The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
Grassroots innovation is a modality of inclusive innovation that enables extremely affordable, niche-adapted solutions to local problems, often unaided by public sector or outsiders. In a context of rising income disparity among the have and have-nots, every effort should be made to convert the ideas and innovations of knowledge-rich but …
The coronavirus disease pandemic, while above all a public health crisis, has presented the African continent with unprecedented economic challenges. In order to contain cross-border transmission of the virus, countries have introduced various restrictions to cross-border and transit freight transportation. Almost all African countries have now to a differing degree …
The COVID19 pandemic has caused a sharp decline in global trade, lower commodity prices, and tighter external financing conditions. Implications for current account balances and currencies vary widely across countries. In 2019 the global current account balance (the absolute sum of all surpluses and deficits) declined by 0.2 percentage point …
Despite an increase in the number of workers commuting between rural and urban areas, much of the literature on worker mobility continues to be migration centric. This paper establishes the importance of rural-urban commuting in India. As per estimates from Periodic Labour Force Survey 2018-19, an estimated 18.8 million individuals …
This brief assesses how COVID-19 will affect jobs in Asia and the Pacific and proposes policy actions to manage the impacts.COVID-19 is driving economies into recession, putting many jobs at risk. Up to 242 million full-time jobs could be lost globally, with 70% of these in Asia and the Pacific. …
In recent years, along with the growing recognition of the rural gender gap in financial access as a key constraint to rural development, research has focused increasingly more towards analysing in depth the financial habits and patterns followed by women in rural areas, in order to produce observations and insights …
The new UN report examines how COVID-19 has affected eleven countries in South-East Asia and proposes action-oriented recommendations on mitigating immediate impacts and planning pathways out of the crisis.The uneven landscape of social protection systems has placed tackling inequality at the centre of both short and long-term recovery efforts, according …
Amid last year’s recession, loss of savings, job uncertainty, lockdowns, and the pandemic-related economic and social restrictions, India’s aspirations have been challenged this year. In fact, aspirations across all age groups have shrunk. The worst-hit among them is the Early Jobber – the twenty-something, whose aspirations have been dampened by …
This working paper draws on the latest economic research to demonstrate how climate policy and investments in low-carbon infrastructure can reboot America’s economy and set it up for long-term success. On the other hand, delaying action on climate will further expose the United States to costly damages from climate impacts, …
Under the Implement for LIFE project, the EEB has published a series of four compliance reports. The environmental topics that are covered in all the reports relate to air, waste and circular economy, biodiversity, water, chemicals, industrial emissions and climate. The project explored the underlying reasons behind good and bad …
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents a major opportunity for African countries to bring 30 million people out of extreme poverty and to raise the incomes of 68 million others who live on less than $5.50 per day. With the implementation of AfCFTA, trade facilitation measures that cut …
COVID-19 & Global Food Security brings together a groundbreaking series of IFPRI blog posts looking at the impacts of COVID-19 and the policy responses. IFPRI researchers and guest bloggers provide key insights and analysis on how the global pandemic is affecting global poverty and food security and nutrition, food trade …
To help countries tackle the devastating social and economic dimensions of the pandemic, with a focus on at-risk groups, the UN issued the UN framework for the immediate socio- economic response to COVID-19 (SERF) in April 2020. The SERF sets out the strategy and blueprint for the UN’s urgent socio-economic …
A higher level of preparedness is urgently needed to prevent and mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Africa, including additional resources for testing and to reduce the impact on households and the economy, the African Development Bank said in its new Southern Africa Regional Economic Outlook. In the worst-case scenario, …
As the rate of new COVID-19 cases accelerates across the developing world, it exposes the potentially devastating costs of job losses and income reversals. Unconditional emergency cash transfers can mitigate the worst immediate effects of the COVID-19 crisis on poor and near-poor households that do not currently have access to …
Cooperative credit is currently an option in close to 2500 municipalities in Brazil, with an specially large presence in the countryside areas. Although it is distributed unevenly throughout the country, cooperative credit helps compensate for the scarcity of financial institutions in some regions and assists in fulfilling requirements in the …
This report paints a detailed picture of the humanitarian financing landscape in 2019 as well as the current humanitarian financing response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Over one billion people are living in countries affected by long-term humanitarian crisis. 16% of the world’s population is now living in countries experiencing protracted …
COVID-19 is a watershed moment for the digital transformation of business. The rules for success have changed and are ever more reliant on harnessing the power of digital models to create new value and experiences. Accelerating digital transformation, with purpose, is essential for companies to survive and thrive in the …
The COVID-19 crisis and the political, economic, and social disruptions it has caused have exposed the inadequacies of our current economic systems. Amid global concern for lives, livelihoods, and the planet, leaders find themselves at a historic crossroads for shaping the recovery and are challenged to reset economies on a …
The report highlights the need for a fundamental transformation across three socio-economic systems, which represent over a third of the global economy and provide up to two-thirds of all jobs. These systems are: food, land and ocean use; infrastructure and the built environment; and extractives and energy. Together they drive …
