Mind Mapping - The Development Establishment Maintenance and Refinement Institute (DEMRI)

Africa Economic Update - April 2026

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 23:36:11 -0700

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic recovery from successive global shocks is losing momentum, with growth projections for 2026 revised downward from those published in October 2025. Geopolitical spillovers from the conflict in the Middle East, high debt service burdens, and structural weaknesses are limiting growth prospects and job creation.

Against this backdrop, the report argues that Africa’s growth challenge is structural, reflected in low investment, weak productivity, and limited job creation. While interest in industrial policy has revived, past efforts often failed due to weak implementation capacity, fiscal and institutional constraints. The report proposes a pragmatic, ecosystem based approach that aligns policy tools with country capabilities to deliver productivity gains and durable structural transformation.

Latin America And Caribbean Economic Update

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 23:31:23 -0700

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) enters 2026 with growth still constrained by long‑standing structural challenges. Regional GDP growth is projected to reach 2.1 percent in 2026—slightly below the 2.4 percent recorded in 2025—leaving LAC once again one of the slowest-growing regions in the world, with GDP per capita barely growing. The lack of improvement comes with downward revisions in some country projections and reflects a familiar mix of demand: private consumption remains the main driver, while investment stays subdued amid elevated global and domestic uncertainty and still‑restrictive real (inflation-adjusted) financing conditions. Progress against inflation continues,Â albeit more slowly than expected.

Global Economic Prospects 2026

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 16:15:03 -0700

Abstract

The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience.

To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.

All applicable charts (.xlsx) available for download upon request.

Silver Opportunity Case Studies: Experiences with Building Integrated Services for Older Adults around Primary Health Care

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 15:11:19 -0700

Health care systems must be prepared to address the expanding and complex needs of an aging population. Rather than a “silver challenge,” this situation should be seen as an opportunity to reevaluate and reorganize the health care delivery system holistically.

"Silver Opportunity Case Studies" presents a comprehensive examination of care for older adults in diverse economic and geographic contexts through a collection of country and regional case studies. This collection of case studies complements the synthesis volume of global evidence—Silver Opportunity: Building Integrated Services for Older Adults around Primary Health Care—by offering practical insights for decision-making, sharing knowledge, and encouraging cross-learning. The book provides a deeper understanding of the complexities involved and highlights key issues and current practices at the country level. The overarching goal of the volume is to inform policy makers, health care professionals, and other stakeholders about effective practices for caring for older adults and to support the development of evidence-based policies that enhance their health and well-being.

Digital Opportunities in African Businesses

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:20:25 -0700

Using rich datasets, Digital Opportunities in African Businesses offers a new understanding of the region’s incomplete digitalization—namely, shortfalls in the adoption and effective use of digital technology by firms to perform productive tasks. The research presented here also highlights the challenges in addressing incomplete digitalization, finding that the cost of machinery, equipment, and software, as well as the cost of connectivity to the internet, is significantly more expensive in Africa than elsewhere.

The Commons

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 20:26:35 -0800

'The Commons' explores the many forms of development being championed by Africa's residents, users, and citizens. In addition to managing property and shared tangible and intangible resources collectively, communities are experimenting with a concept of 'commoning' founded on values such as community, engagement, reciprocity, and trust. In practice, their approach takes the form of land-based commons, housing cooperatives, hybrid cultural spaces or places for innovation, and collaborative digital platforms. The purpose of this book, where observation of historical and recent practices converges with new theories within commons scholarship, is not to promote commons themselves. Rather, it examines the tensions, drivers of change, and opportunities that surround commons dynamics in Africa.

The Effect of Multinational Enterprises on Climate Change

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 19:48:51 -0700

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) provide both a fundamental risk to and an opportunity for climate change mitigation. Proactive MNEs can impose sustainability standards or encourage green technology transfers that affect millions of producers and quickly reduce emissions. Yet, some MNEs may hold back emissions reduction by resisting, obstructing, or lobbying against change.

Publication: World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 21:08:38 -0700

Migration is a development challenge. About 184 million people—2.3 percent of the world’s population—live outside of their country of nationality. Almost half of them are in low- and middle-income countries. But what lies ahead? As the world struggles to cope with global economic imbalances, diverging demographic trends, and climate change, migration will become a necessity in the decades to come for countries at all levels of income. If managed well, migration can be a force for prosperity and can help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. World Development Report 2023 proposes an innovative approach to maximize the development impacts of cross-border movements on both destination and origin countries and on migrants and refugees themselves. The framework it offers, drawn from labor economics and international law, rests on a “Match and Motive Matrix” that focuses on two factors: how closely migrants’ skills and attributes match the needs of destination countries and what motives underlie their movements. This approach enables policy makers to distinguish between different types of movements and to design migration policies for each. International cooperation will be critical to the effective management of migration.

Africa's Resource Future

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 13:38:38 -0700

How can African economies tap into these opportunities while managing the downside risk to their fossil fuel wealth? "Africa’s Resource Future" explores these themes and offers policy makers insights to help them navigate the coming years of uncertainty.

Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Thu, 04 May 2023 00:00:00 -0700

All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, broader use can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth.

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Jobs Undone - Reshaping the Role of Governments toward Markets and Workers in North Africa

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 11:21:41 -0700

Jobs Undone: Reshaping the Role of Governments toward Markets and Workers in the Middle East and North Africa explores ways to break these impasses, drawing on original research, survey data, wide-ranging literature, and young entrepreneurial voices from the region. The report finds that a prominent reason behind MENA’s unmet jobs challenge is a lack of market contestability in the formal private sector. Also, new evidence generated for this report shows that the lack of dynamism is due to the prevalence of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). To change this reality, the state must reshape its relationship toward markets, toward workers, and toward women. The region must create a level playing field between SOEs and the private sector, replace labor rigidities with appropriate social protection and labor market programs, and remove barriers to women’s economic participation.

Innovations in Tax Compliance

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Thu, 19 May 2022 15:10:20 -0700

Innovations in Tax Compliance: Building Trust, Navigating Politics, and Tailoring Reform takes a fresh look at tax reform. The authors draw on recent research and experience for their new conceptual framework to guide more effective approaches to reform. With a greater emphasis on the overlapping goals of building trust, navigating political resistance, and tailoring reform to unique local contexts, the new framework not only can lead to greater compliance, a fairer system, and higher revenues, but also can contribute to building state capacity, sustained political support for further reforms, and a stronger fiscal contract between citizens and governments.

Global Economic Prospects January 2022

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Wed, 18 May 2022 09:57:28 -0700

As the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 crisis, economic developments have been both encouraging and troubling, clouded by many risks and considerable uncertainty. The good news is that output in many countries rebounded in 2021 after a sharp decline in 2020. Advanced economies and many middle-income countries have reached substantial vaccination rates. International trade has picked up, and high commodity prices are benefiting many developing countries. Domestic financial crises and foreign debt restructurings have been less frequent than might have been expected in a time of severe global shocks.

Women, Business and the Law 2022

admin@demri.net (Marcus W.A. Tremble) — Wed, 18 May 2022 09:46:05 -0700

Women, Business and the Law 2022 is the eighth in a series of annual studies measuring progress toward gender equality in 190 economies by examining the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity.