The economic downturn caused by the pandemic has taken a painful toll on small businesses. Scores of retail businesses have permanently closed in cities around the world since the Great Lockdown in the spring of 2020. Small and medium enterprises have an out-sized impact on local economies. They account for half to two-thirds of private sector employment in the United States and the European Union, respectively, and contribute close to 40 percent of national income in emerging economies. But small companies face greater...

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Released on March 5, 2021 | “The European Union and the United States today agreed on the mutual suspension for four months of the tariffs related to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Aircraft disputes. The suspension will cover all tariffs both on aircraft as well as on non-aircraft products, and will become effective as soon as the internal procedures on both sides are completed. “This will allow the EU and the US to ease the burden on their industries and workers and...

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The Parliament is discussing a carbon levy on imported goods to stop companies moving outside the EU to avoid emissions standards, a practice known as carbon leakage. As European industry struggles to recover from the Covid-19 crisis and the economic pressure due to cheap imports from trading partners, the EU is trying to honour its climate commitments, whilst keeping jobs and production chains at home. Discover how the EU’s recovery plan prioritises creating a sustainable and climate-neutral Europe An EU carbon levy...

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March 8, 2021 | Blog post by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB | As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold across the world, the past year was one of sacrifice. Too many lost their lives, their loved ones. Others fought hard to survive – physically, emotionally and financially. One year into the pandemic, we can clearly see that the social and economic impact of the virus is affecting women particularly hard. Women work disproportionately in the sectors that have been worst...

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March 8, 2021 | Keynote Speech by Chief Economist Gita Gopinath at the Inaugural Dr. Hansa Mehta Lecture | Hello everyone. Thank you for your generous introduction, La Neice, and also thank you to the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations and the United Nations Academic Impact for inviting me to speak at this event today. It is a tremendous honor to deliver the inaugural lecture in memory of Dr. Hansa Mehta – an Indian freedom fighter, an educator, a...

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International Women’s Day, March 8, marks a year from the start of widespread lockdowns in response to COVID-19. As an IMF blog warned back in July, women have borne the economic and social brunt of the pandemic. With many governments preparing budgets for the next fiscal year, we now have a golden opportunity to counter this inequity. We offer a starter kit for gender budgeting to help countries focus resources on women, and ensure future budgets are better for them than previous...

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The EU is taking measures to enhance corporate transparency of big multinational companies. Member states’ ambassadors today mandated the Portuguese presidency to engage in negotiations with the European Parliament for the swift adoption of the proposed directive on the disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches, commonly referred to as the public country-by-country reporting (CBCR) directive. The directive requires multinational enterprises or standalone undertakings with a total consolidated revenue of more than €750 million in each of...

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The European Commission has today presented a proposal on pay transparency to ensure that women and men in the EU get equal pay for equal work. A political priority of President von der Leyen, the proposal sets out pay transparency measures, such as pay information for job seekers, a right to know the pay levels for workers doing the same work, as well as gender pay gap reporting obligations for big companies. The proposal also strengthens the tools for workers to claim their rights...

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