Structural Factors and Central Bank Credibility Limit Inflation Risks
After ending last year with unexpectedly strong vaccine success and hope that the pandemic and economic distress it caused would recede, we woke up to the reality of new virus variants and the unpredictable, winding road that it can lead the world down. (more…)
Why Climate Change Vulnerability Is Bad for Sovereign Credit Ratings
By Serhan Cevik and João Tovar Jalles
عربي, 中文, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
Climate change has made the world a riskier place.
The destruction wrought by heatwaves, droughts, hurricanes, and coastal flooding doesn’t stop with the toll on human lives and livelihoods—it can also have deep consequences for a country’s finances. (more…)
Chart of the WeekHow e-Government Services Can Pay Dividends
By Ali Al-Sadiq
The ability to renew your passport or driver’s license, pay a tax bill, or access government data with the click of a button or swipe of a screen, anytime and anywhere, has grown more important during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the spread of the virus. (more…)
Latin America and Caribbean’s Winding Road to Recovery
By Alejandro Werner, Anna Ivanova, and Takuji Komatsuzaki
Latin America and Caribbean economies managed to bounce back from COVID-19’s initial economic devastation earlier in 2020. (more…)
Cooperation Critical to Reducing Divergent Paths to Recovery in Middle East and Central Asia
By Jihad Azour
The road to recovery for the Middle East and Central Asia region will hinge on containment measures, access to and distribution of vaccines, the scope of policies to support growth, and measures to mitigate economic scarring from the pandemic. (more…)
Government Support Is Vital as Countries Race to Vaccinate
By Vitor Gaspar, Raphael Lam, Paolo Mauro, and Mehdi Raissi
عربي, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating in many countries and uncertainty is unusually high. (more…)
Legally Speaking, is Digital Money Really Money?
By Catalina Margulis and Arthur Rossi
Countries are moving fast toward creating digital currencies. Or, so we hear from various surveys showing an increasing number of central banks making substantial progress towards having an official digital currency. (more…)