There is a recent wave of 鈥渙cean-friendly鈥 financial solutions working to support the blue economy. While the blue finance market is still in its infancy, it is starting to flourish. But can we move fast enough? .
World Bank
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The world is facing a series of unprecedented overlapping crises: conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change are impacting the poorest and most vulnerable. Decades of development progress are at risk. Learn how the is mobilizing $170 billion for crises response.
Fertilizer prices have skyrocketed and remain volatile. This poses a serious threat to food security, as the planting season starts this summer.
Access to financial services is vital to global development, because having an account makes it easier to invest in health and education or in a business. Accounts also help families manage economic emergencies that can push them into poverty. As of 2021, 71% of adults in developing countries have an account with a financial institution or mobile money provider, an increase of more than 50% from a decade ago. Since 2011 the produces the as the definitive source of data on global access to financial services from payments to savings and borrowing.
Plastics are here to stay. They are easy and inexpensive to make and have been a significant driver for development. But plastic waste has become an omnipresent threat - with public health, livelihoods and the environment all suffering. Plastic can take hundreds of thousands of years to decompose. The World Bank is committed to tackling plastic pollution, recognizing it as a key element in alleviating extreme poverty. Today the supports efforts in more than 50 countries around the globe and at every stage of the plastic lifecycle.
Just over two years after COVID-19 caused the deepest global recession since World War II, the world economy is again in danger. This time it is facing high inflation and slow growth. Even if a global recession is averted, the pain of stagflation could persist for years- unless major supply increases are set in motion. The 鈥檚 presents the risk of stagflation, with potentially harmful consequences for middle- and low-income economies alike. A forceful, wide-ranging policy response is required to boost growth.
The is working with countries on the preparation of $12 billion of new projects for the next 15 months to respond to the food security crisis. These projects are expected to support agriculture, social protection to cushion the effects of higher food prices, and water and irrigation projects. In addition, the World Bank鈥檚 existing portfolio includes undisbursed balances of $18.7 billion in projects with direct links to food and nutrition security issues, covering agriculture and natural resources, nutrition, social protection, and other sectors.
Officially recorded remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are expected to increase by 4.2 percent this year to reach $630 billion. This follows an almost record recovery of 8.6 percent in 2021, according to the 鈥檚 latest released today. Remittances to Ukraine, which is the largest recipient in Europe and Central Asia, are expected to rise by over 20 percent in 2022. However, remittance flows to many Central Asian countries, for which the main source is Russia, will likely fall dramatically.
The war in Ukraine has dealt a major shock to commodity markets, altering global patterns of trade, production, and consumption in ways that will keep prices at historically high levels through the end of 2024, according to the 鈥檚 latest . The increase in energy prices over the past two years has been the largest since the 1973 oil crisis. Price increases for food commodities鈥攐f which Russia and Ukraine are large producers鈥攁nd fertilizers, which rely on natural gas as a production input, have been the largest since 2008.
Global and domestic food prices were already close to all-time highs before the war in Ukraine, and a large question mark looms over the next seasons鈥 harvests worldwide.
G.S. Kabuga is one of 3,388 schools in Rwanda benefitting from reconstruction and refurbishment efforts, funded by the government of Rwanda and the . In the span of just one year, 22,505 classrooms across all 30 districts of Rwanda were built or refurbished with some accessibility features for learners with disabilities. Despite global setbacks brought-on by the COVID-19 crisis, significant progress has been made in meeting the 10 commitments, identified at the .
When COVID-19 hit, the closure of Cabo Verde鈥檚 borders to prevent the virus from spreading took a toll on people鈥檚 lives and livelihoods. Tourism suddenly stopped and many Cabo Verdeans lost their job. Thanks to a strong health system and a sound supply strategy, Cabo Verde became a model for COVID-19 response, with a lot to teach its neighbours on how to carry out vaccination campaigns. The responded to the crisis through several operations, at the beginning of the pandemic for $10 million, including credit line and social inclusion programmes.
The war in Ukraine could not have come at a worse time for the global economy鈥攚hen the recovery from the pandemic-induced contraction had begun to falter. The explains how the Ukraine crisis could make it harder for many low- and middle-income economies to regain their footing. Besides higher commodity prices, the fallout is likely to arrive through several other vectors, including trade shocks. Countries closest to the conflict-due to trade and other links-are likely to suffer the greatest immediate harm. But the effects could ripple far beyond.
The World Development Report 2022: Finance for an Equitable Recovery, examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from the pandemic.