Search Results for: united nations

The African knitwear manufacturing sector has been regaining ground lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, with established manufacturing hubs capitalising on the growing demand for nearshoring in Europe and to a lesser extent the USA. There are major investments under way in developing production capacity, particularly in West Africa.…

The Egyptian garment and textile sector has rebounded from the dip caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, with orders returning in 2021 and exports strong in the first half of 2022. Sluggish consumer demand in the country’s primary export markets of the USA and Europe has however seen orders weaken over the past third 2022 quarter.…

The Bangladesh textile industry is suffering from an acute gas shortage due to the surge in gas prices in the international market due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Russia’s piped exports to Europe declined by an 40% (or over 45 billion cubic metres) year-on-year in the first eight months of 2022, tightening supplies worldwide.…

It is ‘de rigeur’ for tech publications to define the ‘metaverse’ – Wikipedia is perhaps most succinct – ‘a metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection’ (1). As for their fraud risk, there is a growing consensus that the metaverse offers fraudsters and cybercriminals significant opportunities to exploit this growing network of IT systems integrating virtual or augmented reality (VR and AR).…

A gas supply crisis in Bangladesh is directly impacting the country’s important apparel industry due to its reliance on upstream and mid-stream textile and knitting sectors for fabric production, who consume natural gas for energy. The shortage has been caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which said the International Energy Agency (IEA), has seen Russia’s piped exports to Europe declined by 40% in the first eight months of 2022, tightening supplies worldwide.…

Smart textiles manufacturers affected by the shortage of electronics for their products may receive respite in 2023 as global supplies of components increase, even if some disruption of production and supply chain lingers.

According to 2022 research by US investment bank J.P.…

High value banknotes remain of concern to AML regulators, even though they are increasingly being withdrawn from circulation. Despite the growth of electronic payments, the amount of physical cash in circulation remains huge. The USD remains the currency that circulates most widely in the world, with the US Currency Education Programme (a Federal Reserve scheme) saying that there was USD2 trillion in circulation by the start of 2021 (December 31, 2020).…

A key question in any industry is to what extent robotics will be able to replace the human hand. This issue is especially pertinent for textiles and clothing – where sensor-based automation increasingly carries out human tasks such as assessing the feel of textiles and quality control.…

The list of Russian assets seized by its European and north American opponents grows ever larger, with super yachts joining bank accounts and expensive properties being sequestered. But could they be sold? Should they be sold? And should the money be spent on rebuilding Ukraine, if it drives out the Russian invader?…

While forecasts of a global recession are far from conclusive, the World Bank has in its latest international economy assessment released in September (2022) warned that such a downturn is a real possibility for 2023. (1) The reason is potential government spending tightening to deal with inflation rates not witnessed since the 1990s or earlier: “To stem risks from persistently high inflation, and in a context of limited fiscal space, many countries are withdrawing monetary and fiscal support,” noted the bank.…