Evaluate alternatives to pandas-datareader for downloading World Bank data

[spjuhel]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The pandas-datareader package has not been updated since 2021-07-13 and is now breaking with Python 3.12 and newer versions due to the removal of distutils. This package is currently used in util.finance.py for downloading World Bank data and in related tests.

Describe the solution you'd like
Identify and migrate to an alternative for downloading World Bank data. The steps could include:

1. Researching viable replacements for pandas-datareader, such as wbdata (see here) or direct API usage via libraries like requests or pandas.
2. Refactoring util.finance.py to use the new solution.
3. Updating related tests to ensure compatibility with the new implementation.

Describe alternatives you've considered

• Continuing to use pandas-datareader by forking and maintaining a private version. However, this would increase the maintenance burden on the project.
• Temporarily patching the current implementation to support Python 3.12 and beyond, though this is not a sustainable long-term solution.

For reference, a related issue in pandas-datareader highlights these problems: pydata/pandas-datareader#977