During the 2022 World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings, we explored how countries can boost growth, productivity, inclusion and resilience as they recover by embracing private sector innovation coupled with enabling government policy. World leaders came together to discuss how to best build resilience & manage uncertainty. Listen to the Spring Meetings highlights in a special series of The Development Podcast.

Around the world 178 countries either have laws that hinder women’s economic inclusion, or lack laws that foster it. That translates to 2.4 billion women of working age who don’t have equal economic opportunities as men. And while the number of countries that score well in the World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law research has risen, on average women globally have just three-quarters of the legal rights of men. What are the obstacles to achieving economic inclusion for women? And where is...

How could crypto technologies change the international development sector? The World Bank’s Global Director of Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation, Jean Pesme, discusses how blockchain could revolutionize aspects of economic development from trade to remittances. Also, we explore the promise and the pitfalls of this increasingly popular technology. ‘The less intermediaries you have, the easier it is to do it. The more the costs are going to go down, the more transparency you could have,...

On this edition of the Development Podcast from the World Bank Group, Raka Banerjee and Paul Blake examine one of the biggest challenges facing the global community today: Climate Change. “If we don’t tackle climate change, over 130 million people will be pushed into poverty over the next 10 years and entire economies will be held hostage to the worst impacts,” says World Bank Manager for Advisory and Operations in the Climate Group, Genevieve Connors. First up, Raka reviews what we know...

"The situation that we see right now is absolutely unacceptable, because a large of the world remains unvaccinated and this is a danger for all of us," so warns Mamta Murthi, the World Bank's Vice President for Human Development. What's keeping jabs from arms in low-income countries? And what's being done to help? In the latest edition of The Development Podcast, we're examining these questions and more. From Addis Ababa, Dr. Ahmed Ogwell, Deputy Director of the Africa Centers for Disease...

Around the world, some 70% of economic activity is taking place in the shadows – and no, we’re not talking about drug smuggling or other illegal commerce.  In this edition of The Development Podcast, the team takes a deep dive into a new analysis that has revealed that the informal sector – firms and workers outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies – accounts for about a third of GDP and more than 70 percent of...

In our first episode of 2021, we invited an all star panel of development experts - including UNICEF’s Henrietta Fore, economist and author Dambisa Moyo, Save the Children’s Kevin Watkins, and the World Bank’s Axel van Trotsenburg - to share what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what’s next when it comes to the COVID-19 response. 

“COVID has been a big setback and particularly a setback for the poorest countries. But I think there are some opportunities that we can build on into the future.” World Bank Group President, David Malpass on his hopes for 2021. In a special year end edition of The Development Podcast, President Malpass and Interim MD and COO of the IFC, the Bank’s private sector arm, look back on 2020 and examine the path to a resilient recovery in 2021. “I really do hope that as we come out of this, we can...

“Even by the standards of systemic crises, this is a once in a century, global – truly global – crisis,” explains Carmen Reinhart, the World Bank’s newly-appointed Chief Economist, about the pandemic-led economic downturn. In a special appearance on The Development Podcast, Reinhart and World Bank Group President David Malpass give us their perspective on the health of the global economy and what they believe a path to recovery looks like. “More-so than the 2008 crisis,” according to...

On the latest edition of The Development Podcast, we explore the gender dynamics at play during the COVID-19 pandemic with the World Bank’s Global Director for Gender, Caren Grown. “It turns out actually that the pandemic is not gender neutral,” Grown tells us, explaining that women and girls face distinct risks including increased exposure to the virus on health care front lines, potentially larger impacts to their livelihoods during lockdowns, as well as heightened risk of domestic...

Developing countries are under tremendous strain while attempting to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.  To try and free-up resources so that they can better protect lives and livelihoods, the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund in April called on creditors to allow lower income countries to suspend their bilateral debt service payments and focus resources on responding to the pandemic. The plan – called the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) – was taken up by G20...

In recent years, remittances were on the rise, playing an increasingly important role in global development.  They eclipsed foreign aid in the ‘90s and surpassed foreign direct investment last year. Then COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns hit.  Dilip Ratha, the World Bank’s Lead Economist for Migration and Remittances, tells us that he thinks there will be a 20% drop in those flows this year, as migrants struggle to find work. And that matters, he says, because many families depend on...

Call it the “great lockdown”, the “coronavirus recession” or another moniker – whatever your label, the facts are clear: this unprecedented pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on the private sector. While the full scale of the damage to companies and jobs is still being assessed, the International Finance Corporation’s Stephanie Von Friedeburg says: “developed country or a developing country, locking down an economy creates insolvency”. “What we're going to see is a rise in...

Millions of people’s food security and livelihoods are under threat from historic locust swarms that are decimating cropland in East Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. As affected countries work to respond, experts tell the Development Podcast that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is complicating response efforts. With the World Bank stepping up to support countries, we hear from two of the experts behind the $500 million (USD) program – Afrah Al-Ahmadi and Melissa Williams. We also take a...

As healthcare workers continue to tirelessly fight the coronavirus, countries around the globe are starting to look towards recovery from the pandemic. In a special interview David Malpass, the World Bank Group’s President, shares his thoughts on the crisis response so far and lays out his vision for the road ahead – how to promote economic growth, support the poorest, and sustain businesses and jobs. The Group’s president shared his views on the unique risks and opportunities for...

As the coronavirus has rapidly spread around the globe just about every aspect of life is being disrupted – not least education, which was already in crisis. That begs the question: How do we educate students during a pandemic? We get the view from the World Bank’s Global Director for Education, Jaime Saavedra, who walks us through COVID-19’s impact schools, students, learning, and the solutions countries are implementing. As students shift from the classroom to the living room, families...

***Update: This episode was recorded in early March and makes several references to the World Bank’s fast-track financing facility to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since recording, the value of that package has increased from $12bn to $14bn. The podcast may contain references to the earlier figure.*** As coronavirus has rapidly spread around the globe – infecting more than 100,000 and killing more than 4,000 – healthcare systems and economies are coming under pressure. Of particular...

Just in time for International Women's Day, this special bonus episode the Development Podcast looks at Women, Business, and the Law - major research analyzing female economic inclusion worldwide. Just eight countries have a perfect score of 100 and globally, on-average women have just three quarters of the rights of men. But researchers are seeing progress and reason for hope.

For decades, developing countries have faced the threats of undernutrition, stunting and starvation. While those problems haven’t gone away, incredible progress has been made. Now, a new threat looms: Obesity and excess weight. In the latest episode of The Development Podcast, we hear from researchers at the forefront of new analysis into this “double-burden” of undernutrition and obesity. First up, we get the view from Mexico City, where pediatrician Dr. Salvador Villalpando talks through...

It's one of the most anticipated – and closely watched – reports in the world of entrepreneurship. Each year, the World Bank's "Doing Business" team analyzes and ranks – literally, like football standings – the world's economies for how easy (or hard) they make it to start a business. In this inaugural episode of The Development Podcast we go inside the rankings, revealing just where you'll have the easiest time launching your next venture – and which countries could be the next global...

Hosts Raka Banerjee and Paul Blake preview what to expect from the World Bank Group's new flagship series.