Financing

Fuelling young entrepreneurs' dairy dreams
The Enhanced Integrated Framework provided a €30,000 security to MECK-Moroni to shoulder the risk of the investment. This sort of blended finance is catalytic for aspiring business owners like Bihaicha. Blended finance is a way to use public funds to increase private investment in sustainable development.

Beyond ODA and Aid for Trade: The critical value of alternative trade funding
The Enhanced Integrated Framework has remained a key conduit for both channelling and leveraging wider Aid for Trade resources to the LDCs over the past decade but also has the mandate to support LDCs expand their trade funding base.

Plastic pollution: Can aid for trade help least developed countries tackle this crisis?
LDCs have to deal with millions of tonnes of plastic products imported each year, including products with embedded plastics and with associated plastic packaging.

The world of finance is waking up to the reality of climate change, but money still isn’t getting to the right places
Trade is a critical part of on the ground adaptation efforts that must also be considered, specifically local trade amongst small and medium enterprises which are impacted head-on by climate emergencies. We are seeing communities already vulnerable to shocks affected not only in terms of their resources getting destroyed or depleted but also due to a lack of support systems when this happens.

As pandemic eases, LDCs face a long road to recovery
The World Bank warned that recovery will be slower in low-income countries, especially small, fragile and conflict-affected states. This is due to lower vaccination rates, tighter fiscal and monetary policies, and more persistent scarring from the pandemic.

Why trade finance matters to unlock LDCs' trade potential
A better access to trade finance in least developed countries (LDCs) could allow businesses to have the financial tools to participate in national, regional or global trade.

What Bhutan got right about happiness - and what other countries can learn
Guided by its Gross National Happiness, Bhutan has considerably improved its economic, environmental, social and governance situation in the past four decades.

Narrowing the trade finance gap for LDCs
The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges Least Developed Countries (LDCs) face in accessing vital trade finance, as many have seen their local dollar liquidity shrink while foreign banks take a dimmer - and not always accurate - view of emerging market risk.

COVID-19 is exacerbating the global trade finance gap
Originally published in World Economic Forum Agenda on 6 July 2020

How can least developed countries attract foreign direct investment in the context of COVID-19?
Ways for LDCs to adapt amid global turmoil

Creating a strong investment climate in the wake of COVID-19
Supply chains are vulnerable, but there is also promise in new sectors for least developed countries

Why exporters need to mind the trade finance gap
Originally published in World Economic Forum Agenda on 10 February 2020