So far, the actions adopted by governments worldwide to curb the COVID-19 diffusion have severely affected international trade, provoking shutdowns and disruptions to the global supply (the Institute for Supply Management, in a survey dated March 10 2020, with respondents largely representing U.S. manufacturing, points out that nearly 75 percent of companies report supply chain disruptions in some capacity due to coronavirus-related transportation restrictions), interrupting many manufacturing activities and shipments. However, keeping goods moving across borders is essential to the economic growth and to mitigate the immediate and longer-term socio-economic consequences of the crisis.

Read more...

In analysing the economic performance, monitoring development programs and progress and designing development strategies of nations worldwide - including developing and less developed countries - a particularly useful resource is the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank. This tool is one of the most authoritative and complete dataset containing statistical information on more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, including data on economy, poverty, education, health, jobs, social protection, gender, environment (use of natural resources, such as water and energy, and various measures of environmental degradation, including pollution, deforestation, and loss of habitat), level of private investment and performance, financial system development, infrastructure, transparency, accountability, and corruption in the public sector, business regulatory environment and public sector policies.

Read more...