Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Nicaragua

As the smallest economy in Central America, Nicaragua has undergone a structural transformation that has enabled the country to grow at a high pace since the mid-1990s. The objective of this study is to investigate the drivers and constraints of gr...

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Main Authors: Ulku, Hulya, Zaourak, Gabriel
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/995441627622522407/Nicaragua-Unleashing-Central-America-s-Growth-Potential
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36049
id okr-10986-36049
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-360492021-08-30T14:22:20Z Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Nicaragua Ulku, Hulya Zaourak, Gabriel GROWTH DRIVERS ECONOMIC GROWTH TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION LABOR PRODUCTIVITY ACCESS TO FINANCE BANKING SECTOR PROPERTY RIGHTS CORRUPTION GOVERNANCE DIVERSIFICATION EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS As the smallest economy in Central America, Nicaragua has undergone a structural transformation that has enabled the country to grow at a high pace since the mid-1990s. The objective of this study is to investigate the drivers and constraints of growth and productivity in Nicaragua and explore areas with high potential. The value added of this study is to provide an in-depth analysis of the drivers and constraints of Nicaragua’s growth using a wide range of analytical tools. Using these tools, the report finds that boosting growth and reducing poverty requires raising productivity growth and facilitating the entry of women to the labor market. According to the growth diagnostics methodology, this report finds that the areas preventing faster growth are: (i) corruption, (ii) financial development, (iii) governance, (iv) lack of innovation, and (v) property rights. Addressing the identified growth constraints can help the country in the path towards diversification, which will increase the resilience to external shocks, create job opportunities, generate sustainable growth, and reduce dependence on remittances. This report has identified several key areas where policy reforms can help boost productivity and growth over the medium to long term. They include: implementing measures to boost female labor force participation; increasing the access of small firms to finance and addressing collateral laws, credit information coverage, and competition; coordinate with the private sector to identify missing public goods and to design mechanisms to provide them; creation of an enabling environment for innovation; strengthening public institutions through reducing bureaucracy, promoting transparency and rule of law, and strengthening the capacity of the public sector; improving the property titling regime and the land administration system; and strengthening the institutional framework, including tackling corruption. 2021-08-04T16:34:03Z 2021-08-04T16:34:03Z 2021-07-30 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/995441627622522407/Nicaragua-Unleashing-Central-America-s-Growth-Potential http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36049 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: General Economy, Macroeconomics and Growth Study Latin America & Caribbean Nicaragua
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic GROWTH DRIVERS
ECONOMIC GROWTH
TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY
STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION
LABOR PRODUCTIVITY
ACCESS TO FINANCE
BANKING SECTOR
PROPERTY RIGHTS
CORRUPTION
GOVERNANCE
DIVERSIFICATION
EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS
spellingShingle GROWTH DRIVERS
ECONOMIC GROWTH
TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY
STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION
LABOR PRODUCTIVITY
ACCESS TO FINANCE
BANKING SECTOR
PROPERTY RIGHTS
CORRUPTION
GOVERNANCE
DIVERSIFICATION
EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS
Ulku, Hulya
Zaourak, Gabriel
Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Nicaragua
geographic_facet Latin America & Caribbean
Nicaragua
description As the smallest economy in Central America, Nicaragua has undergone a structural transformation that has enabled the country to grow at a high pace since the mid-1990s. The objective of this study is to investigate the drivers and constraints of growth and productivity in Nicaragua and explore areas with high potential. The value added of this study is to provide an in-depth analysis of the drivers and constraints of Nicaragua’s growth using a wide range of analytical tools. Using these tools, the report finds that boosting growth and reducing poverty requires raising productivity growth and facilitating the entry of women to the labor market. According to the growth diagnostics methodology, this report finds that the areas preventing faster growth are: (i) corruption, (ii) financial development, (iii) governance, (iv) lack of innovation, and (v) property rights. Addressing the identified growth constraints can help the country in the path towards diversification, which will increase the resilience to external shocks, create job opportunities, generate sustainable growth, and reduce dependence on remittances. This report has identified several key areas where policy reforms can help boost productivity and growth over the medium to long term. They include: implementing measures to boost female labor force participation; increasing the access of small firms to finance and addressing collateral laws, credit information coverage, and competition; coordinate with the private sector to identify missing public goods and to design mechanisms to provide them; creation of an enabling environment for innovation; strengthening public institutions through reducing bureaucracy, promoting transparency and rule of law, and strengthening the capacity of the public sector; improving the property titling regime and the land administration system; and strengthening the institutional framework, including tackling corruption.
format Report
author Ulku, Hulya
Zaourak, Gabriel
author_facet Ulku, Hulya
Zaourak, Gabriel
author_sort Ulku, Hulya
title Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Nicaragua
title_short Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Nicaragua
title_full Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Nicaragua
title_fullStr Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Nicaragua
title_full_unstemmed Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Nicaragua
title_sort unleashing central america’s growth potential : nicaragua
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2021
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/995441627622522407/Nicaragua-Unleashing-Central-America-s-Growth-Potential
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36049
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