The World Bank predicts the greatest drop in remittances in recent history, with low-income developing countries set to receive US$110 billion less, due to COVID-19 in 2020.
Remittances, which are the cash flows sent home by migrant workers to help their families, are a huge source of finance for low- and-middle-income countries. Last year, these countries received 78% of the US$714 billion that were sent around the world. Global remittance flows were five times higher than official development assistance in...
Razaq Fatai
The world has made massive strides in ending extreme poverty over the past two decades. Since 2000, over a billion people have escaped extreme poverty. At that rate, the global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 could be possible.
But the problem is far from solved. Today, 592 million people worldwide are living on under US$1.90 a day. While extreme poverty is decreasing on the whole, more people are entering extreme poverty in the countries most affected by poverty....
Until now, the pace of Africa’s regional integration—where countries coordinate policies to achieve greater prosperity—has been sluggish. But after 2 years of rigorous negotiations, African leaders have adopted the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The agreement is huge. It means that goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and people will be able to move freely across the 54 countries on the continent, without the multiple checks and restrictions that exist today. If successfully implemented by 2020, the AfCFTA would...