World Bank Report: Digital Payments Vital To Economic Growth

Gates Foundation and Better Than Cash Alliance urge governments to embrace digital financial services, offers concrete action steps.  Integrating digital payments into the economies of emerging and developing nations addresses crucial issues of broad economic growth and individual financial empowerment,

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From Lebanon to Brazil – Joseph Safra

A Global Presence The Safra family fortune – today expressed in billions of dollars – originated on the dusty tracks of the well-trodden camel route between Aleppo, Syria and Istanbul. At the dawn of the 20th century, Jacob E. Safra,

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PwC Nigeria: Does Size Really Matter? Economic and Fiscal Implications of Nigeria’s Rebased GDP

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is an internationally recognised measure of economy size and strength. It is importance to have up-to-date data so the rebasing is a step in the right direction. It is expected to make planning and investment decisions

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Ghana: Crisis as a Hallmark of Enduring Success

A solid mechanism has been put in place with Norwegian assistance to ensure that the proceeds from Ghana’s newly found offshore oilfields are spent wisely and to the benefit of the entire nation. A sovereign wealth fund is to receive

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UN Member States Receive Report on Finance for Sustainable Development

The General Assembly formally received an expert report on August 19, 2014 setting out options that can be weighed by Member States on ways to finance the United Nations-driven sustainable development agenda, which will aim to improve people’s lives and

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Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Group: Commodity Super Cycle to Stick Around a Bit Longer

Some analysts have predicted that the commodity price boom has played itself out. However, natural resource-based commodity prices (with the exception of shale gas and its downward pressure on US natural gas prices) have remained relatively high over the last

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From Greece to Canada – George Delaportas: Big Dreams Need Big Country

George Delaportas is writing a new language and needs four years of research, and about EUR 80,000, to compile its dictionary and syntax. This young Greek entrepreneur, now at home in Vancouver, hopes that crowd-funding – and some chutzpa –

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World Bank Group Commits US$ 5 Billion to Boost Electricity Generation in Six African Countries

The World Bank Group has committed $5 billion in new technical and financial support for energy projects in six African countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania—which have partnered with President Obama’s Power Africa initiative. Making the announcement on

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The Euro – A Paradox Checks Into Hotel California

It could have been conceived a bit more thoughtfully, but as a project the European common currency is not altogether farfetched or indeed destined for failure. The euro was specifically created to offer an alternative to the erstwhile all-mighty US

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Back to Africa – Chibwe Masabo Henry: The Diaspora as a Driver of Development

Having medical doctors, specialists, nurses and other healthcare workers readily available to take charge in case of illness may be the norm in many developed countries; it still is much the exception elsewhere on the globe. Countless lives are lost

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