Latest content: Economic development

A record number of countries are set to leave the United Nations category of Least Developed Countries (LDC), but experts warn that without extra support they are at risk of sliding back into poverty.

Commonwealth central bankers have created a technical framework that will improve access to cheaper, faster and more efficient banking for people without bank accounts.

Innovations in the finance sector could help lift more people out of poverty and boost growth in developing Commonwealth countries.

Central bank officials will meet in Bermuda next week to agree on a framework that can help build robust fin-tech ecosystems in their countries.

Philda Maiga was deployed as a national trade adviser to Kenya from 2014 until 2019 under the Hub and Spokes Programme. Providing technical support to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, she shares insights from her experience in supporting the development of Kenya’s first ever national strategy to combat illicit trade.

Implementation of international commercial arbitration mechanisms could significantly strengthen and increase trade in the Commonwealth.

Voting has begun in a referendum on the independence of Bougainville from Papua New Guinea, with a team from the Commonwealth deployed to observe the process.

Commonwealth finance ministers have recognised the potential of technology to improve debt transparency while urging closer collaboration to resolve tax challenges arising from growing digital commerce.

Trade wars, protectionism, and nationalist rhetoric are combining to weave the possibility of a nightmare debt crisis that could be worse than any previously experienced. Global borrowing is now at the highest levels since the 1950s – and history suggests we should take this as a warning that a debt crisis could be looming.

Several Commonwealth countries are now equipped to use the Commonwealth’s new debt management software, following a two-week hands-on programme for officials in London.

Trade ministers from across the Commonwealth today made a commitment to resist all forms of protectionism, and to work urgently together towards reforming the World Trade Organisation, which sets the global rules for international trade.

Commonwealth finance ministers will meet in Washington D.C. on 17 October 2019 to discuss coordinated interventions to prevent future debt crises. The meeting will be chaired by the Finance Minister of Cyprus, Harris Georgiades, under the theme ‘Preventing Debt Crises: The Roles of Creditors and Debtors’.

The blistering pace of innovation in financial services has seen the emergence, in the past two decades, of an array of new technologies deployed into the market – and new companies using those technologies – in more than a hundred countries around the globe.

A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, linked together by unbreakable cryptography. Among its many applications, this technology is used to underpin financial products and services including digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin. 

A national e-commerce strategy launched this week in Yaoundé aims to help Cameroonians take advantage of opportunities offered by the digital revolution.

Micro, small and medium businesses (MSMEs) in Sri Lanka are gearing up to take advantage of new proposals that will boost participation in global e-commerce.

Finance ministries and central banks from eastern and southern Africa have been given expert training to prepare them for switching to the Commonwealth’s new state-of-the-art public debt management system.

Business leaders say entrepreneurship must be the backbone of future policy solutions if Asia’s youth boom is to bring collective benefits to the region.

The Commonwealth Public Debt Management Forum is an excellent opportunity for debt managers, experts and practitioners to discuss issues crucial to countries’ future growth and development, says Uganda’s High Commissioner.

A new state-of-art Commonwealth debt management system will help countries to proactively manage their public debt portfolio, according to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland

Senior trade officials wrapped up two days of consultations in Singapore, focussing on how Asia-Pacific countries could better harness trade policy to strengthen global trade links and step up participation in regional and global value chains.

Young business leaders from 17 African countries have explored fresh solutions to overcome employment and entrepreneurship challenges at a workshop in Tanzania

Committed to achieving $2 trillion worth of intra-Commonwealth trade by 2030, policymakers from across the Commonwealth agreed to use good regulatory practices (GRPs) to boost trade and help businesses flourish.