One year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the surge in global food prices that the war triggered has subsided. But there are still reasons for worry: Prices remain elevated, and new shocks…

Food-import bills are surging fastest for poor countries that are already in debt distress. The danger of an overlapping food and debt crisis is greatest those at high risk of debt distress or…

The worst global food crisis in a decade was one of the top issues discussed at the 12th ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization last month. It is a crisis made worse by the growing…

Today, 4.4 billion people— just over half the world’s population—live in cities. In just the next three decades, two out of every three people on the planet will live in cities. Cities are the…

Earlier this month, I had an opportunity to visit the World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement (JDC) in Copenhagen, Denmark. The UNHCR has just documented a record 100 million…

This blog analyses the consequences of an energy shock on global growth. It puts the current rise in energy prices into historical context, presents model-based estimates of its growth impacts,…

Developing countries are at a critical crossroads. They are facing multiple, overlapping, and compounding crises from the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, growing impacts of climate change, economic…

In recent months, however, the war in Ukraine has led to a rise in coal use, as a short-term replacement of Russian oil and gas. But in the medium term, both advanced and developing economies will…

The war has delivered the largest commodity-price shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s. It will likely shave a full percentage point off global growth in 2022.

The war in Ukraine has dealt a major shock to commodity markets and disrupted production and trade. In this scenario, price increases come on top of already tight commodity markets due to a solid…