Finance, Competitiveness and Investment

Fast payment systems are rapidly being adopted worldwide, enabling more efficient, secure, and accessible retail payment systems. Project FASTT aims to accelerate fast payment systems adoption in low- and middle-income countries, leveraging innovations like digital IDs, digital lending, and open banking to foster financial inclusion. Technological progress and evolving market needs continue to unlock new opportunities for financial services, including digital currencies.

This course explores IFC ScaleX, a program designed to expand access to early-stage risk capital for women-led startups in emerging markets. Developed in partnership with the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), it collaborates with venture capital investors, accelerators, and entrepreneurs to create more equitable opportunities. Participants will gain insights into strategies for fostering a more inclusive startup ecosystem.

This course explores how governments make challenging trade-offs after a disaster and highlights various global projects focused on disaster risk finance. It provides key insights into the purpose, scope, development impact, and basic principles of disaster risk finance. By the end of the course, learners will be empowered to discuss disaster risk finance with relevant stakeholders.

This course teaches how to forecast the costs of future disasters and develop cost-effective disaster risk finance strategies. Through practical exercises, learners will explore a five-step disaster risk analytics workflow to assess the fiscal impact of disasters and use analytics for decision-making and financial planning. The course helps improve understanding of risk information and equips learners to make informed, risk-based financial decisions.

This course explores how Pacific Island countries are strengthening their financial preparedness for disasters. It covers disaster risk finance instruments and their application in the region, using real-world examples and case studies to demonstrate their impact on disaster preparedness. The course is designed to enhance the understanding of disaster risk finance principles and tools for public servants, regional organizations, and students in related fields.

This course explores how Pacific Island countries respond to disasters, highlighting the key roles played by finance personnel in disaster management. It covers relevant disaster and finance legislation, as well as the procedures and structures used to coordinate responses, with a focus on the functions of finance personnel in disaster preparedness and response. The course is designed for both finance and non-finance personnel involved in disaster response, providing valuable insights into their roles through country-specific case studies.

The program equips participants with the tools to design, sequence, and implement BOS-SOE reforms to boost private sector development. It covers key reform areas such as ownership, market incentives, and institutions, along with strategies for building credible commitments and signaling to markets. Participants will also learn how to design compensation and mitigation measures.

The training focuses on improving trade facilitation through better institutional coordination, simplification, and digitalization of processes. Key topics include risk-based management, emergency preparedness, gender mainstreaming, and compliance with international standards. Participants will also learn to manage information portals effectively.

This training provides a series of modules to help countries assess their capacity to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. It focuses on identifying the threats and vulnerabilities across different sectors. The course enables participants to conduct comprehensive risk assessments for more effective mitigation strategies.

This seminar raises awareness and provides training on current and emerging global economic risks. It focuses on key topics such as Basel Committee updates, financial and climate risk supervision, corporate governance, and the impact of digitalization. Participants will also explore the evolving risk culture in the financial sector.