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Financial infrastructure is the underlying foundation of a country's financial system. It comprises all institutions, the rules, and standards of all the systems which enable financial intermediation. The quality of a country's financial infrastructure determines the efficiency of intermediation, the ability of lenders to evaluate risk and of borrowers to obtain credit, insurance, and other financial products at competitive terms. For instance, the efficient and smooth functioning of the payment, and securities settlement systems facilitates the discharge of financial obligations and the safe transfer of funds across distances and institutions; hence, it support the stability of the financial system. This technical note contains the assessment of the national payment and settlement systems (NPS) infrastructure in Montenegro. The assessment was undertaken in the context of the IMF and World Bank (WB) joint Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) mission to Montenegro during September 1-15, 2015. The assessor was Gynedi Srinivas of the World Bank's Payment Systems Development Group. The assessor will like to thank the counterparts in Montenegro for their excellent cooperation and hospitality during the mission.

This note was prepared in the context of a World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) mission in El Salvador in March 2016. Since the last FSAP, the national payments system (NPS) has consolidated and expanded. The real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems owned and operated by the Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador (BCR) is the backbone of the NPS and is widely subscribed by both banks and supervised non-bank financial institutions. In 2013, the BCR launched a service for government disbursements called Sistema de Pagos Masivos (SPM). ATM and POS terminal deployment in El Salvador is below the average for the Latin America and the Caribbean, but above the average for lower-middle income countries. Notwithstanding these positive developments, the payments system remains exposed to certain risks and presents areas of inefficiency that the BCR aims to address comprehensively and in stages through a revised national payment system strategy. The note contains technical analysis and detailed information underpinning the FSAP assessment's findings and recommendations. Further information on the FSAP program can be found at www.worldbank.org/fsap.

This study investigates the impact of financial liberalisation on real sector output in Nigeria by adopting the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) modeling technique for the econometric analysis. Pre-estimation tests such as the Stationarity and Cointegration tests were also done. The results show that the variables of interest in the model are cointegrated and that financial liberalisation (proxied by private sector credit) has a negative impact on manufacturing sector, while it has a positive impact on agricultural sector. This implies that credit to private sector was diverted to some unproductive ventures, rather than productive activities. Furthermore, poor infrastructure, high level of corruption, political and economic instability and high cost fund were found to have constrained the contribution of private sector credit to economic development. On the other hand, its positive impact on agriculture shows that there is an improvement in the agricultural sector since the commencement of financial liberalisation. The study concludes that efforts should be geared towards militating against the socioeconomic cum institutional factors that constrained the contribution of private sector credit to manufacturing output growth in Nigeria within the period under review.

Despite several severe shocks in the past, conflict, unstable governments, earthquakes, and trade disruptions, Nepal has made strong progress in reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. With the decade-long peace and constitutional process concluded, the Government of Nepal is keen to accelerate economic growth and become a middle-income country by 2030. Between 1996 and 2011, the proportion of households living in extreme poverty fell from 46 to 15 percent. Nepal's macroeconomic fundamentals have remained sound. This report takes place as Nepal transitions to a federal structure. This poses a unique and unprecedented opportunity to establish clarity of functions, expenditures, and revenue assignments, as well as changing jurisdictions across various levels of governments and agencies, including as they interface with the private sector. The new government is in place and emphasizing the need for stronger cooperation between the public and private sectors. Against this background, this report assesses the energy (electricity generation, transmission, and distribution), transport (roads, airports, and urban transport), and urban (water supply, sanitation, and solid waste management) infrastructure sectors. The report recommends interventions that combine short-term and longer-term structural and policy changes with tailored project implementation approaches. Completing projects will help stress test the framework and system and identify potential bottlenecks that can be corrected. Such a learning-by-doing approach will further help prioritize the implementation of the initiatives proposed in this report and target capacity development initiatives in the areas of greatest need.

"The financial services sector is critical to the economy and represents a vital component of our nation's critical infrastructure. Financial Services Sector Protection and Homeland Security provides readers with an understanding of the challenges and potential threats faced by this sector"--

Purpose: The study empirically investigates whether or not financial sector reforms influence manufacturing sector performance in Nigeria. Method: A weighted index covering the gradual progression, scope, dimensions, and institutional changes involved in the reform and regulation of the financial sector is constructed for the study. Annual time series data covering the period 1986-2020 were used for the study. Cointegration and error correction modeling techniques were utilized for the empirical analysis. Results: The empirical results show evidence of a short-run dynamic and a long-run equilibrium relationship between financial sector reforms and manufacturing sector performance in Nigeria. Specifically, financial sector reforms, credit to the private sector, electricity supply, and capacity utilization positively drive manufacturing sector performance in Nigeria. Further findings show that the exchange rate and interest rate variables are negatively and significantly related to manufacturing sector performance. Implications: Based on the empirical evidence, the continuous reforms of the financial sector are imperative to enhance its credit intermediation role to the real sector of the economy, particularly, the manufacturing sector. The provision of accessible, reliable, and stable electricity supply, as well as sound, stable and competitive macroeconomic policy environment and appropriate institutional framework are also imperative. Originality: The study is unique in the sense that it utilized a weighted index of several key dimensions of the progression and institutional changes involved in the reform of the financial sector, thereby sufficiently capturing the whole process of financial reforms in Nigeria.

Purpose: The study empirically investigates whether or not financial sector reforms influence manufacturing sector performance in Nigeria. Method: A weighted index covering the gradual progression, scope, dimensions, and institutional changes involved in the reform and regulation of the financial sector is constructed for the study. Annual time series data covering the period 1986-2020 were used for the study. Cointegration and error correction modeling techniques were utilized for the empirical analysis. Results: The empirical results show evidence of a short-run dynamic and a long-run equilibrium relationship between financial sector reforms and manufacturing sector performance in Nigeria. Specifically, financial sector reforms, credit to the private sector, electricity supply, and capacity utilization positively drive manufacturing sector performance in Nigeria. Further findings show that the exchange rate and interest rate variables are negatively and significantly related to manufacturing sector performance. Implications: Based on the empirical evidence, the continuous reforms of the financial sector are imperative to enhance its credit intermediation role to the real sector of the economy, particularly, the manufacturing sector. The provision of accessible, reliable, and stable electricity supply, as well as sound, stable and competitive macroeconomic policy environment and appropriate institutional framework are also imperative. Originality: The study is unique in the sense that it utilized a weighted index of several key dimensions of the progression and institutional changes involved in the reform of the financial sector, thereby sufficiently capturing the whole process of financial reforms in Nigeria.

In view of the importance of managing assets and the lack of research in managing assets in the infrastructure sector, we develop an asset management model in this study. This model is developed in line with the unique characteristics of the infrastructure assets and asset management principles and criteria. In the proposed model, we consider activities at three levels, namely the strategical, tactical and operational levels. The interviews with experts in asset management and officials in several Dutch organizations have proven the potential of our asset management model.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1998, the federal government has taken steps to protect the nation's critical infrastructures, including developing partnerships between the public and private sectors. These cyber and physical public and private infrastructures, which include the financial services sector, are essential to national security, economic security, and/or public health and safety. GAO was asked to review (1) the general nature of the cyber threats faced by the financial services industry; (2) steps the financial services industry has taken to share information on and to address threats, vulnerabilities, and incidents; (3) the relationship between government and private sector efforts to protect the financial services industry's critical infrastructures; and (4) actions financial regulators have taken to address these cyber threats."