Podcasts

Back

A Path to Strengthening the Global Financial Architecture

02
February 2024
Youssef El Jai & Ferid Belhaj
Related topics: 
Economy

In this podcast, Mr. Ferid Belhaj, Vice President - Middle East North Africa, World Bank Group shares his insights around the key takeaways from the Annual Meetings 2023 as well as his vision of the global financial architecture and the transformative potential of the Marrakesh Declaration to improve the outcomes on global public goods and development. In this episode, we also adress questions on what efforts can the bank do in that respect to mobilize more private capital in climate resilience/development projects.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Empowering women through agricultural cooperatives: a multilevel analysis in Morocco’s Marrakech-Safi region
    Authors
    Aomar Ibourk
    Sana Hninou
    June 25, 2025
    This Paper was originally published on springer.com This study investigates the impact of female agricultural cooperatives on women’s empowerment in Morocco, with a focus on the rural Marrakech-Safi region. The research evaluates the effectiveness of these cooperatives in enhancing women’s empowerment through economic opportunities, participatory governance, and leadership roles. The Global Empowerment Index (GEI) was adopted to measure empowerment across five key dimensions: p ...
  • Download PDF
    Quelle(s) stratégie(s) d’industrialisation de l’Afrique dans le nouveau contexte de géopolitique économique ?
    Authors
    Aram Belhadj
    June 24, 2025
    Les politiques industrielles semblent marquer leur retour, aussi bien dans les grandes puissances économiques que dans les pays émergents et en voie de développement, notamment après la pandémie de la Covid-19, l’accroissement des tensions géopolitiques et commerciales et les effets du changement climatique.L’Afrique n’est pas en reste, surtout qu’une prise de conscience des enjeux liés à la position continentale dans un monde multipolaire est en train de naître. Même au niveau de l ...
  • Download PDF
    Marine energy: Harnessing the power of the Atlantic
    Authors
    William Yancey Brown
    June 24, 2025
    This Paper was originally published on atlanticcouncil.org Following a decade-long partnership, the Policy Center for the New South and the Atlantic Council have joined forces around a new program focused on the power of the Atlantic. This series of publications and webinars will focus both on opportunities and challenges around the basin.This brief, the inaugural of the series, by William Yancey Brown highlights the vast energy and mineral potential of the Atlantic O ...
  • Download PDF
    The Global Impact of President Trump's Reciprocal Tariffs: Implications for Developing Countries
    Authors
    Hinh T. Dinh
    Otaviano Canuto
    June 23, 2025
    President Donald Trump's "Reciprocal Tariff" policy, announced on April 2, 2025 (dubbed "Liberation Day"), represents one of the most significant shifts in U.S. trade policy in nearly a century. Trump’s policy imposes a baseline 10% tariff on all imports and additional country-specific tariffs that range from 10% to 50% for countries designated as having "non-reciprocal trading practices" with the U.S. These specific tariffs are determined based on each country’s bilateral trade bal ...
  • Download PDF
    Africa’s Power Pivot: Strategic Ascent in a Fractured World
    Authors
    Ferid Belhaj
    June 18, 2025
    In 2000, The Economist dismissed Africa as the “Hopeless Continent”—a label reflecting a broader system of marginalization rooted in colonial legacy and post-Cold War neglect. This essay offers a realist reappraisal, arguing that Africa’s growing strategic relevance is not the result of benevolence, but of structural necessity.Amid a fracturing global order and the rise of transactional geopolitics under Trump 2.0’s Bessent Doctrine, Africa has become indispensable: rich in critical ...
  • Download PDF
    Stabilization Experience in the MENA Region: An Analytical Retrospective (2015–2024) Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Jordan
    Authors
    El Hussein Fouad
    June 17, 2025
    This paper analyses the stabilization experience in the MENA region, focusing on Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Jordan over the past century. It seeks to answer the question: To what extent have these countries succeeded in achieving resilience to shocks and stresses? Key policy elements included significant fiscal adjustments—varying in scale across countries—and exchange rate developments supported by monetary policies aimed at combating inflationary pressures. The outcomes involved ...
  • School learning in Morocco: what place for gender equality?
    Authors
    Aomar Ibourk
    Karim El Aynaoui
    June 16, 2025
    This Paper was originally published on tandfonline.com This paper analyzes gender disparities in reading and mathematics among Moroccan 4th-grade students using data from PIRLS 2021 (7,017 students) and TIMSS 2019 (13,536 students). Using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method, it separates performance gaps into explained (observable characteristics such as age, family background, teacher, and school factors) and unexplained (structural) components. In reading, the unexpl ...
  • From Bretton Woods to Braided Path: Navigating MDB Dynamics Amid Global Shifts
    Authors
    Pepe Zhang
    Otaviano Canuto
    Fernando Straface
    June 13, 2025
    This Paper was originally published on cebri.org Within an ever-evolving system of multilateral development banks (MDB) currently reshaped by four structural geo-economic trends, the emergence of new MDBs like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB) carries great geopolitical significance. Yet the new MDBs, attuned to institutional and operational realities, have not upended the MDB system. Their relationship with long-e ...
  • La mosquée au service des objectifs économiques des programmes d’alphabétisation des adultes au Maroc
    Authors
    Aomar Ibourk
    Kabir Elmakhloufi
    June 11, 2025
    This Paper was originally published on springer.com Au Maroc, en plus de leurs missions religieuses, les mosquées jouent un rôle dans l’apprentissage qualifiant des adultes, favorisant ainsi leur intégration. L’article développe un indice à caractère économique pour évaluer cette intégration. Il mobilise des données ad hoc constituées par le suivi d’une cohorte de l’ensemble des 351 apprenantes pendant cinq ans et demi. Des résultats prometteurs témoignent d’un p ...
  • Download PDF
    Political Economy Analysis and Conflict Analysis: Cross-border Conflict Trends and Conflict Resilience of Border Communities in Eastern Benin and Western Nigeria
    Authors
    Rida Lyammouri
    June 10, 2025
    This study draws on academic and gray literature to identify the dynamics that facilitate the emergence and proliferation of armed groups and increase vulnerabilities to violent extremism (VE). Given the growing concerns about the spread of VE to northern Benin and the rising incidents of violence, it is crucial to address these underlying factors in order to bolster community cohesion and resilience to violent conflict-particularly against recruitment and influence by violent extre ...