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WIF: Start-Up Democracy Tunisia Steals the Show
Interim Prime-Minister Mehdi Jomâa of Tunisia has offered to host the next World Investment Forum (WIF), scheduled to take place two years from now. In Geneva for the 2014 WIF, an event organised by the United Nations Conference on Trade
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World Bank Group: Can Resource-Financed Infrastructure Fix the Natural Resource Curse?
By Håvard Halland, John Beardsworth, Bryan Land, and James Schmidt How can resource-rich countries ensure that a sufficiently large share of oil, gas, and mining revenues are used for productive investment rather than excessive or wasteful consumption? “Resource-financed infrastructure” (RFI)
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Graça Machel: The Only First Lady of Two Countries
She is the only known woman to have been the first lady of two countries. Graça Machel (68) is, however, best known for her dedication to the plight of refugee children around the world. She gained wide respect as an
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Zambia Set to Impress and Welcome Investors
Zambia has seen foreign direct investment (FDI) increase significantly to well over $1bn in 2013 – up 31% over the previous year. The number of projects receiving capital investment from outside the country went up as well. Greenfield investment in
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Johannesburg Stock Exchange: Pioneering Sustainable Development
Shifting attention away from the next quarter’s results towards sustainability parameters indicative of long-term objectives, has been a challenge for stock exchanges the world over. Only recently has the concept of socially responsible investment (SRI) moved out of its niche
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Europe’s Original Sin and the Dangers of Doing Good
Carlos Rangel, the Venezuelan diplomat and essayist, once pointedly remarked that western nations often send their failed politicians – the dreamers, utopians, and other ineffectual romantics – to far-off places where they can do no harm other than to their
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World Bank Supports Increased Financing for Medium & Small Businesses in Nigeria
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$500 million International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) credit to increase access to finance for medium and small scale enterprises (MSME) in agriculture, trade, light-manufacturing, and services. These will
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New Report Identifies Major Clean-Tech Market Opportunity for Small Businesses in Developing Countries
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries can generate significant growth and create jobs by seizing a potential $1.6 trillion market opportunity in clean technology. Latin America and Africa are among the largest markets for SMEs in clean technology
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New UN Report Calls for Major Changes in Global Economic Governance, Management
Six years after the start of the global economic and financial crisis, the world economy has still not found a sustainable growth path, argues a new United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report released on September 10, 2014.
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Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Group: Liquidity Glut, Infrastructure Finance Drought and Development Banks
The world economy faces huge infrastructure financing needs that are not being matched on the supply side. Emerging market economies, in particular, have had to deal with international long-term private debt financing options that are less supportive of infrastructure finance.
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