Sudan Dispatch: Inclusive Finance in Times of Crisis | Blog

Since April 15, 2023, fighting between two military groups in Sudan has disrupted life across the country. Over 160,000 people have already left Sudan, with an estimated 700,000 more displaced internally. For many of the country’s 45 million residents – particularly those who remain in cities like Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri – the simplest daily […]

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Financial Inclusion: An Entry Point to Climate Adaptation for Funders | Blog

There is a significant funding gap for climate adaptation – especially for women. Public financing will not be sufficient to close this gap, but it will be crucial for supporting the most vulnerable and facilitating private sector investments where funding and support is needed most. Inclusive financial systems play an important role in channeling finance […]

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Bank of Israel raises interest rate to 4.75%, highest since 2006

The Bank of Israel has once again raised the national interest rate in its relentless effort to curb the country’s steepening inflation rate. The bank increased the rate by another .25% to 4.75%, marking the tenth consecutive raise in just over one year. This surge brings the interest rate to its highest level since 2006. […]

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Danone: Why did the French food giant invest in this Israeli company?

An investment of about $4,000,000 in an Israeli food-tech company, even as investments in the local tech sector have decreased greatly, is not a big deal. But this time, rather than the amount, it’s the identity of the investors that is interesting. So, the recruitment round of the food-tech company Wilk can be called a […]

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Azrieli Foundation Donates NIS 180 Million to Darca Network

The Azrieli Foundation has announced a new donation of NIS 180 million over five years to the Darca Network, which includes NIS 300m. earmarked for an educational empowerment program. This donation comes five years after the foundation’s initial NIS 110m. donation. The Darca Network is a group of 47 high schools that was founded 12 […]

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Outlook for Palestinian economy ‘bleak,’ World Bank says

Economic growth in the Palestinian territories is expected to slow in 2023, according to a World Bank report released in late April. The report explained that the territories had seen 4% economic growth in 2022, which was attributed to reduced COVID-19 restrictions, but projected that geopolitical tensions and the effects of the Russian invasion of […]

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Household interest expenses jumped by NIS 70b. a year

The rise in interest rates in Israel over the past year will increase the annual interest expenses of households and companies by 60-80 billion shekels compared to the situation before the interest rate started to climb, Alex Zabezhinsky, the chief economist of Meitav Investment House, says. Zabezhinsky is considered to be one of the most […]

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8fig raises $140 million to continue helping small e-commerce

8fig, one of the first companies to develop a platform based on automation for planning, operating and financing business plans for e-commerce players, has completed a $140 million Series B financing round. Founded three years ago, this is the company’s biggest financing round to date. 8fig has 90 employees in two main centers in Tel […]

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Israel’s credit rating remains unchanged – S&P

The credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) stated on Friday that Israel’s credit rating remains unchanged, according to multiple reports, affirming Israel’s “Aa-/A-1+” rating.  The announcement by S&P came about a month after the rating agency Moody’s announced a downgrade of Israel’s credit outlook to ‘stable,’ instead of ‘positive.’ As for economic growth, from […]

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