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G7 pledges to invest $600 billion into infrastructure for developing countries
Monday 27th of June 2022
Group of Seven leaders pledged to raise $600 billion in private and public funds over five years to finance needed infrastructure in developing countries and counter China’s older, multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road project.
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The work goes on: What MC12 has done for the WTO
Friday 24th of June 2022
Over 100 top trade officials gathered in Geneva on June 12-17 2022 to participate in the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Even as multilateralism was already under stress when ministers last met in 2017, things have gotten more complicated since then. A series of overlapping and compounding crises provided the backdrop for the discussions: a pandemic, war, supply chain disruptions, a looming food crisis, rising inflation, deepening geopolitical rifts and climate change. Against all odds, however, MC12 delivered. Concrete and tangible results confirm that multilateral trade cooperation can respond to the challenges of today’s world and help governments tackle global emergencies, even in the most difficult times. It also hinted at what the WTO of the future could look like, perhaps the most relevant outcome. But MC12 also exposed critical challenges to leveraging the full potential of the multilateral trading system for sustainable and inclusive growth.
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Will slow growth and inflation lead to stagflation? Economist Greg Daco speaks to Radio Davos
Thursday 23rd of June 2022
The global economy has been having a rocky ride. There was the pandemic, there was the supply chain squeeze coming out of the pandemic, and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Many developed countries now have inflation levels unseen for a generation or two and economic growth is down.
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How investing in trade finance can be profitable and help SMEs thrive
Thursday 23rd of June 2022
Trade constitutes the backbone of every economy and 80-90% of global trade requires financing. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for around 90% of companies and more than half of the jobs worldwide according to the World Bank. It’s often those SMEs that are underserved and lack access to affordable trade finance.
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3 digital innovations making global trade easier, faster and safer
Wednesday 22nd of June 2022
Global trade is under pressure.
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Understanding the WTO Ministerial Meeting: What just happened and what’s next?
Monday 20th of June 2022
”One of the fun things about this job is the opportunity to bang a gavel,” said World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at last week’s WTO Ministerial Conference.
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WTO strikes global trade deals amid heightened geopolitical tensions
Friday 17th of June 2022
The World Trade Organization’s 164 members approved a series of trade agreements that included commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five gruelling days of negotiations.
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Path to global deals bumpy as we are in a ‘polycrisis’, WTO chief warns
Thursday 16th of June 2022
World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed cautious optimism that more than 100 trade ministers meeting in Geneva would achieve one or two global deals in June 2022, but warned the path there would be bumpy and rocky.
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Hyper-networked supply chains: how a collaborative way of working can benefit retailers
Wednesday 15th of June 2022
A new co-operative supply chain model may point the way to a hyper-networked supply chain future, and a third way for retailers stuck between the costly privilege of supply chain independence and heavy dependence on the retail behemoths.
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Sri Lanka gives public-sector workers extra day off to grow food
Wednesday 15th of June 2022
Sri Lanka has approved a four-day work week for public sector workers to help them cope with a chronic fuel shortage and encourage them to grow food, the government said on 14 June 2022, as it struggles with its worst financial crisis in decades.
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Is globalization dead? Author and columnist Thomas Friedman in conversation at Davos 2022
Thursday 2nd of June 2022
With every crisis, people declare the end of globalization, but author and columnist Thomas Friedman argues that, despite war, economic uncertainty and unrest, there are many reasons to believe globalization is stronger than ever.
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How Africa’s free trade area is an opportunity for recovery and development
Wednesday 25th of May 2022
With a growth rate of 4.5% in 2021, sub-Saharan Africa’s economy was starting to recover from the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic but this progress has been jeopardized. The war in Ukraine has increased the global prices of key commodities. Most notably, surging oil and food prices are straining the fiscal balances of many countries and have increased food insecurity concerns. Worryingly, 39 million more people fell into extreme poverty in 2020 and 2021, reversing a long-term trend of decreasing poverty.
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Post-trade evolution means looking to the digital financial assets of tomorrow
Wednesday 25th of May 2022
As digitalization transforms the global financial marketplace, firms responsible for clearing and settling transactions have an opportunity to help define a new market structure that combines the traditional securities of today with the digital assets of tomorrow.
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Trading places: Can commodity companies become climate heroes?
