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Staving off default: How unsustainable debt is threatening human progress

April 14, 2023

Three-fifths of the world's lowest income countries are debt distressed and in danger of default. Navid Hanif, assistant secretary-general for economic development at the United Nations, tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis that we need to make debt more sustainable by restructuring it. Hanif believes multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank, should offer affordable longer-term loans with lower interest rates to allow least developed countries better opportunities to deal with crises like climate change, poverty, and educating children.

During a conversation at the World Bank/IMF spring meetings in Washington, DC, Hanif explains how a financial divide will eventually become a development divide, which is not good for the world. He explains the urgency of the growing debt problem.

However, Hanif also expresses optimism about the potential for progress coming after years of the pandemic, citing the growth in people gaining access to the internet and a renewed commitment to climate goals.

climate goals economic development education global stage imf interest rates microsoft navid hanif tony maciulis united nations world bank debt crisis default

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The world "is more coupled than we think"

Rania Al-Mashat, the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation, tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis that the pandemic taught us how interconnected we truly are; no one nation can solve a problem as big as climate change, food insecurity, or geopolitical strife on its own. Al-Mashat makes a case for looking beyond the short term problems of inflation and toward longer-term solutions for the most pressing issues of our time.

AI at the tipping point: danger to information, promise for creativity

Artificial intelligence is on everyone's mind these days. The potential for AI to mess up democracy is scary, but the truth is that it can also make the world a better place. So, are bots good or bad for us? We asked a few experts to weigh in during the Global Stage livestream conversation "Risks and Rewards of AI," hosted by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft at this year's World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

World faces "lost decade" of economic growth, says World Bank economist

The World Bank predicts that the global economy now faces a decade of lost growth, in part due to an older workforce and lower productivity. Is the way out of the looming doldrums to have a young population like Nigeria? Yes, but those countries will need help from wealthy nations to invest in things like education to reap the benefits of their demographic dividend, World Bank deputy chief economist Ayhan Kose tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis at the World Bank/IMF spring meetings in Washington, DC.

Is there a path ahead for peace in Ukraine?

As we approach the grim first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which came on the heels of last year’s Munich Security Conference – GZERO is back in Germany, discussing the past year since the war began, what’s likely to come next, and what it means for the world.

Ian Bremmer: The West is united on Russian energy, the rest of the world is not

With talk at this year’s Munich Security Conference from most of the world’s most powerful countries about decoupling from Russian energy, it can be easy to forget that most of the world’s population has other priorities. “What we're seeing is that a majority of the world's economic strength and certainly military strength really wants to put Russia back in a box, but a majority of the world's population does not,” said Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer during a Global Stage livestream conversation.

Tech innovation can outpace cyber threats, says Microsoft's Brad Smith

AI is having a giant moment of growth, as is the ability for actors to use it nefariously. In an uncertain global environment, how can the US outpace challenges in cyberspace? “One of the things that I find just fascinating about the development of AI…it's actually an area where if you take the problems seriously and you have an engineering team that's willing and prepared to work on a moment's notice, you can correct the problems far faster than you can solve most problems in life,” said Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith at this year’s Munich Security Conference.

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