The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Financial Corporation (IFC), the World Bank (WB), together with development agencies of the United Kingdom (DfID) and Sweden (SIDA) launched a joint data base of published diagnostics.

The Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE) and the UN E-Waste Coalition released a report “A New Circular Vision for Electronics. Time for a Global Reboot”. The report concludes that it is time to “… re-consider e-waste, re-evaluate the electronics industry and reboot the system for the benefit of industry, consumers, workers, the health of humankind and the environment. …”

ACCA published article explaining why “professional accountants will need to reassess their relationship with technology as the number of areas where automation meets emotional intelligence increase”. The article was first published in the International edition of Accounting and Business magazine.

The EBRD produced a short documentary film on the food revolution in the world and the importance of sustainable agriculture and food production.

Please follow the link to watch the film in English: https://www.ebrd.com/cs/Satellite?c=Content&cid=1395264873320&d=Default&pagename=EBRD%2FContent%2FContentLayout

Image: EBRD. Documentary film “Food for the Future”

In this Pocket Economics podcast Charlotte Ruhe, Director for Financial Products within the EBRD’s Small Business Initiative, discusses challenges women entrepreneurs face, how women entrepreneurs can overcome challenges and make their business more successful as well as available support.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) released a working paper that explains financial technology and blockchain, while exploring impacts of FinTechs and TechFins on the financial sector and financial inclusion, risks and challenges from new technologies as well as applications and services for international financial institutions and their clients.

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank’s premier compilation of international statistics on global development. Drawing from officially recognized sources and including national, regional, and global estimates, the WDI provides access to almost 1,600 indicators for 217 economies, with some time series extending back more than 50 years.

The 2018 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals is a visual guide to the trends, challenges and measurement issues related to each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The Atlas features maps and data visualizations, primarily drawn from World Development Indicators (WDI) - the World Bank’s compilation of internationally comparable statistics about global development and the quality of people’s lives.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) published a video explaining what smart contracts are and how they can increase transparency in business.

According to the report, major challenges for Central Asia include “further improving the adequacy of legal and regulatory frameworks, strengthening the independence and capacity of financial regulators, … introducing modern risk management and corporate governance practices.”
The full report in English is available at: https://www.ebrd.com/news/publications/transition-report/transition-report-201819.html
Image: EBRD

In this Pocket Economics podcast, Mr Owen Barder, Vice President at the Center for Global Development, discusses its current goals and challenges of the development finance with Jonathan Charles.