014. The World Bank (WB), in cooperation with Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), published the report titled Diversified Development: Making the Most of Natural Resources in Eurasia.
“Natural resources have played a key role in Eurasia during the last two decades. The countries with abundant resources improved their wealth and — through trade, migration, investment, or aid — they have shared their prosperity with their poorer neighbors,” says the report which analyses the economic situation in twelve countries of the former Soviet Union (except the Baltic States).
Natural resources have helped the countries of the region to improve the living standards of a significant portion of their population: poverty has been cut significantly, incomes have increased fivefold, and education and health have improved noticeably.
Natural resources have definitely served Eurasia well. However, the region needs to take measures so that this “blessing” do not become a “curse” as it happened in some African and Latin American countries, the authors note.
The correct distribution of income derived from natural resources will help Eurasian countries to significantly advance their economies. In particular, the report emphasises the importance of investing income derived from natural resources in tangibles and human resources.
The experts emphasise that the countries with abundant resources need to ensure the proper management of income from their use and invest them in physical and human capital, economic institutions, infrastructure and the educational system.
The report states three priorities for the Eurasian countries for the nearest decade: economic stabilisation, better education and improved competition. Integration into world markets is deemed one of the key success factors.
“Eurasian countries can be proud of what they have achieved during the past two decades. By recognising the special imperatives of resource-based development, Eurasia’s policy makers can make the coming decades even better. Diversifying national asset portfolios is not easy, but it will be necessary if countries in Eurasia are to become advanced, high-income economies. We hope this report will help to make this task a little easier,” write Laura Tuck, Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Region, the World Bank, and Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the Management Board, Eurasian Development Bank, in the foreword to the report.
The full version of the report is available at https://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Feature%20Story/ECA/diversified-development-eurasia-full-report.pdf
Additional Information
The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of knowledge and funding for its 188 member-countries. The organizations that make up the World Bank Group are owned by the governments of member nations, which have the ultimate decision-making power within the organizations on all matters, including policy, financial or membership issues. The World Bank Group comprises five closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each institution plays a distinct role in the World Bank Group’s mission to end extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day to no more than 3 percent, and promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40 percent for every country. For additional information please visit: https://www.worldbank.org, https://www.ifc.org, https://www.miga.org
Eurasian Development Bank is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. EDB’s charter capital exceeds US $1.5 billion. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.