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
    Yonas Adeto
    Thomas Gomart
    Paolo Magri
    Greg Mills
    Karin Von Hippel
    Guntram Wolff
    April 9, 2020
    في وقت توجه فيه كل دول العالم تركيزها نحو الشأن الداخلي لمواجهة وباء فيروس “كورونا”، أكد العديد من الباحثين المغاربة والأجانب في الشأن الاقتصادي والسياسي على ضروة التفكير بطرق يستطيع من خلالها فاعلون خارجيون تقديم المساعدة للدول الفقيرة، “ويجب أن تتم الاستجابات في إفريقيا من خلال تنفيذ أفضل الممارسات فيما يتعلق بالتعاون الدولي”. وفي ذات السياق دعا الخبراء، وجلهم مسؤولون عن مراكز دراسات أوربية وإفريقية ذات صيت عالمي، من بينهم الخبير الاقتصادي المغربي كريم العيناوي، مدير مركز السياسا ...
  • Authors
    April 8, 2020
    Les 20 et 21 février, les chefs d'État ou de gouvernement de l'Union européenne ont entamé la dernière phase de négociation du cadre financier pluriannuel 2021-2027 de l'UE, le budget de l'Union pour sept ans. Bien que ce Conseil européen ait peu progressé - une longue tradition à ce stade des négociations au sein de l'UE - les discussions se sont concentrées sur les réductions proposées des fonds structurels et des fonds de soutien à la politique agricole commune, et sur le solde n ...
  • Authors
    Mouhamadou Moustapha Ly
    April 7, 2020
    Le Covidonomics est la branche de l’analyse économique qui s’intéresse aux mécanismes par lesquels la pandémie affecte les économies du monde ainsi que les réponses de politiques économiques qui puissent répondre aux défis inhérents à la propagation du Covid-19. */ La présente contribution propose des réponses de politiques économiques et sanitaires qui soient contextualisées suivant trois périodes. La crise sanitaire Covid-19, au même titre que l’angoissante question du changemen ...
  • Authors
    April 6, 2020
    The global reach of COVID-19 is now clear. In a short time, country after country has suffered outbreaks of the new coronavirus, with each facing a three-fold shock: epidemiologic, economic, and financial. In addition to dealing with their own local coronavirus outbreaks, emerging market and developing countries have faced additional shocks from abroad. Flattening pandemic curves saves lives The coronavirus crisis is primarily a public health issue, demanding containment policies ...
  • Authors
    Mouhamadou Moustapha Ly
    April 6, 2020
    Covid-19 has a far-reaching impact and is imposing a slowdown on the world economy, raising fears of the worst consequences on production, jobs and the immediate future of developing economies. Fiscal and monetary authorities around the world are engaging in policies to support their economies with unprecedented funds and initiatives. The African continent, also affected by the pandemic, is pursuing courageous economic (fiscal and monetary) policies, but the main question is what ne ...
  • April 6, 2020
    Depuis l'entrée en vigueur de l'Accord de libre-échange (ALE) entre le Maroc et l'Union européenne (UE), il y a près de deux décennies, les performances des exportations marocaines vers les marchés de l'UE ont été plutôt décevantes, tandis que le déficit commercial du Maroc avec l'UE a augmenté de manière significative. Cela a conduit de nombreux observateurs à percevoir l'accord d'un oeil critique. Cependant, les balances commerciales bilatérales ne sont pas toujours suffisantes po ...
  • April 6, 2020
    Why every country in the world is facing a challenge of flattening coronavirus curves? Which policies to contain or at least slow the spread of coronavirus have been applied? What must be done to mitigate the recession accompanying containment policies? Is "doing-nothing" economically b...
  • Authors
    April 3, 2020
    Using a Structural vector auto-regression analysis, this paper attempts to answer the question of the feasibility of a currency union in the Economic community of West African states (ECOWAS). The study focuses on a particular criterion of the theory of optimum currency area (OCA) i.e. the similarity of business cycles. The main results suggest important discrepancies between countries that are already within the WAEMU (CFA Franc) arrangement and countries that have their own arrang ...
  • Authors
    Amanda O. Mathe
    April 3, 2020
    The Mara Group, producer of the Mara smartphone, has set up manufacturing facilities in two key strategic countries, Rwanda and South Africa, with a total estimated investment of $100 million. On the back of political shifts in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa embarked on an investment drive, announced in his state of the nation address in 2018. This was followed up with an investment conference, at which Ashish Thakkar, CEO of Mara Group, announced a $100 million investment ...
  • Authors
    April 3, 2020
    His delicate, almost floating touches created a hitherto unseen aesthetic perfection: the enigmatic face the Mona Lisa. The mysterious woman, captured on a panel of poplar wood, is the work of a genius, possibly one of the greatest minds in human history: Leonardo da Vinci. But Da Vinci also had another obsession: the art of war. In a letter to the court of Ludovico Sforza, then ruler of Milan, the celebrated maestro wrote, “I will make covered vehicles, safe and unassailable which ...