Chief Economists' Outlook: May 2026 examines a global economy unsettled by the escalation of conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
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Deepening Divides: The Cost of a More Fragmented Financial System
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. These global trends present concrete risks and opportunities to emerging markets and developing economies, which are explored in detail in a case study of major African economies. The report offers new quantitative analysis and renews the private sector’s call to preserve the core elements of the global financial system that enable economic growth and long-term prosperity.
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Africa, with 17% of the world's population and widely recognized for its competitive investment returns, represents one of the most significant untapped opportunities in global markets. FDI to the continent rose to $97 billion in 2024, around 6% of global flows, signalling growing investor confidence. Beyond these headline figures lies a vast frontier of underserved communities, purpose-driven businesses and entire local economies ready to scale up with the right support.
The Humanitarian and Resilience Investing (HRI) Roadmap for Africa, developed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Economic Forum, aims to address this challenge by presenting a framework to foster partnerships between civil society, humanitarian and development organizations, governments and private sector companies to mobilize investment in Africa’s frontier markets.
The roadmap will contribute to the HRI initiative's ambition, announced through a global call to action in 2023, to mobilize $10 billion of commercial and catalytic capital to enable 1,000 businesses to scale up in frontier markets by 2030. By 2027, AfDB and the HRI initiative aim to launch up to five country alliances, with the goal to iterate, refine and expand the approach in 10 markets by 2030.
The Humanitarian and Resilience Investing (HRI) Roadmap for Africa, developed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Economic Forum, aims to address this challenge by presenting a framework to foster partnerships between civil society, humanitarian and development organizations, governments and private sector companies to mobilize investment in Africa’s frontier markets.
The roadmap will contribute to the HRI initiative's ambition, announced through a global call to action in 2023, to mobilize $10 billion of commercial and catalytic capital to enable 1,000 businesses to scale up in frontier markets by 2030. By 2027, AfDB and the HRI initiative aim to launch up to five country alliances, with the goal to iterate, refine and expand the approach in 10 markets by 2030.
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 many high-impact conditions continue to receive insufficient targeted innovation. The Women’s Health Innovation Radar maps activity from research funding and scientific publications to clinical trials and product development across 10 high-impact conditions, highlighting where innovation is advancing and where critical gaps persist. It offers a foundation to guide research priorities, inform policy decisions and mobilize investment towards areas of unmet need, helping to ensure that scientific advances translate into meaningful impact for women worldwide.
The 2026 Technology Convergence: The New Logic for Competitive report shows how convergence reshapes value chains, shifts bottlenecks and changes where value, power and risk sit across the ecosystem.
Growth in the New Economy: Towards a Blueprint summarizes a set of “no-regret” moves and dilemmas that shape growth strategies in the new economy
While businesses are feeling the adverse impacts of nature loss, they are also beginning to recognise the opportunities a nature-positive economy can offer. From precision agriculture to battery recycling to bio-based materials, new ways of doing business are delivering both long-term resilience and short-term gains. Financial institutions are also realising the green economy can compete on returns. This report highlights 50+ investible opportunities already generating cost-savings or revenues for businesses across the real economy.
Corporate and finance leaders are transforming their operations because it makes good business sense to do so. In 2024, the green economy accounted for ~$8 trillion in listed equity market value and has outperformed global equities by ~59% since 2008. Yet the private sector still invests ~$5 trillion annually in activities that harm nature, despite research showing more than half global GDP depends on the services nature provides.
The 50+ investible opportunities presented in this report can help swing the pendulum. Spanning 13 critical sectors selected for their impacts and dependencies on nature, they deliver economic returns as well as climate mitigation, job creation and resilience-building. As they scale up, these opportunities have the potential to move from isolated interventions to industry-shaping transitions.
New analysis in this report builds on several years of collaboration between the World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman on the Nature Positive Transitions series. The main report is accompanied by two additional documents:
– CEO Primer: Overview of high-level findings and the 50+ investible opportunities, tailored for senior executives across corporate sectors and financial institutions.
– Supplementary Appendix: Detailed, sector-by-sector analysis of each opportunity, including financial instruments, impacts on nature and business cases.
Corporate and finance leaders are transforming their operations because it makes good business sense to do so. In 2024, the green economy accounted for ~$8 trillion in listed equity market value and has outperformed global equities by ~59% since 2008. Yet the private sector still invests ~$5 trillion annually in activities that harm nature, despite research showing more than half global GDP depends on the services nature provides.
The 50+ investible opportunities presented in this report can help swing the pendulum. Spanning 13 critical sectors selected for their impacts and dependencies on nature, they deliver economic returns as well as climate mitigation, job creation and resilience-building. As they scale up, these opportunities have the potential to move from isolated interventions to industry-shaping transitions.
New analysis in this report builds on several years of collaboration between the World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman on the Nature Positive Transitions series. The main report is accompanied by two additional documents:
– CEO Primer: Overview of high-level findings and the 50+ investible opportunities, tailored for senior executives across corporate sectors and financial institutions.
– Supplementary Appendix: Detailed, sector-by-sector analysis of each opportunity, including financial instruments, impacts on nature and business cases.
Organizational Transformation in the Age of AI: How Organizations Maximize AI's Potential examines how leading organizations are embedding AI across customer experience, operations, R&D, strategic planning and talent.
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The annual Global Risks Report explores some of the most severe risks we may face in the coming years. Underpinned by the Forum’s Global Risks Perception Survey, the report brings together leading insights from over 1,200 experts across the world.
The Global Cybersecurity Outlook reports examine the cybersecurity trends that will impact our economies and societies in the year to come.
The annual Top 10 Emerging Technologies report highlights the technologies set to positively impact society within the next three to five years. The report provides a qualitative assessment of each technology's potential impact on people and the planet.
The annual Future of Jobs Report explores how jobs and skills will evolve. The report is based on unique survey data that details the expectations of a cross-section of the world’s largest employers related to how socio-economic and technology trends will shape the workplace of the future.
The Chief Economists Outlook summarizes the emerging contours of the current economic environment. The quarterly report incorporates the latest policy research and the results of a Forum survey with leading chief economists from both the public and private sectors.
The annual Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks the state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
The Annual Report outlines the concrete progress the World Economic Forum made over the year in a variety of initiatives and demonstrates how the organization continues to be a bridge-builder in the increasingly complex world.
The annual Fostering Effective Energy Transition Report uses the Energy Transition Index (ETI) to benchmark 120 countries on their current energy system performance, focusing on balancing equity, security and sustainability, and on their transition readiness.
The annual Global Cooperation Barometer Report provides an overview of the state of international collaboration, examining key trends and challenges across political, economic, environmental, and social domains.
The Technology Convergence Series explores breakthroughs emerging from the intersection of multiple advanced domains and examine how organizations can translate technical possibility into operational impact, new value chains and durable competitive advantage.
The World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Development Index provides a strategic benchmarking tool for business, governments, international organizations and others to develop the Travel & Tourism sector.
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