Otaviano Canuto: Are We on the Verge of a New Commodity Super-Cycle?

Commodity prices have recovered their 2020 losses and, in most cases, are now above pre-pandemic levels (Figure 1). The pace of Chinese growth since 2020 and the economic recovery that has accompanied vaccine rollouts are driving demand upward, while supply

Read More

Interview with Grete Faremo, Executive Director of UNOPS: Inclusive Infrastructure Development

In pre-pandemic Oct 2019 (about 20 months ago) you wrote an article for CFI.co magazine that highlighted the importance of infrastructure for communities, sustainable development and across the SDGs. If so, how have the world and your conclusions changed? While

Read More

Evan Harvey, Nasdaq – SPACs and ESG: Convergence or Collision?

The capital markets love nothing more than a new idea, especially one that promises to reward a little due diligence with a lot of return. The idea of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) has tantalised investors in this way. According

Read More

Deloitte: Changes on the Horizon for Europe’s Alternative Investment Fund Market

The European Commission’s ongoing efforts to establish the Capital Market Union have reached the alternative investment manager’s market in Europe. It has launched a legislative review cycle of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), giving the industry the first

Read More

IBM Thought Leadership: Transparency Makes the Invisible Hand Visible Again, And Inclusive

Paolo Sironi is the global research leader in Banking and Financial Markets at IBM, Institute of Business Value. IBV is the thought leadership centre of IBM. Financial markets and economic systems are still exposed to periodic collapses, notwithstanding unprecedented institutional

Read More

Building Bridges: Joining Impact Investing and Social Entrepreneurship

Finance is stepping up to a growing impetus from stakeholders to transform society for the better. Yet, there is a continuous disconnect between social entrepreneurs as vanguards of social value creation and the providers of financial services. A unique partnership

Read More

OECD: Blended Finance Institutional Role in Responding to COVD-19

COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on developing countries and undone years of progress on sustainable development, pushing back into poverty large sections of the population. World Bank analysis projects growth in Sub-Saharan Africa to decline to -3.3% in 2020,

Read More

World Bank: Pandemic Recovery is an Opportunity to Step Up Climate Change Action in Europe and Central Asia

2021 needs to be the year that climate change urgency truly entered the collective consciousness and lasting action followed. In the same way the effects of climate damage are often described as irreversible, so too is the movement calling for

Read More

A Possible Tug-of-war Between the Fed and the Markets

The projections for United States GDP released by the Federal Reserve on March 17, pointed to a growth rate of 6.5% in 2021, well above December’s 4.2% forecast. Congressional approval of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion fiscal package and the

Read More

Otaviano Canuto: Middle-Income Countries Should Not Be Rushed to ‘Graduate’ Status

Many donor countries seem eager to see middle-income countries (MICs) graduate to non-client status in multilateral development institutions before achieving their full development potential. Such institutions can significantly contribute to the sustainable development of MICs, while seizing many benefits from

Read More