Otaviano Canuto, IMF: How Commodity-Dependent Are Latin American Economies?

The end of the upswing phase of the commodity price super-cycle, after its peak in 2011, has lowered economic growth prospects in most of Latin America. While that broad statement can hardly be disputed, Chapter 3 of the latest IMF

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Playing to Win or Playing to Survive? Urbanisation and the Knowledge Economy

It is no surprise that cities around the world have been expanding over the last few decades. The pace of this trend is breath-taking. According to the UN’s World Urbanisation Prospects, 2014 is a turning point. For the first time

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PwC: Africa’s Hospitality Sector Poised for Growth

Africa’s hospitality industry is set to meet the rising demand from international tourists, local business travellers, and the continent’s own growing middle class. The sector has seen substantial growth with many international brands descending around commercial and retail centres, growing

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Adel S Al-Ghamdi: Saudi Stock Exchange Opts for Quality

Adel S Al-Ghamdi leads the Saudi Stock Exchange, the largest and most liquid in the Middle East and North Africa, since July 2013 when he left his job as general manager of the Corporate Finance and Issuance Division at the

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Statement on World Bank’s $2.1 Billion Support to Nigeria

On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 the World Bank Group President Jim Kim held a meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at Blair House in Washington, D.C. In the meeting it was indicated that Nigeria has up toUSD $2.1 billion of

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WGB Launches New Country Partnership Framework to Support Azerbaijan’s Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Growth

The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors today discussed and endorsed the 2015-2020 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Azerbaijan. This CPF represents a five year joint strategy of the World Bank Group comprising the International Bank for Reconstruction and

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World Bank Group: Investing in Women is Vital to Ending Poverty, Boosting Needed Growth

Closing persistent gender gaps is vital to boosting sustainable growth and ending poverty by 2030, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said Tuesday, calling for scaled-up efforts to expand women’s access to good jobs, assets, and infrastructure. “Economic growth

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EU Offers a Third Bailout: Greece Will Remain in the Eurozone but Austerity Stays too

The EU has survived the Greek debt default crisis and after seventeen hours of negotiations agreement for a third bailout was reached today. Greek PM Alexis Tsipras termed the negotiations as a tough battle that resulted in a growth package

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Volatility in Chinese Stock Values: Potentially Much More Dangerous than a Greek Tragedy?

The problems facing the global economy in the event of a Greek exit from the euro zone could be dwarfed into insignificance by downward movements on the Chinese Stock Markets. In 1989, Margaret Thatcher  famously declared:  “You can’t buck the

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Enhancing Integration, Unlocking Investment in West Africa

West Africa is stepping up efforts to integrate regional economies and improve the investment climate with the support of the World Bank Group. At a mid-June event in Dakar, a regional public-private dialogue framework was launched to jointly identify regional

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