Earlier this year, the World Bank conducted the second round of a Data Sharing Exercise with G-7 and Paris Club creditors. This is the first large-scale effort of its kind to systematically compare creditor- and debtor-reported data at the loan-by-loan level. Since the release of the March 2025 report, the 2025 G-7 Finance Ministers’ Communiqué highlighted the exercise and […]
Knowledge, especially practical, hands-on know-how, is essential for countries to tackle development challenges and to build resilience to disasters and shocks. One of the most effective ways to share this “how-to” knowledge is through peer-to-peer exchanges among policy makers and practitioners. The challenge: Closing the disaster insurance gap When natural disasters strike, many people and […]
Following the US tariff announcements in early April, the US dollar strongly depreciated while US Treasury yields rose. This column zooms in on the April episode, analysing the co-movement of asset prices with an estimated market ‘safe-haven factor’. It shows that the co-movement of the US dollar with the ‘safe-haven factor’ changed in April, and […]
Over the past 30 years, laws in Italy have become longer, more convoluted, and frequently unintelligible even to seasoned legal professionals. This column exploits variation in the ability of lower courts to interpret poorly drafted laws in alignment with Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation to assess how legal uncertainty affects the local economy. The authors […]
Oil prices steadied on Monday, after falling more than 4% last week, as investors looked towards talks this week between the U.S. and Russia over the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures slipped 14 cents, or 0.21%, at $66.45 a barrel by 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 12 cents, […]
Britain’s ambition to rev up its economy and tap the AI revolution faces the harsh reality that the abundant, clean and reliable electricity supply this requires is unlikely to materialise any time soon. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has laid out several major industrial policies aimed at reviving Britain’s sluggish economy, including by pouring investment into the artificial […]
Some of Europe’s ageing coal and gas fired power plants can look forward to a more high-tech future as big tech players, such as Microsoft and Amazon, seek to repurpose them as data centres, with ready-made access to power and water. Companies such as France’s Engie , Germany’s RWE, and Italy’s Enel are looking to benefit from […]
OPEC+ oil producers have used high summer demand to launch their first output increases in three years, but those targets have proved difficult to hit, leaving the market surprisingly tight. On paper, the world’s largest group of oil-producing countries should be pumping an extra 2.5 million barrels of oil a day in September versus March, […]
U.S. liquefied natural gas developer Next Decade will receive up to $1.8 billion in equity commitments from Total Energies and Global Infrastructure Partners to finance a fourth liquefaction plant at its Rio Grande LNG export project in Texas, the company said on Monday in a regulatory filing. The move brings NextDecade one step closer to a positive […]
Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports to China are set to fall in September, slipping from a more than two-year high in August after the world’s largest exporter raised prices, several trade sources said on Monday. State oil firm Saudi Aramco will ship about 43 million barrels to China in September, or 1.43 million barrels per day […]
