Helen Murphy

2 weeks ago | devex.com | Helen Murphy

Trump-era tariffs are back, piling pressure on already debt-distressed nations. While a 90-day pause helps, export drops and currency shortages are biting. A new IMF-backed guide aims to speed up and clarify debt restructuring. Also in today’s edition: Where World Bank funding goes, the IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva advises keeping a cool head, an update on MCC and Lobito, and reactions to the U.S. State Department shutting offices.

3 weeks ago | devex.com | Helen Murphy

As bankers and finance ministers try to set the world to rights at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, the Millennium Challenge Corporation — a rare bipartisan aid success story — has landed in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. Also in today’s edition: Um … cockroaches? Now you MCC it, now you don’tThe Millennium Challenge Corporation — long seen as a bipartisan darling — may be the next U.S. foreign aid agency to fall under President Donald Trump’s ax.

4 weeks ago | devex.com | Helen Murphy

Geneva, once the heart of global diplomacy, is in crisis as the U.S. aid cuts wrought by the White House trigger layoffs, frozen projects, and shrinking influence. Major agencies like WHO and UNAIDS are scaling back, with warnings of deadly consequences. Also in today’s edition: Cyprus is stepping into the race for the U.N. General Assembly presidency.

1 month ago | devex.com | Helen Murphy

The Trump administration official who led the dismantling of USAID is abruptly out of the State Department. We examine why and what he leaves behind. Plus, another U.N. agency is being pressured by the U.S. to drop its DEI and climate work. Peter Marocco left a trail of destruction in his wake. What will he do next? Also in today’s edition: The Trump administration pushes for change at FAO, while WHO insiders tell Devex that reforms aren’t making change fast enough.

1 month ago | devex.com | Helen Murphy

Experts weigh in on the USAID and State Department merger; staff at the Wilson Center placed on leave as the Trump administration presses shutdown; and FAO comes under pressure from the White House. We’re staying on top of the dissolution, evolution, evisceration — whatever you want to call it — of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is on its way to being formally absorbed by the State Department.