https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr en-us 2022-01-06 19:26:05 UTC 2022-01-06 20:29:33 UTC hello@padlet.com lon180807058 https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979437924 This video gives an overview of the Commonwealth, which has 53 members spread among six continents and accounts for a fifth of the world's geographical area.


]]> 2022-01-06 19:47:47 UTC https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979437924 lon180807058 https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979445821 According to Commonwealth (2021), the pandemic cost nations within the association up to $345 billion in trade. In 2020, GDPs within Commonwealth member nations experienced a loss of over $1.15 trillion as economies contracted by up to ten percent. Similarly, FDI (foreign domestic investment) inflows into Commonwealth (2021) reduced by $153 billion in one year. Importantly, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were not felt uniformly. The hardest-hit economies were among the developing world because they have always been vulnerable. Asian economies felt the most impact with regional exports reducing by over 10 percent. Countries in the Caribbean that primarily deal with the export of leisure and tourism services suffered the largest slump in absolute GDP terms as the travel restrictions and lockdown measures reduced tourist activities (Commonwealth, 2021). Nonetheless, while FDI inflows are expected to remain lower compared to the pre-pandemic levels, eight developing nations in Africa, India, and the Caribbean reported an increase in FDI inflows.

]]> 2022-01-06 19:52:51 UTC https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979445821 lon180807058 https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979461951 Intra-Commonwealth trade dropped by $60 billion due to the pandemic. Asian countries are the largest exporters of goods within the Commonwealth regions. South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana account for 80 percent of Africa's exports to the Commonwealth. The UK is the largest exporter of services within the bloc with a third of service exports as of 2019. During and after the pandemic, intra-Commonwealth trade declined sharply since two-thirds of the trade-in these regions is commodities and manufactured goods, which were hit hard by the pandemic (Commonwealth, 2021). Likewise, services account for half of the exports within the Commonwealth nations. Therefore, countries in the Caribbean that primarily deal with tourism and travel exports were hit the hardest. For example, Airlines in Australia, Canada, South Africa, Namibia, and the UK entered bankruptcy protection following the impacts of the pandemic. There was a disproportionate impact on women as most of them work within the service sectors (Commonwealth, 2021).   

]]> 2022-01-06 20:02:47 UTC https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979461951 lon180807058 https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979479171 Trade continues to recover as governments bring COVID-19 under control. According to Commonwealth (2021), exports will rebound to the pre-pandemic levels surpassing $700 billion in 2022. It is important to ensure that all nations within Commonwealth, not just the developed ones, conduct mass COVID-19 vaccination efforts to ensure that the entire globe achieves herd immunity (Commonwealth, 2021). Currently, Asian nations that export merchandise are already recovering from the pandemic with their trade income expected to reach the 2019 levels (Commonwealth, 2021). 

]]> 2022-01-06 20:14:54 UTC https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979479171 lon180807058 https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979486372 The use of digital technologies will facilitate recovery. The pandemic showed that e-commerce can thrive as the main way of doing business. Intra-Commonwealth (2021) digital trade grew by almost 13 percent. The Commonwealth nations need to empower e-commerce in their jurisdictions by, for example, creating dedicated committees to deal with emerging issues in digital trends such as cyber security. An excellent example is Jamaica’s National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) project under the Ministry of Industry (Banga and Raga, 2021). 

]]> 2022-01-06 20:19:35 UTC https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979486372 lon180807058 https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979494700 Another source of future growth is the Commonwealth advantage explained in the YouTube video. The information in the next padlet can be used to further explain the Commonwealth advantage. ]]> 2022-01-06 20:25:21 UTC https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979494700 lon180807058 https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979500183  Small Commonwealth nations that depend on intra-Commonwealth trade are expected to benefit greatly from the ‘Commonwealth advantage’. The Commonwealth (2021) nations within the association save up to 21 percent in trade costs. The Commonwealth nations can use the advantage of being a member of the bloc to attract FDI inflows from each other as well as countries beyond the association. The similarity in administrative, legal, and language systems is also an important source of competitive advantage with the opportunities offered by digital trade (Commonwealth, 2021) The greatest challenge to small businesses in Commonwealth countries as they pursue e-commerce is insufficient knowledge about international and national regulations that govern trade (Commonwealth, 2021). Accordingly, given the similarity between the different nations in Commonwealth, businesses in various countries can use the bloc to begin their online business before expanding beyond the Commonwealth region. ]]> 2022-01-06 20:29:23 UTC https://padlet.com/lon180807058/yyclslpgqc30mexr/wish/1979500183