Japan to offer Bangladesh loans worth ¥338 billion for infrastructure
The Japanese government said Wednesday it will extend loans totaling up to ¥338.25 billion ($3.17 billion) to Bangladesh for seven projects, most of which will be building infrastructure to support its economic growth. Of the total, Japan will offer as much as ¥89.02 billion for ...
As extreme poverty rises, a generation sees a future slip away
As a domestic worker, Amsale Hailemariam knew from the inside out the luxury villas that had grown up around her simple shelter of raw metal and plastic sheeting. And in them, she saw how her country, Ethiopia, had transformed. The single mother told herself, "Oh ...
U.N. goals crucial as pandemic-linked inequities rise, business leaders say
United Nation's sustainable development goals said key to global peace as the coronavirus pandemic exacerbates social and economic inequalities in Japan and across the globe.
A new way of thinking about foreign aid
Throughout the developing world there is a new mood of both pride and hope. Aid from the rich North is beginning to feel patronizing.
Pandemic risks pushing millions more into child labor, U.N. says
Millions of children could be pushed into work by the coronavirus crisis, the U.N. said Friday as it braced for the first rise in child labor in two decades. In a joint brief, the International Labour Organization and UNICEF noted that the number of children ...
China abandons growth target in pandemic, shifting stimulus focus to jobs
The Chinese government abandoned its decadeslong practice of setting an annual target for economic growth amid the storm of uncertainty unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic, and said it would continue to increase stimulus. Speaking at the National People’s Congress in Beijing on Friday morning, Premier ...
'No man's land': Delhi's urban villages face uncertain future
Many of the landmarks of Paras Tyagi's life remain the same in Budhela village in Delhi where he grew up: the house he lived in, the school that he, his father and grandfather attended, the homes of neighbors he knew as a child. But the ...
Coronavirus forces evacuation of Japanese humanitarian aid workers
Nongovernmental organizations have repatriated some Japanese workers due to tighter travel restrictions and poor health care systems in the countries where they operate.
Cities could face 100 million 'new poor' in post-pandemic world
About 100 million people living in cities worldwide will likely fall into poverty due to the coronavirus pandemic, urban experts said on Wednesday, calling for mapping tools to identify vulnerable communities and investment focusing on slums. Densely populated cities are at the front line of ...
Copying rich world’s virus plan is big risk for emerging markets
To fight the coronavirus, developing economies from Colombia to Indonesia are turning to a playbook that’s become familiar in the rich world since 2008: Central banks are buying government debt. Since February, some 13 emerging-market central banks have started snapping up bonds or said they ...
Virus could double food insecurity in nine African countries, U.N. says
The spread of COVID-19 risks devastating countries across East Africa, where food insecurity could more than double in just three months, the United Nations warned Tuesday. The U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that some 20 million people currently do not have secure provisions of ...
G7 to provide debt relief to poor nations amid coronavirus outbreak
Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven industrialized nations have agreed to provide debt relief to help developing countries finance emergency measures against the spread of the new coronavirus. The G7 finance ministers and central bank governors said after a video conference late Tuesday that ...
