Scope and Objectives of the 2026 Review of IMF Program Design and ConditionalityThis Public Consultation is Open from March 26, 2026–April 30, 2026Take the Survey in: English | French | Spanish | ArabicThe 2026 Review of Program Design and Conditionality (ROC) is the first review to take place since the COVID pandemic. T...
IntroductionThe conflict in the Middle East is testing the resilience of the global economy.The outlook is surrounded by high uncertainty and reflects the interaction of two opposing forces:On the upside, growth is supported by strong momentum in technology-related investment and production, lower tariff rates than previously assumed, and carry-over from r...
On 26 March, the opening day of the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), the six co-coordinators of the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade (DPP) - Australia, Barbados, China, Ecuador, Fiji and Morocco - presented a ministerial statement and a package of five technical documents. Together, they reflect the progress ...
The WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, opened on 26 March with concerns about geopolitical strife and the future of the organization weighing on WTO members. Nevertheless, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she was hopeful the gathering of trade ministers would find the political will to overcome differences and adva...
On February 3, 2026, the New Development Bank (NDB) successfully priced a USD 2 billion 3-year Regulation S benchmark bond under NDB’s USD 50 billion Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) Programme. The coupon was set at 4%.The transaction attracted robust and diversified investor demand, with orders totalling over USD 6.7 billion, from over 100 accounts. Allocati...
HighlightExport diversification has long been promoted to reduce commodity dependence, yet its empirical relationship with commodity dependence may be more complex than traditionally understood.Using data from 183 countries between 1995 and 2019, this paper explores how economic complexity, a measure of the sophistication and technological intens...
The UNESCO Regional Office in Santiago formalized a cooperation agreement with the educational institution, one of the most influential in Latin America and the Caribbean. The agreement marks a decisive step towards the launch of the Regional Observatory on Artificial Intelligence in Education, an initiative aimed at closing the gap between public policy a...
Yaoundé, 25 March 2026 – On the margins of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 14th Ministerial Conference, UNIDO and WTO organized a high-level event that highlighted how investment in the cotton, textile, and garment sectors could help transform West and Central African economies.The event signalled a new phase of the ‘Partenariat pour le Coton...
DOWNLOAD PICTUREThe Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today signed a letter of intent to support members in building national capacity across key development sectors. AIIB President Zou Jiayi and IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi signed the letter at AIIB’s headquarters in Beijing....
Ten years after launching SheTrades, ITC is helping more women than ever compete in global markets. A high-level event at the WTO Ministerial Conference celebrated the anniversary and gathered key partners to set an agenda for the decade ahead: towards women-led businesses that are greener, growing through digital trade, with higher-val...
