Imagine landing your dream engineering role at one of Silicon Valley’s top technology companies – from your apartment in Riyadh, Cairo, or Beirut. This dream is now within reach for thousands in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), provided they have the right skills.
Continue reading
From the COVID-19 pandemic to advanced-economy interest-rate hikes, developments over the last few years have left many developing economies struggling to repay their debts. But the problem might be even bigger than the world realizes, as many sovereign debts are hidden, undisclosed, or opaque. This prevents policy makers and investors from making informed decisions.
Continue readingThe world is off-track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have
devastating implications for people’s lives worldwide. Evidence from the World Bank’s Atlas of the SDGs shows that some 574 million people—nearly seven percent of the world—will be severely restrained by extreme poverty in 2030 unless the poorest countries grow at rates never seen before.
This year, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples recognizes the efforts of Indigenous Youth to support sustainable development, along with their pursuit of justice and preservation of their culture and traditions. The World Bank interviewed Indigenous Youth leaders from Africa, Asia, and Latin America to hear their stories and deepen our understanding of their strategies. While each have experienced unique circumstances, they face similar challenges that put at risk their capacity to sustain their peoples’ significant contributions to conserving the world’s rich cultural and biological diversity.
We live in a world where the risks of pandemics – particularly with zoonotic origins – are
growing, driven by climate change, deforestation, changing land use patterns, food systems, water shortages, and urbanization. As the WHO has warned, the question is not if there will be another pandemic, it’s when.
In early June, the sky turned yellow throughout much of the northeastern United States.
People woke up to smog, haze, and a red sun, and were warned to stay indoors to protect themselves from a toxic cocktail of air pollutants. In New York City, the levels of particulate matter with 2.5 microns or less in size (PM2.5) were registered at a record-breaking 400 micrograms per cubic meter. This reading exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended 24-hour standard guidelines 11 times and was equivalent to every person in the city, including babies, smoking 5-10 cigarettes. Such unprecedented levels of air pollution made New York the most polluted of all big cities in the world on that day, displacing perennial record holders like New Delhi or Lahore.
The bad air in New York City and across the Northeast was carried by winds from Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Quebec – Canadian provinces experiencing record-high temperatures and droughts that have caused an unprecedented number of wildfires.
Domestic food price inflation remains high around the world. Information from the latest month between February 2023 and May 2023 for which food price inflation data are available shows high inflation in most low- and middle-income countries, with inflation higher than 5% in in 61.1% of low-income countries, 81.4% of lower-middle-income countries, and 77% of upper-middle-income countries, with many experiencing double-digit inflation. In addition, 80.4% of high-income countries are experiencing high food price inflation. The most-affected countries are in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. In real terms, food price inflation exceeded overall inflation in 83.2% from 161 countries where data is available.
The upcoming Summit for a New Global Financing Pact will bring together global leaders to 
look at how international financing can bring solutions to countries facing mounting crises from climate change to poverty and pandemics. This is an opportune time to focus on how international finance can jumpstart the clean energy transition, especially for the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Netherlands for the World Bank 
You must be logged in to post a comment.