Bangladesh’s external debt servicing record has historically been stellar as a least developed country. The country has comfortably met its external debt servicing obligations, largely thanks to its strong export performance. However, Bangladesh has taken on a large volume of foreign debt to finance multiple infrastructure mega-projects. The country has struggled with macroeconomic management in […]
By Tim Hirschel-Burns With the 2025 International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Group Annual Meetings underway in Washington, D.C. from October 13-18, the agenda is noticeably light. At the meetings, the World Bank will continue to focus on its jobs strategy. At the Spring Meetings in April, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on the IMF […]
There is a vanishing window to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Meeting this urgent challenge will require a tremendous mobilization of resources for a major investment push toward new economic growth paths that are low-carbon, socially inclusive and climate- resilient. This challenge is all the more urgent given that intersecting crises of the […]
By Marina Zucker-Marques, Laurissa Mühlich, and Barbara Fritz In a world beset by lower growth prospects, unprecedented uncertainty in international trade and high debt service pressures, access to timely financial resources is essential for central banks and governments in order to stabilize their economies without compromising spending on domestic priorities. This crisis financing comes from […]
Over the past 12 months, efforts to tackle a warming planet have lost momentum. There has already been a dialing back on climate initiatives at the Western-led Bretton Woods Institutions and by private financiers, with meaningful progress on the climate financing challenge stalling at the very moment greater effort is urgently needed. As a result, […]
By Rachel Thrasher and Praveena Bandara The consensus around the urgent need for climate policy continues to grow. In a July 2025 address, UN Secretary-General António Guterres lauded this new “moment of opportunity” by launching a technical report that highlights the benefits and inevitability of a global energy transition. The report highlights the rapid progress […]
Advanced economies that have criticized industrial policy in the past, are now increasingly turning to those tools in response to the climate crisis. At the same time, existing trade and investment agreements, negotiated and drafted at a time when countries viewed industrial policies with skepticism, embody a more “hands-off” approach to economic governance. The new […]
Although Africa is responsible for less than 4 percent of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and bears the brunt of climate change, all 54 African countries have signed the 2015 Paris Agreement. As of May 2022, 45 African countries had submitted updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions […]
Climate change is a global environmental crisis that has perpetuated economic and fiscal challenges for countries all over the world. Concurrent with the awareness of climate change risks, there is growing unease regarding the disproportionate impact of climate change on less-developed countries, particularly those in Africa. Countries with persistently low per capita growth, such as […]
The Boston University Global Development Policy Center, the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) and Institute of Global Politics (IGP) at Columbia University and the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C. will host a workshop on “The Role of SDRs for Global Stability and Sustainable Economic Transformation,” on December 5, 2025. Special Drawing Rights […]