Tuesday 24th of May 2022
Last year, CEOs from the world’s 13 largest commodity trading companies, including Cargill, Bunge, ADM and Louis Dreyfus Company, announced at the United Nations climate conference ambitious commitments to tackle deforestation. And, right now, they are working on the roadmap for how they’ll get there. These companies control the market share of commodities with high deforestation risks, like soy, cattle, cocoa and palm oil, and have combined annual revenue of almost $500 billion.
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This new alliance is helping grow collaboration on international investment
Tuesday 24th of May 2022
When investing is sustainable from an economic, social, environmental and governance perspective, it can provide not only capital but also drive job creation, alleviate poverty, encourage technology transfer, and upgrade industries. It can increase peace and stability and advance climate and environmental goals, addressing some of the greatest challenges the world faces today.
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How to build resilience in emerging economies? Support small businesses
Tuesday 24th of May 2022
Across the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have sought to support small businesses through credit guarantee and salary support schemes. This focus on SMEs is logical as small businesses create up to 80% of jobs and generate up to 70% of GDP in Africa alone.
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Stakeholder Capitalism: over 70 companies implement the ESG reporting metrics
Tuesday 24th of May 2022
Global challenges amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic have made Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues even more pressing for policymakers, boards and executives.
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Global Alliance speeds up international trade
Monday 23rd of May 2022
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has marked the fifth anniversary of entry into force of the landmark Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) at a time when it has never been more relevant. In 2021 the OECD estimated that full implementation of the TFA could reduce worldwide trade costs by up to 18%, with developing and least developed countries gaining most.
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3 ways to fix global trade and drive economic recovery
Friday 20th of May 2022
If the modern world ever needed economic recovery, it is now. After more than two years of a devastating pandemic and the global economic shockwaves triggered by the return of war to Europe, the growth prospects of the world’s economy have become uncertain once again. The International Monetary Fund predicts that global growth will slow sharply from an estimated 6.1% in 2021 to 3.6% this year and next.
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Shocks, international trade, and diversification: Lessons from the pandemic
Wednesday 18th of May 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a collapse in international trade (Baldwin 2020), as safety concerns prevented individuals from going out and consuming imported products and workers from producing for export. In the second quarter of 2020, the volume of global trade in goods fell by 12.2% and trade in services fell even more sharply, by 21.4%, compared with the last quarter of 2019. Since then, trade in goods has recovered rapidly, returning to pre-pandemic levels by October 2021, but trade in services remains well below pre-pandemic levels. This divergence between goods and services has been well documented (e.g. IMF 2021), but less well known is that there are different patterns within goods and services. Within goods, it was the trade in goods that are typically produced in GVCs, like automobiles, electronics and apparel, that fell and rebounded quickest. Within services, trade in travel services remains depressed while trade in telecommunications services is stronger than before the pandemic.
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The costly flip side of India becoming an important wheat exporter
Monday 16th of May 2022
India exporting wheat to more parts of the world is putting upward pressure on its domestic prices.
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Global debt has risen to dangerous levels. Here’s what needs to be done
Friday 13th of May 2022
We live in dangerous times. The world faces renewed uncertainty, as war comes on top of an ever-changing and persistent pandemic, now in its third year. Moreover, problems that predated COVID-19 have not gone away. When policymakers return to Washington in the coming days for the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, one of the central topics will be growing debt vulnerabilities in the world.
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Here’s how the war in Ukraine is impacting world trade and investment
Thursday 12th of May 2022
The war in Ukraine is causing worldwide disruptions to trade and investment, affecting auto makers in Europe, hoteliers in Georgia and the Maldives, as well as impacting consumers of food and fuel globally . Although the world’s poor—who spend a large part of their incomes on life’s necessities—are the most vulnerable, no country, region, or industry is left untouched by these disruptions.
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How can the world overcome the biggest global commodity shock in decades?
Thursday 12th of May 2022
For nearly 30 years, greater trade, investment and innovation bolstered an unprecedented era of prosperity—and brought the world closer to ending extreme poverty. It allowed the incomes of the poorest nations to narrow the gap with the wealthiest and reduced the frequency and severity of national economic crises.
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These 3 charts show the impact of war in Ukraine on global trade
Tuesday 26th of April 2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created “immense human suffering”, but it is also damaging global trade, which will likely impact low-income countries the most, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is warning.