Photo: UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan. Credit: UNCTAD

UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says a new metrics for measuring countries progress beyond GDP, will be launched during the upcoming UN General Assembly in the spring of 2026.

Accordingly , a High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, mandated by the UN’s landmark Pact for the Future has been tasked with developing recommendations for a set of universally relevant indicators that countries can own and use to guide policy.

UNCTAD serves as co-secretariat to the “Beyond GDP” expert group, alongside other entities including the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the UN Development Programme.

This initiative stems from the urgent need for measures of progress that enable more balanced and integrated pursuit of sustainable development.

GDP does not capture progress in well-being, equity, inclusiveness or sustainability – and it was designed as a measure of economic activity.

“Our approach will emphasize how better well-being and its drivers, such as health, social capital and the quality of the environment, are not only good for societal welfare but also contribute in an integral way to economic prosperity,” the interim report argues.

The “Beyond GDP” agenda, increasingly gaining traction among UN member countries, is about complementing traditional economic measures, rather than replacing them.

To do so, five principles are important.

First, countries need to look at more than GDP to gauge material well-being more accurately.Second, it takes more than income to capture all aspects of well-being.

Third, when addressing inequality and exclusion it’s necessary to look beyond average figures.

Fourth, the need to think in the long term, to ensure economic, environmental, social and institutional sustainability for future generations.

In addition, well-being is interconnected across countries in today’s world.

This makes cooperation all the more crucial, in setting global norms of measurement, unlimited to specific countries or regions.

• Flutterwave Nigeria HQ, Lagos

Flutterwave, Africa’s largest fintech company, has acquired Nigerian open banking startup Mono in an all-stock transaction valued between $25 million and $40 million.

The acquisition brings together two major fintech infrastructure players as Flutterwave looks to strengthen its payments stack with open banking, data, and identity capabilities.

Under the deal, Mono will continue to operate as an independent product, with no changes to its leadership or operations.

The transaction allows Mono’s investors to at least recoup their capital, with some early backers reportedly recording returns of up to 20x.

(Nairametrics)

• An oil-themed mural in Caracas, Venezuela

Crude oil prices edged lower Sunday, as the overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro by the Trump administration has cast deep uncertainty over oil-rich Venezuela.

Venezuela, a founding member of OPEC, sits on the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world at 303 billion barrels or about 17% of the global total, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

CNBC reports that U.S. crude oil fell 31 cents, or 0.54%, to $57.01 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent fell 22 cents, or 0.36%, to $60.53 per barrel.

President Donald Trump made it clear Saturday that U.S. investment in Venezuela’s oil sector is a key objective of the regime change operation that ousted Maduro.

“We’re going to have our huge United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure,” Trump said in a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

The president said Saturday that the U.S. embargo of Venezuelan oil remains in place.