IFC: Addressing Climate Change Can Unlock $23 Trillion-Dollar Investment Opportunities in Emerging Markets

By Christian Grossmann and Thomas Kerr The historic Paris climate change agreement entered into force in record speed last November, committing countries to a decarbonized future.  This means that new markets for climate-smart investments are set to grow, as governments

Read More

OECD: 21st Century Trade Agreements & Regulatory Coherence

By Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås In the past, services markets were largely local and countries mostly worked out their regulation without consideration for how other countries regulate. As a result, an abundance of different regulatory measures and systems exist across countries

Read More

Otaviano Canuto, World Bank: What’s Ailing the Brazilian Economy?

Brazil’s GDP is poised to decline by close to 7% in 2015-2016. Per capita GDP in 2016 is likely to shrink by more than 10% as compared to three years ago. We argue here that a double malaise has been

Read More

World Bank Group: Development Finance Frontline – Strategic Investment Funds

This is the first of a series of occasional interviews with senior strategic investment fund (SIF) professionals. Tasked with attracting private investors to priority economic sectors and projects, SIFs combine developmental aims with commercial financial return objectives.  “The only way

Read More

Venezuela: As the Economy Sinks, Bond Markets Take Heart

The country may be unable to buy food or medicine; Venezuela continues to meet with clockwork precision all its obligations to bondholders. Struggling with triple-digit inflation and deploying the army to supress food riots, the monumentally inept government of President

Read More

UNCTAD: A Policy Compact to Get Investment Flowing Again

James Zhan suggests world leaders make a joint effort to formulate effective investment policies to help build investment firepower to face 21st Century development challenges. Forecasts of deeper global economic gloom are tumbling one over the other. The global economy

Read More

Otaviano Canuto, IMF: China’s Spill-Overs on Latin America and the Caribbean

The Chinese economy is rebalancing while softening its growth pace. China’s spillovers on the global economy have operated through trade, commodity prices, and financial channels. The global reach of the effects from China’s transition have recently been illustrated in risk

Read More

European Investment Bank: Investment Plan for Europe

Investment Plan for Europe – Paradigm Shift in the Use of Public Resources The Marshall Plan did much to inject life into the post-war recovery of Europe. Initially comprising $13 billion, mostly in direct aid, the plan constituted a substantial

Read More

Venezuela: Economic Decline Too Steep to Tabulate

Venezuelan social media is a curious thing. There are few pictures of parents proudly showing off their kids, or of people buzzing with their hazy pictures of a boozy Friday night out littered with endless LMAOs and LOLs. Instead, the

Read More

Evan Harvey, Nasdaq: Where the Market Stands

The stock exchange industry has been increasingly active in advocating for smart and strategic disclosure of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) performance data. Investors use these non-financial metrics to evaluate the health, resilience, and sustainability of public companies. And

Read More