World Business Report

Some forecasts place Africa as the world’s second-fastest-growing region in 2025, trailing only East Asia. But with uncertainty clouding the global economic outlook, Ed Butler explores whether the continent can maintain its growth momentum with Sim Tshabalala, CEO of Standard Bank, Africa's largest commercial lender.Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s parliament has introduced a new tax on workers and businesses aimed at bridging the funding gap left by the suspension of USAID support.And at London's Heathrow Airport, questions are being asked about its resilience, after a fire at a nearby electrical substation forced Europe’s busiest airport to shut down, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded.

Europe's busiest airport, Heathrow, says it will be closed all day because of a fire at an electrical substation. Thousands of people and global flights have been affected.So how has such a major transport hub failed? Andrew Peach speaks to an expert in emergency planning.

The big event of 2021 that will shape economies all over the world for decades to come was the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow in November. The meeting saw a deluge of promises, but what was actually achieved? Martin Webber speaks to Tim Gould, chief energy economist at the International Energy Agency and economist Irwin Stelzer, from the Hudson Institute in the United States.It was another boom year for the pharmaceutical industry as it crafted the vaccines that have saved so many lives. Of the 8 billion coronavirus vaccinations worldwide, one billion have been delivered by the US logistics company, UPS. We hear from Wes Wealer, President of UPS healthcare.And small business owners have had a bleak time for much of the past year. But many of those that have survived now feel optimistic. We hear from the owner of the Aroma speciality coffee shop in Bologna in Italy, Cristina Caroli, about her year.

Covid-19 is set to prompt radical long term changes to how we live and work, so what lessons can be learnt when we eventually emerge from the pandemic? Could the changes in the way we work herald higher productivity and happier people in the future?We hear the stories of the people who managed to thrive during a very difficult year, including the milkman who saw a boom in deliveries and the dancer who found work in South Korea when the London stage went dark.Martin Webber is joined by Professor Devi Sridhar who holds the Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh; economist Roger Bootle, of Capital Economics; Robert Reich, former Labour Secretary under President Clinton; Tomas Philipson, who was Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under Mr Trump; and actor Thomas Inge who is currentl starring in the musical Cats in South Korea.