“If we were to extract that kind of boost of growth that would be very significant for the world,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington. Booming investment in artificial intelligence, concentrated mostly in the U.S., could contribute between 0.1% and 0.8% to global growth, but […]
Economic activity in the Asia-Pacific was holding up better than expected in April, despite the region bearing the brunt of U.S. tariffs, said Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF’s Asia Pacific Department. The International Monetary Fund revised up Asia’s economic growth forecast on Thursday, but warned of risks to the outlook from trade policy uncertainty […]
WTO economists raised the 2025 merchandise trade growth forecast to 2.4%. Global merchandise trade outpaced expectations in the first half of 2025, driven by increased spending on AI-related products, a surge in North American imports ahead of tariff hikes, and strong trade among the rest of the world. In response, WTO economists raised the 2025 […]
According to the World Bank, one-third of the global population, roughly 2.6 billion people, live in “digital darkness,” meaning they lack access to the internet. Even European Union countries are facing a stark reality, as nearly half of all adults struggle to navigate the digital landscape. At the same time, job markets are evolving at breakneck speed—demanding advanced skills in […]
The agency’s strategic objective is to position the UAE among the world’s top ten countries in attracting and hosting space-related companies by 2031. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the UAE Space Agency, affirmed that the UAE’s space sector is witnessing rapid growth, driven by sustained government support and the […]
The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 marked a turning point in how firms and investors view generative artificial intelligence. This column measures the extent and tone of firms’ discussions of GenAI in earnings calls, and finds that early engagement with AI topics boosted stock market performance beyond the immediate impact on expected earnings. The […]
Artificial intelligence tools can now produce highly realistic text, images, and videos at almost no cost, prompting concerns that the proliferation of fabricated content may mean mainstream news outlets lose both the trust and demand of their audience. This column reports the results of a field experiment in partnership with one of Germany’s most respected […]
Tweaks to EU copyright requirements in the AI Act Code of Practice will maintain the AI growth momentum, for now – but will also create new challenges. As part of the implementation of the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), the European Commission has published several implementation guidelines, including the final Code of […]
The rapid adoption of AI in the workplace has raised concerns about job loss. This column uses data covering all AI-related commercial software registered with Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property to show how AI is affecting the labour market in two distinct ways. In the factory, AI increases employment of low-skilled workers by making […]
Studies of the impact of robots on labour markets often conceptualise jobs as bundles of distinct tasks. In such frameworks, technologies substitute or complement workers. But this view may overestimate the potential adverse effects of automation, particularly in developing countries. This column distinguishes between technical feasibility and economic viability of adopting industrial robots and artificial […]
