A Few White Papers
you are currently viewing::Gold in Central Bank Reserves: Strategic Considerations, Market Risks, and Practical GuidanceJuly 9, 2026-Gold has re-emerged as a prominent component of central bank reserves, largely reflecting valuation gains from higher gold prices rather than large-scale accumulation. This Note assesses gold's role from a reserve management perspective, emphasizing that while gold carries no credit risk and may support long-term balance-sheet resilience, it is highly volatile, offers only conditional hedging and diversification benefits, and is ill-suited to the liquidity tranche of reserves. The analysis recommends applying explicit market-risk haircuts when assessing gold's effective liquidity and avoiding interpretations of valuation gains as durable improvements in reserve adequacy. It also cautions that domestic gold purchase programs-especially those involving non-monetary gold-can create mandate, governance, balance-sheet, financial integrity, operational, and monetary policy risks. Central banks should treat gold as a high-risk reserve asset and anchor gold accumulation decisions in strategic asset allocation and sound policy analysis. Source: imf.org |
Low-tech Longevity Investments Could Unlock $6 Trillion by 2040
June 23, 2026-Low-tech, low-cost strategies could prevent 400 million falls at home, 8.5 million new type 2 diabetes cases and 2.4 million dementia cases by 2040, while unlocking $5.8 trillion in healthcare savings and $645 billion in productivity gains. Yet much of that opportunity remains unrealized because governments and businesses manage health, finances and labour participation separately, a new World Economic Forum report finds.
Stack battles: the US-China artificial-intelligence rivalry is moving beyond chips alone
June 22, 2026--China is challenging US leadership in both AI hardware and software, with Europe unlikely to catch up
Despite Chinese progress, the United States remains for now ahead in the race for dominance over the so-called artificial intelligence hardware stack -the resources and equipment, especially semiconductors, needed to run AI models.
2026 Mid-Year Global Forecast Report-Shocks, Signals and What Comes Next
July 20, 2026--Six months ago, the prevailing view for 2026 was that the global economy would simply muddle through. We largely agreed, while noting that the margin for error looked unusually thin. So far, that assessment has held, although it has been tested repeatedly.
The Regenerative Blue Economy: Pathways to Prosperity
June 8, 2026-Marine ecosystems continue to degrade under pressure from warming seas, rising tides, pollution and overuse, undermining the long-term well-being of the communities and economies that depend on them. This report examines how to shift from the status quo- which perpetuates this decline -towards a regenerative blue economy.
Deepening Divides: The Cost of a More Fragmented Financial System
June 4, 2026-The period spanning 2025 and early 2026 marked a turning point for the global trade and financial systems as states deployed economic statecraft on a scale not seen in the modern era, accelerating and deepening fragmentation.
This insight report offers new quantitative analysis that measures the economic drag of current trade and financial policies as well as the potential cost of an increasingly plausible worst-case scenario.
Prospects Group Global Monthly-May 2026
May 29, 2026--Overview
Global manufacturing activity gained some momentum in April and May, supported partly by stockpiling, but services activity remained subdued.
The conflict in the Middle East has increased transport costs and delivery times, with supply chain pressures in April reaching their highest levels since the COVID-19 period.
The Women's Health Innovation Radar: Revealing Gaps and Opportunities Across the Science-to-Patient Journey
May 18, 2026-Advancing women's health requires not only scientific progress but an innovation ecosystem capable of translating discovery into evidence, technologies and scalable solutions that improve outcomes for women globally. Yet, despite growing attention, the landscape remains fragmented, and many high-impact conditions continue to receive insufficient targeted innovation.
