The global economy is climbing out from the depths to which it had plummeted during the Great Lockdown in April. But with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to spread, many countries have slowed reopening and some are reinstating partial lockdowns to protect susceptible populations.

The COVID-19 Pandemic calls for a multi-sectoral response in Asia and the Pacific to protect people and enhance resilience, support economic recovery and restore supply chains and support SMEs. Shipping and ports are a major part of such a response. For most countries in Asia and the Pacific, shipping represents a doorway to global economy.

The economy of the Central African Republic (CAR) grew at a slower pace in 2019 compared to 2018. Still, it grew at 3.1 percent, year-onyear, in 2019, above the average of regional peers (1.6 percent) and countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) (2.7 percent).

The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2020 (SOCO 2020) aims to discuss policies and mechanisms that promote sustainable outcomes – economic, social and environmental – in agricultural and food markets, both global and domestic.

With less than 10 years to meet the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), action is still not happening at the speed or scale required - despite a groudswell of ambition and action from organisations of all sectors and sizes.

This report is the third in the “Trade Finance in Africa” research series. It uses a standardized survey of commercial banks to provide a comprehensive study of the trade finance landscape in Africa for the nine years leading up to 2019.

The report covers political, security, socio-economic, human rights and humanitarian developments in the Sudan from 3 June to 8 September 2020 and contains an update on the planning process for the establishment of the Mission.

Economic growth and shared prosperity in Sub-Saharan Africa will be increasingly undermined if vulnerabilities to climate change are not addressed. Climate impacts, which are already being felt will escalate significantly, as early as 2030, causing many low-capacity countries to be even more vulnerable.

Worldwide, a loss of trust in multilateralism is weakening the capacity of globalization to deliver a more sustainable and fairer world. Growing awareness of the scale, scope and cost of illicit financial flows is stoking growing scepticism about the power of collective action versus unilateral measures.

Urban populations are growing faster in Africa than all other regions of the world. Feeding Africa’s cities, and providing access to good quality food, presents a major challenge but also a major opportunity to the continent’s 60 million farms.