Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Is the 'middle-income trap' real?
Oped, Published on 31/12/2024
» The term "middle-income trap" refers to the tendency of fast-growing developing economies to lose momentum well before they achieve high-income status. First introduced by World Bank economist Indermit Gill and the Brookings Institution's Homi Kharas in 2007, the concept has since become the subject of intense debate among economists.
Creating a 'Goldilocks' business climate for all
Oped, Published on 18/10/2024
» Whenever the odds seem stacked against human progress -- when economic growth looks set to remain feeble, when too many countries appear destined to grow old before they become rich, when climate change seems out of control -- it is worth remembering the distinctive virtue of our species. Human ingenuity is the reason why predictions of global doom, which have proliferated throughout our history, have never materialised.
Poorest countries can't be ignored
Published on 18/06/2024
» They are home to a quarter of humanity -- 1.9 billion people. They possess prized natural resources, including one-fifth of the world's copper and gold reserves, as well as many of the rare metals essential for the transition to clean energy. Their working-age populations are set to expand for the next five decades amid demographic decline nearly everywhere else. Yet a historic reversal is underway among the world's 75 countries eligible for grants and low-interest loans from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA).
A working disaster
Oped, Editorial, Published on 08/03/2024
» As the world celebrates International Women’s Day today, Thailand’s Lower House has just squandered an excellent chance to improve gender equality in the workplace.
The world wins when women win
Oped, Published on 08/03/2024
» In May 1988, Alejandra Arévalo became the first female geologist to enter an underground mine in Chile. In doing so, she defied a popular myth: that a woman brings bad luck by venturing into a mine. She also broke the law. At the time, Chilean women were forbidden to work in underground mining or in any other job that "exceeded their strength or put at risk their physical or moral condition." Ms Arévalo's defiance helped spark a revolution. By 1993, the restrictions on women in mining had been abolished; and by 2022, women represented 15% of the Chilean mining workforce, a threefold increase since 2007.
Biggest energy shock since 1970s: World Bank
AFP, Published on 26/04/2022
» Energy prices have surged since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, along with other commodities, are likely to remain at "historically high" levels through 2024, endangering economic growth, the World Bank warned Tuesday.
Ukraine war's spillover swamps poor countries still reeling from Covid-19
Business, Published on 24/03/2022
» Over the past 120 years, a Beirut bakery has survived civil war, Lebanon's financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Fighting in Ukraine, disrupting food and energy supplies world-wide, may soon put it out of business.