Redesigning Global Finance

January 30, 2025

In this episode of Redesigning Global Finance, we explore the evolving landscape of global financial governance, focusing on how institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and regional development banks are adapting to new economic realities and global crises. The episode examines how financial systems must evolve to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlights the transformative role of digital technologies such as cryptocurrencies, blockchain, AI, and fintech in reshaping financial infrastructure and promoting financial inclusion. At the same time, it addresses the regulatory, security, and governance challenges these innovations present. The discussion centers on the urgent reforms needed to ensure financial resilience, aligning capital flows with sustainable development in emerging markets, and the changing role of traditional financial institutions in the face of rising digital finance.

Speakers
Ahmed Ouhnini
Economist, Policy Center for the New South
Ahmed Ouhnini is an Economist at the Policy Center for the New South. His research area covers agricultural economics, human and social development. Previously, he has worked as a researcher at the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and has also a record of working in consulting services in Morocco. Ahmed holds an engineering Diploma in Agriculture and Rural Development from the National School of Agriculture of Meknes and a Master’s Degree in Law, Economics and Management from the Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne Institute of Development. ...
Ferid Belhaj
Senior Fellow
Ferid Belhaj took up the position of World Bank Vice President for Middle East and North Africa on July 1, 2018. Prior to this, he served as the Chief of Staff of the President of the World Bank Group for 15 months. From 2012 to 2017, Mr. Belhaj was World Bank Director for the Middle East, in charge of work programs in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Iran, based in Beirut, Lebanon. In this capacity, he led the Bank’s engagement on the Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on the region, including the creation of new financing instruments to help countries hosting forcibly displaced people; the ramping up of the Bank drive towards the reconstruction and recovery of Iraq during and after the ISIS invasion and the scaling up of the Bank's commitments to Lebanon and Jordan. Befo ...
Masood Ahmed
President of the Center for Global Development
...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    October 28, 2022
    Le débat parlementaire sur la loi de Finances va bientôt entamer son cycle annuel. L'examen de la loi de Finances est un temps fort du débat budgétaire. Il est indéniable que la finalité de la représentation nationale est de promouvoir une logique d'efficacité des institutions du Royaume. Le débat déborde naturellement le cadre de travail des commissions et des séances publiques parlementaires pour irradier la presse, les acteurs économiques et sociaux et l'opinion publique. La diff ...
  • Authors
    October 24, 2022
    The pandemic has hit Latin America hard, and its economic recovery has been slower than in other regions. In addition to the legacy of higher public indebtedness, the pandemic left scars on the labor market and the human capital formation of future workers. The COVID-19 crisis has receded in Latin America but has left a significant toll. Reported deaths from the pandemic are currently low and converging to global levels. The average excess mortality during the pandemic was among t ...
  • October 19, 2022
    La place de l'intelligence artificielle (IA) dans notre vie quotidienne est de plus en plus importante. Ayant connu un essor considérable durant les dernières années, l’intelligence artificielle correspond aux technologies capables de traiter des sources hybrides et notamment des données non structurées. Ainsi, des tâches complexes sont déléguées à des procédés technologiques de plus en plus autonomes, en mesure d’impulser le développement économique et social du Maroc ...
  • Authors
    October 18, 2022
     This publication was originally published in the IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook 2022   The informal sector plays a major role in most MENA economies. It employs a large share of the total population and, on average, accounts for about 22% of GDP. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), which defines informal employment as the proportion of workers without access to social security, the share of informal employment in total employment in MENA countries ranges from ...
  • October 18, 2022
    وجدت الحكومة المغربية نفسها بعد عام من بداية عملها أمام مجموعة من التحديات نتيجة سلسلة الأزمات الدولية التي اندلعت خلال السنوات الأخيرة وتداعياتها. فبعد الطموحات والأهداف المعلن عنها في البرنامج الحكومي، علاوة على الأوضاع الدولية تُطرح جملة من الإشكاليات التي تسبّبت في إعادة النظر وفي ت...
  • Authors
    Mostafa Kheireddine
    October 17, 2022
    Depuis deux décennies, le Maroc réalise de grands projets urbains qui ne manqueront pas de façonner la ville marocaine du XXIe siècle. Ce programme de développement urbain intégré concerne les grandes agglomérations. Il est considéré comme une réponse à une politique de la ville en mal de territorialisation au vu de la faible convergence des politiques publiques. Ce choix politique augure de nouveaux modes d’intervention et de gouvernance des villes. Le programme s’opèr ...
  • October 14, 2022
    En attribuant le prix Nobel d'économie 2022 à Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond et Philip H. Dybvig, le jury Nobel a voulu distinguer des travaux, remontant aux années 1980, qui permettent de mieux comprendre l'implication des banques dans les crises. Travaux pionniers, également, dans l'élaboration d'une théorie bancaire, où l'analyse historique est présente avec Ben S. Bernanke qui a longuement étudié le rôle des banques dans la crise de 1929, afin de ne pas renouveler les erreu ...
  • October 13, 2022
    Le réservoir de jeunes dans la région représente une mine à exploiter. Cependant, l’effet de dividende démographique reste confronter dans la région à de multiples défis. Il reste subordonné à la capacité d’accélérer le processus des réformes en mesure d’améliorer l'environnement de son...
  • Authors
    October 12, 2022
    There is an international movement to tighten monetary and fiscal policies as a response to the global inflation phenomenon. Accordingly, global economic growth projections for 2022 and 2023 have been revised downward. As inflation will decline only gradually, given the price stickiness of its core components, there is likely to be momentarily a situation of stagflation, i.e. a combination of significant inflation and low or negative GDP growth. We discuss how the current global s ...
  • October 7, 2022
    “The debate on the viability of industrial policy design based on the fragmentation of global value chains, from a cost optimization perspective, did not arise first in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis but was present long before. This industrial policy design was justified by the great development of logistics and transport across the world’s industrial clusters, which allowed just-in-time manufacturing to become the main adopted production model. However, the disruption of logistic ...