Reversing the setback to global poverty?will a commodity super-cycle help?
The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked twin economic and social crises that resulted in the first increase in global poverty in decades. The number of people living in extreme poverty?at $1.90 per day globally?is estimated to have escalated by 10 per cent in 2020 and remains at the highest level in almost a decade (figure 1). Island economies registered among the highest increases in both number and share of poor population (Cabo Verde, Jamaica, Madagascar) as well as some landlocked economies (Chad, Ethiopia, Uganda). Prior to the pandemic, poverty was projected to decrease by 2 per cent globally, in line with a slow pace of…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: December 2021 Briefing, No. 156
Introduction
While fertilizers, genetically modified crops, and biotechnology have brought substantial benefits for farmers in recent decades, the accelerated application of smart, digital, and precision agricultural technologies offers a historic opportunity to improve farm productivity going forward. Such technologies are wide-ranging, including small mobile applications for decision support, field sensors and remote sensing technologies for data collection, drones and robots for automation of processes, and digital platforms for market access and sales. Use of these technologies helps address information asymmetries and deficiencies facing farmers, particularly smallholders, which can…
Frontier Technology Issues: Frontier technologies for smallholder farmers: addressing information asymmetries and deficiencies
Advanced economies are facing large-scale labour shortages
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning of 2020 caused an unprecedented and severely disruptive shock to labour markets worldwide. Despite the immense efforts to protect employment and to support businesses undertaken in the majority of countries around the globe, unemployment reached alarming levels in 2020, leading to erosion of incomes and pushing many households into poverty. Although the global economy has been gradually rebounding over the course of 2021, the speed of job creation is generally lagging to compensate for the earlier employment losses, especially in developing economies. This is especially true…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: November 2021 Briefing, No. 155
The ECB?s bank lending survey: The euro area?s economic pulse is coming back
Introduction
The global pandemic has left severe scars on economic activity across the globe. This is no less true for the economies of the euro area, which saw widespread lockdowns after the outbreak of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 and various renewed phases of ramping down public life thereafter due to surges in pandemic infection rates. With the onset of broad vaccination campaigns, vaccination rates have been steadily increasing and the euro area economy has been on a path of recovery. A host of fiscal policies provided strong support in this respect, and monetary policy has been maintaining a very…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: October 2021 Briefing, No. 154
The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the global awareness that we are all in this together. The pandemic has set back progress on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but it has also made it possible for the international community to see the pursuit of sustainable development in a new light, and to learn from both successes and challenges of the pandemic to reinvigorate efforts towards achieving the SDGs.
The Sustainable Development Outlook 2021 charts a way forward for the world community to achieve the SDGs, despite the setback caused by COVID-19. In doing so, it focuses on SDG 1 (poverty), SDG 2 (hunger), SDG 3 (health and well-being), SDG 8 (growth and employment), SDG 10 (…
Sustainable Development Outlook 2021: From anguish to determination
Is unconventional monetary policy reaching its limits?
Since the beginning of the twin public health and socioeconomic crises caused by COVID-19, central banks around the globe have implemented far-reaching monetary policies to calm panicky markets, stimulate economic activity, and boost inflation. Just like after the global financial crisis of 2007?08, unconventional monetary policy has played a crucial part in the response to COVID-19. Developed country central banks, for one, have purchased trillions worth of assets through their central banks? quantitative easing (QE) programmes. But the pandemic has also marked a turning point for monetary policy among developing countries. For the…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: September 2021 Briefing, No. 153
Spillover effects of US monetary policy in developing economies
Economic activity is bouncing back in several countries, supported by increased government spending, stimulatory monetary policy, health and border measures to limit COVID-19 infections and deaths, and the rollout of vaccines. In recent weeks, most countries have seen an uptick in the number of COVID-19 infections, associated with the rise of a new, more transmissible variant. Yet, countries with higher vaccination rates have been able to gradually reopen their economies as reflected in increased consumer demand and prices (figure 1).
US in the lead
Pent-up US demand, underpinned by federal stimulus and pandemic-fuelled savings…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: August 2021 Briefing, No. 152
Download Frontier Technology Issues: Lithium-ion batteries: a pillar for a fossil fuel-free economy? (PDF)
Introduction
In 2019, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to three scientists for the development of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that, according to the Academy, have laid the foundation for a fossil fuel-free economy. Li-ion batteries can safely store large amounts of energy, ensuring stable and predictable flows of electricity even in decentralized immobile (i.e., stationary) or mobile modes in remote areas. The increasing popularity of passenger electric vehicles and electric buses is largely a result of the capacity improvement of Li-ion…
Frontier Technology Issues: Lithium-ion batteries: a pillar for a fossil fuel-free economy?
Global economic recovery threatens to leave many developing countries behind
The past few months have brought a string of upbeat news on the global economy, suggesting a vigorous recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. World merchandise trade has soared and is already well above the pre-pandemic level (figure 1). Similarly, global industrial production has seen a V-shaped recovery since the middle of last year. The prices of key raw materials, such as copper, iron ore and lumber, reached record levels in the second quarter of 2021. Crude oil prices climbed to a 2-year high above $70 per barrel in June. Meanwhile, capital flows to developing countries have rebounded since late 2020, driven by…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: July 2021 Briefing, No. 151
Greater gender equality is essential for post-pandemic recovery
Before the COVID-19 crisis reversed much of the world?s progress on sustainable development outcomes, most societies were already struggling with persistent and oftentimes growing inequalities in opportunities, income and wealth. The twin public health and economic crises have worsened some of the world?s most pressing inequalities, laying bare the destructive impact of labour market inequities, the digital divide, and discriminatory access to public resources and education. Even though unemployment soared and extreme poverty shot up, the rich enjoyed handsome gains from rising asset prices. These injustices have left behind…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: June 2021 Briefing, No. 150
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