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World Economy Featured Finance News

Global growth concerns to weigh on metal prices

The World Bank’s metals and minerals price index edged up by 3 percent in May, partially recovering from an 8 percent plunge in April that had erased gains from early 2025. Metal prices have recently been shaped by rising global economic uncertainty and intensifying trade tensions. Prices are expected to decline through 2025 and 2026, […]

Energy Featured News Technology World

Home charging and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: A strategy for real-world emissions reductions

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can use either fossil fuels or electricity and offer potential emission reductions, depending on the driver’s usage. This column examines how access to charging at home influences the share of driving that employees with company cars in Germany do using electricity. Access to home charging reduces the users’ fossil fuel consumption […]

Economy Featured Finance Lifestyle News

Improving access to quality data in fragility and conflict contexts: The case of Central Sahel countries

Generally speaking, political instability, armed conflicts, and low population density create significant challenges to collecting, accessing, and disseminating quality data. This is especially true in central Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger), which are relatively vast with low population densities, ranging from 65 inhabitants per km² in Burkina Faso to 14 inhabitants per km² in […]

Development Economy Environment Featured

Extreme weather and nature loss: can the private sector be part of the infrastructure solution?

In 2018, after 3 years of droughts, the city of Cape Town in South Africa faced severe water shortages. Dam reservoir capacity had dropped to critical levels and the city was fast approaching “Day Zero” of no water availability. Desalination, new dams, strict water usage limits – all solutions were on the table.  Solving the […]

Energy Climate Environment Featured

Defence and climate: seven points for a common agenda

Faced with major security challenges, Europe is preparing to boost its defence capacity. To defend itself against Russia without the United States, Europe needs to rapidly increase spending from the current level of about 2 percent of GDP to an estimated 3.5 percent of GDP – an increase of about €250 billion annually (Burilkov and […]

Development Featured trade World

Trade policy for developing economies

Developing economies face a far more challenging international trade environment than they did at the start of the 21st century. Yet trade remains an essential component in reaching development objectives. This column offers possible policy options for developing economies to leverage untapped opportunities for cross-border cooperation and improve domestic conditions that will make trade more […]