Trend · rank 32 of 250

Concessional finance scarcity

Donor budgets and priorities are reducing grants and low-cost loans, weakening public finances in poorer nations where health, education and food programmes depend on continuing external support.

Financial StrengthMoney & debtdebt financegeoeconomicsinequality

Second pass: Carried forward from the first pass, where it was Aid retrenchment. Held by one of the three panel models.

Sensitivity and network position

Rank
32of 250
Sensitivity
16.7rank 35
Breadth
1of 20 scenarios High or above
PageRank
48.9rank 50
Eigenvector
9.0
Betweenness
46.6
Links
15trends at Moderate similarity or above
Composite
37.6

Attention over three years

How much this trend is read about on Wikipedia and searched for on Google, week by week, set against the typical trend in the list so that what moves every trend at once is taken out. 100 is this trend's own three-year average. The score measures public attention, which is not the same as the strength of the force: a trend can deepen unnoticed, and a news event can lift attention for a fortnight.

Now
89
Over a year
−7%Steady
Over three years
+0%
Peak
2962 Feb 2025
Sources
Bothagreement 0.83
Coverage
16languages · 61 nations

Trailing 4-week average. 100 is this trend’s three-year average.

By language

Wikipedia reading in each language edition where the trend’s pages are read enough to measure (16 of 28). Share is of all the readers counted.

LanguageShareNowOver a yearThree years
English66%77−18%
Russian7%72−28%
Japanese6%99−26%
German4%94−1%
French4%120−1%
Chinese3%118+14%
Ukrainian2%112−3%
Italian1%83−30%
Portuguese1%62−12%
Spanish1%121+19%
Arabic1%102−0%
Vietnamese1%57−34%
Dutch1%88−18%
Polish1%70−7%
Indonesian1%86+0%
Korean0%138+36%

By country

Google search interest over the three years, as a share of each country’s searching. 100 is the nation where interest is highest. The search terms are English, which favours countries that search in English.

Zimbabwe

Zambia

Uganda

Ethiopia

Kenya

United States

Nepal

Tanzania

Ghana

China

United Kingdom

Nigeria

100

85

75

66

64

45

43

38

36

33

31

30

The 12 highest of 61 nations with a reading.

By region and G20 member

Attention to this trend inside each place, from Google searches made in its countries and Wikipedia reading in the languages mostly read there, averaged where both exist. Each line compares the trend with its own past in that place; the lines do not compare places.

Regions

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
North AmericaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in English74−16%−13%−30%
EuropeGoogle in 5 countries + Wikipedia in German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch92+9%−33%−9%
Indo-PacificGoogle in 6 countries + Wikipedia in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian97−4%+1%+1%
South AsiaGoogle in 1 country109−1%+41%+19%
Gulf and Middle EastWikipedia in Arabic102+11%−1%+33%
AfricaGoogle in 1 country79+3%−52%−24%
Latin America and CaribbeanGoogle in 3 countries + Wikipedia in Spanish, Portuguese105+4%+8%−5%
Russia and EurasiaGoogle in 1 country + Wikipedia in Russian, Ukrainian77+2%−28%−42%

G20 members

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
AustraliaGoogle90+12%−11%−24%
BrazilGoogle + Wikipedia in Portuguese74−22%−28%−13%
CanadaGoogle85−12%+16%−21%
FranceGoogle + Wikipedia in French97+16%−29%+6%
GermanyGoogle + Wikipedia in German93−13%+0%−16%
IndiaGoogle109−1%+41%+19%
IndonesiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Indonesian91+2%+1%+12%
ItalyGoogle + Wikipedia in Italian51−21%−79%−47%
JapanGoogle + Wikipedia in Japanese96−3%−6%+5%
South KoreaGoogle + Wikipedia in Korean152−5%+110%+126%
MexicoGoogle172+132%+69%+31%
RussiaWikipedia in Russian72−8%−29%−36%
South AfricaGoogle79+3%−52%−24%
United KingdomGoogle90+21%+5%+5%
United StatesGoogle + Wikipedia in English72−18%−17%−32%

Relation to each scenario

A trend relates to a scenario when it changes how likely the scenario is, how hard it lands, or is itself sharply changed by it. Each score is the median of three scores given separately by the members of the model panel.

RelationScenarioFamily
5 · Very highA creditor agreement releases fiscal capacity S11 ↗Economic and trade
3 · ModerateTwo breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis S06Energy, climate and resources
3 · ModerateA major disaster disables the national economic core S07Energy, climate and resources
2 · LowA global funding seizure reaches sovereign balance sheets S02Economic and trade
2 · LowA novel respiratory pathogen exceeds health surge capacity S10Health
2 · LowA validated farming package raises water-efficient output S16 ↗Energy, climate and resources
2 · LowA live outbreak proves rapid distributed pandemic defence S20 ↗Health
1 · Very lowAffordable preventive treatments reduce chronic illness S19 ↗Health
0 · Not relatedCritical trade divides into rival blocs S01Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA regional war closes a globally important sea route S03Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedHybrid coercion ends in an infrastructure blackout S04Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA disputed transfer of power breaks effective government S05Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedAn AI deployment step causes abrupt labour displacement S08Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA cryptographic breakthrough invalidates digital trust S09Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA cross-regional market access compact redirects investment S12 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA great-power agreement lowers economic security barriers S13 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA verified Middle East settlement restores access S14 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedCheap firm clean power becomes available at scale S15 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAI-directed research produces a reproducible discovery step S17 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA public service platform reaches inclusive operation S18 ↗Technology and infrastructure

Similarity = 0.3 × shared tags (Jaccard) + 0.3 × likeness of scenario profiles (cosine) + 0.3 × likeness of names and descriptions (TF-IDF cosine) + 0.1 if in the same capability domain, cut into seven levels at 0.12, 0.22, 0.33, 0.45, 0.58, 0.72. Shown at Moderate and above.

SimilarityTrendThemeRank
4 · HighSovereign creditor fragmentationMoney & debt88
4 · HighInternational climate finance gapsMoney & debt129
3 · ModerateSovereign debt & interest burdenMoney & debt12
3 · ModerateSlow growth & fiscal spaceMoney & debt22
3 · ModerateTax base erosion & coordinationMoney & debt41
3 · ModerateDollar dependence & payment fragmentationMoney & debt45
3 · ModerateExternal liquidity buffer requirementsMoney & debt46
3 · ModerateHealth workforce scarcityPeople, health & work48
3 · ModerateDomestic capital market deepeningMoney & debt55
3 · ModerateDevelopment finance as influenceDiplomacy & influence63
3 · ModerateStructural inflation pressureMoney & debt76
3 · ModerateNon-bank finance growthMoney & debt82
3 · ModerateHousehold debt & housing affordabilityMoney & debt156
3 · ModerateRemittance dependenceMoney & debt195
3 · ModerateTrade finance & correspondent banking gapsMoney & debt200