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Welcome to the Center for Global Development's Press Center!
The Center for Global Development’s communications team is standing by to assist reporters on deadline. Our experts can provide analysis, commentary, data, and unique expertise on the global development and economic issues that are driving the news cycle. You can search for experts by their area of expertise here. To arrange an interview or to be added to our press list, please contact Sean Bartlett, Communications Director, by phone or email at +1202.416.4040 and sbartlett@cgdev.org.
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CGD in the News
May 4, 2020
Article
From the article:
“…'[DFIs] need a combination of risk-sharing, capital and new flexibility to respond beyond their capacities in the current stressed situation,” the experts write. “DFIs are the European institutions in the best position to act swiftly in support of the private sector in vulnerable countries by providing emergency credit lines to client institutions before it is too late, something no other institution can do.’
Not everyone is so sure. Mikaela Gavas from the Center for Global Development think tank said it was “rather strong” to portray DFIs as the vital front line in the struggle to preserve African firms.
‘It is going to be local governments and national banks that support their private sectors best,’ Gavas told Devex. DFIs “can certainly play a role,” she said, but cautioned that any capital increases should be contingent on DFIs taking greater risk and being innovative.
The call to action comes at a sensitive time in Brussels, after the European Commission recently decided to postpone budget guarantees intended for smaller DFIs until its next 2021-2027 budget cycle…”
May 4, 2020
Article
From the article:
"'We’re thinking about the vaccine, but what if the vials it is stored in, or rubber stoppers in the vial or the plungers in the syringes become the constraint?' said Prashant Yadav, who studies health care supply chains at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C.
Timing the orders of medical products like syringes and all the raw materials required to make them will be essential. Medical device manufacturers could increase inventory or find alternative supply chains for products that are running low, but everything will need to be systematically planned. Adding the capacity to make millions more syringes could take a manufacturer as long as 18 months, for example.
'The COVID-19 pandemic is creating industrywide challenges, including expected delays in inventory replenishment for certain products,' said Lucy Bradlow, a spokeswoman for Cardinal Health, a manufacturer that makes vials and syringes as well as other medical supplies."
April 28, 2020
Article
From the article:
“The U.S. is not even “remotely prepared” to re-open, an expert said on Tuesday as some states are set to lift lockdowns that had been imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
‘We’re not remotely prepared neither in terms of the epidemiology of the outbreak in the United States, nor in terms of our preparedness capacities to begin suppressing this virus in ways other than through social distancing,’ said Jeremy Konyndyk, senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, a think tank. His expertise includes global outbreak preparedness.
The U.S. has reported more than 988,000 confirmed cases of infection and a death toll of over 56,000 so far, according to John Hopkins University…”
April 28, 2020
Article
From the show:
"Globalization has played a strange role in the cycle of pandemics. At first, it made the world more vulnerable to infectious disease. Then, in the nineteenth century, it fueled lifesaving advances in medicine. And those advances, in turn, accelerated globalization further and made the world more and more vulnerable to pandemics like coronavirus.
So, should we give up on globalization? Trade less, travel less, become less interconnected?
Today on the show, we talk to Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. He's finishing up a book on the past and future of infectious disease. And one of the most provocative arguments in his book is that instead of trying to reverse globalization, the world should actually embrace it as a powerful force in fighting against infectious diseases."
April 24, 2020
Article
From the article:
“…The World Bank predicts that remittances — money sent home by migrant workers, which people in many countries depend on — could fall by nearly 20%, the sharpest decline in recent history, as unemployment grows and wages fall.
However, Ian Mitchell, senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, noted that the drop in ODA is not a given. The 0.7% target ‘is minimum, not a maximum,’ he said via email, highlighting that the government often exceeds its 2% defense spending target.
‘We’re in a global crisis where we’ve rightly massively expanded domestic U.K. spending in spite of the economy shrinking — public [spending] will increase by some £85.5 billion, or 10% according to the OBR — and it follows that poor countries will need support to save lives too,’ he said.”
April 23, 2020
Article
From the article:
“…Clean running water and soap are in such short supply that only 15 percent of sub-Saharan Africans had access to basic hand-washing facilities in 2015, according to the United Nations. In Liberia, it is even worse — 97 percent of homes did not have clean water and soap in 2017, the U.N. says.
‘The things that people need are simple things,’ said Kalipso Chalkidou, the director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, a research group. ‘Not high-tech things.’
Though limited testing means it is impossible to know the true scale of infections on the continent, several African countries report growing outbreaks. A snapshot of the situation on Friday showed that Guinea’s cases were doubling every six days; Ghana’s, every nine. South Africa had more than 2,600 cases; Cameroon, nearly 1,000.
Of course, there are big disparities among Africa’s 55 countries, too. Ventilators are much more plentiful in South Africa, which has a big economy and a relatively strong health infrastructure, than in Burkina Faso, one of the earliest West African countries to be hit by the coronavirus. At last count, it had 11 ventilators for 20 million people…”
April 21, 2020
Article
From the article:
“‘...This will do nothing at all to slow the spread of coronavirus in the U.S.,’ Michael Clemens, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, told me. ‘The U.S. is by far the global epicenter of the disease. The horse has long ago left the barn on keeping it out.’
Nor is there reason to believe immigration more broadly is an important ally of the “Invisible Enemy” of coronavirus, as Trump claims. The Cato Institute crunched the numbers and found no correlation between coronavirus rates by county and immigrant share by county.
Meanwhile, liberal economist Jared Bernstein points out to me that positioning this move as a protection for workers right now completely misdiagnoses our ongoing economic calamity.
Joblessness is soaring because social distancing measures have deliberately placed the economy into a self-induced coma. And so, the jobless need direct and immediate financial help, not protection from labor market competition, and getting the economy going is directly linked to the need for far more expansive testing, so people can return to economic activities safely...”
April 16, 2020
Article
From the article:
“Indeed, soon after schools across Liberia closed on March 16, when the country's first coronavirus case was confirmed, authorities launched a radio schooling initiative to bridge an education gap.
Within two weeks, the first lessons were aired on radio stations nationwide. Today, some 32 stations now broadcast several prerecorded lessons a day, each lasting half an hour, catering to different educational levels.
It is a hands-on venture, with senior officials from the Ministry of Education devising and recording their own lessons. Other classes are produced by private education providers, including Rising Academies, which manages a network of some 140 schools in Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone.
Lessons cover subjects from literature to maths and science to social studies, interspersed with health tips and messages promoting the wellbeing of students and their families.
Many of the lessons feature the now ubiquitous sound of President George Weah's coronavirus awareness song, in which the head of state informs listeners about the symptoms of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the pathogen, and measures to prevent its spread.
‘What makes a good distance learning programme will vary from country to country,’ said Susannah Hares, a co-director for education policy at the Center for Global Development. ‘The 'right' technology will be the one that the most people can access and already know how to use…’”
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