In 2025, global maritime trade continues to navigate an environment marked by volatility, rerouted flows and uncertainty. Persistent geopolitical tensions and trade policy changes have altered shipping patterns, with many routes redirected away from traditional chokepoints.While containerized trade is expanding, especially along extraregional cor...
1. The Fifty-Seventh ASEAN Economic Ministers’ (AEM) Meeting was held on 23 September 2025, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Meeting, which was chaired by Malaysia under the theme of “Inclusivity and Sustainability,” was preceded by a preparatory meeting of the ASEAN Senior Economic Officials (SEOM) and joint meetings with the 39th ASEAN Fr...
On the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA-80), global leaders from the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding sectors came together with one clear message: in a world of record-high humanitarian needs and mounting crises, only stronger multilateral action through the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus can deliver lasti...
SummaryCentral banks support markets or institutions because doing so will help them meet their mandate with regard to the maintenance of price and financial stability. During crises, central banks expand the breadth of their operations, lengthen the duration of lending, and expand the range of counterparties they deal with and the pool of eligible collate...
The Joint MDB Water Security Financing Report 2024 marks a milestone in collective action by ten Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to strengthen global water security. Building on commitments made at COP28 and the One Water Summit, the report sets a baseline for tracking investments and collaboration across the water sector. In 2024 alone, MD...
Overall performance slides, but some developing country ports improved between 2020-2024Washington, D.C., September 22, 2025 — Port performance across the world declined between 2020 and 2024 due to the Red Sea Crisis, challenges at the Panama Canal, and pandemic-related shocks, according to a new report released today. However, efficiency gains vari...
SummaryMany countries have adopted fiscal rules to foster fiscal discipline, but compliance has been mixed. Recent policy shifts and heightened policy uncertainty further intensify spending pressures and persistent debt challenges, underscoring the need for stronger fiscal guardrails. Results from a major update of IMF databases on fiscal rules and council...
(Photo: Front view of the “Smile of Silla,” a human-face tile from the Silla period at the National Gyeongju Museum. This timeless design inspired the APEC 2025 Korea emblem, alongside a butterfly symbol of connection and innovation.)Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will gather in Korea at the end of October for the 2025 APEC Econo...
On September 18, 2025, the New Development Bank (NDB), in collaboration with National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Ministry of Finance (MOF) of the People’s Republic of China, co-organized a workshop aimed at developing NDB’s robust sovereign lending pipeline in the country.The Workshop was held in hybrid format at the Bank’s Headquarter...
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held a Partnership Review Meeting in Geneva on 19 September 2025 to look into the impact of the cooperation between the two organizations. Building on the Memorandum of Understanding signed at COP28 in December 2023, the review highlighted p...
