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Explained ·Mar 25, 2026 ·5 min read

Global Survey Reveals Mixed Adoption of AI in Developing Countries

The survey's results offer readers a first view of AI usage globally for developing economies with limited uptake (e.g., a few early adopters piloting), while most businesses have no actual engagement with AI systems. The intensity of AI usage across firms that implement AI varies immensely. Less than 25% of the companies polled rely only on AI for outreach and external operations, and less than 25% utilize it entirely for core functions. Conversely, approximately 25% use AI internally and externally, demonstrating a greater degree of integration and utilization of AI across multiple areas of business. Companies that embed AI into multiple activities will have a much greater chance of realizing cumulative productivity improvements and greater business value than those that use AI in isolation or for very narrow purposes alone.

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Explained ·Mar 24, 2026

Frontier Markets: A Tipping Point for Global Development

New analysis in the World Bank Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2026 report shows that frontier markets present huge potential and a huge threat to the global economy. With almost 1.8 billion inhabitants, approximately a fifth of the global population, the frontier markets at present contribute approximately 5 percent of the global gross domestic product. Although this is a small percentage, their population impact is still growing fast. The report points out that frontier markets have a number of structural advantages. Most of these economies are well endowed with natural resources such as minerals needed in the global energy transition. They usually have relatively better institutions, healthier populations, and better-educated workforces compared to the other developing economies.

Explained ·Mar 23, 2026

The Timeless Value of Gold: Why This Ancient Metal Remains a Safe Haven in Uncertain Times

The relevance of the metal in the times of cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and central bank digital currencies might seem confusing. But recent events, such as the phenomenal increase in prices in 2025, prove that the attractiveness of gold is not a phenomenon of the past, but a factor that is being conditioned by timeless economic and psychological laws. This outstanding journey is captured in the chart known as A Century of Gold. The past century has shown the close relation of gold prices to inflation, financial crises, and significant changes in policy. The most notable is the steep increase in 2025, as the highest annual growth in decades, in support of the persistence of gold as a haven of uncertainty.

Explained ·Mar 22, 2026

Metals Market at a Crossroads: Clean Energy and Digitalization Drive Structural Shift

The world metals market is also experiencing a structural shift that is prompted by the rapid pace towards clean energy, electrification, and digital infrastructure. Although the traditional sources of metal are especially construction and real estate, have been weakened in many major economies, especially China, newer sources of growth are the emerging ones. This is changing the structure and resilience of metal demand across the world as renewable energy systems, electricity grids, electric cars, and data centers are being invested in. This trend can be best seen through the fact that the outlook on copper and aluminum, two metals that are the core of electrification and decarbonization, is strengthening.

Explained ·Mar 21, 2026

Global Labor Market in Crisis: 2.1 Billion Workers in Informal Employment, 284 Million in Extreme Poverty

A critical factor during these trends is the slowdown in the structural transformation of economies around the globe. The transfer of workers from low-productivity sectors to higher-productivity and formal employment opportunities has weakened over the last twenty years, leading to a lack of growth in productivity and wage employment opportunities for workers, particularly in developing countries. Worker populations in developed countries continue to decrease due to a combination of a lack of available jobs for these workers (as workers age) and a lower rate of job creation within developed countries than in prior (younger) generations of employees.

Explained ·Mar 20, 2026

Global Economy Remains Resilient Amid Uncertainty: IMF's 2026 Outlook

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update, January 2026, produced by the International Monetary Fund, offers a very careful projection of the economy. Global growth has been quite resilient despite increased geopolitical uncertainty, changing trade policies, and structural issues in the key economies. Such stability is supported, however, by a small range of drivers, especially the investment related to technology, such that the picture is susceptible to shocks. International Expansion Prospective: Stability with Bolstered Weakness. The IMF predicts that world economic growth will continue to be stable at 3.3 and 3.2 percent in 2026 and 2027, respectively, which is in close relation to the expected global economic growth in 2025.

Explained ·Mar 24, 2026