so now you know all right more world news on the top of the hour with brad gulf up next on b w. we'll have your business up there's a good. their story their very own personal trauma. to tell strophe remember. they share private

footage with us has never been seen before. back into trouble starts of people 26 on w. . the world's major economies are agreed to increase the international monetary fund's resources as the gap between rich and poor nations gets wider. also on the show the rise of pandemic chic sweatpants are all the rage of these days but what has that done to the rest of the fashion industry. and how to travel safely between countries during the pandemic a group of kenyan engineers has one answer. this is d.w.

business i'm just on in berlin happy you can join us. the international monetary fund is proposing a $650000000000.00 boost to help the world's poorest countries deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic it also plans a 6 month long debt reprieve for $73.00 nations the i.m.f. says it is concerned about poor tourism dependent nations and middle income countries that had high debt levels even before the pandemic in sub-saharan africa interest payments eat up nearly 50 percent of government revenues and in ghana and 30 percent in both nigeria and angola. here's i.m.f. chief crystal lina gave the. book this create crisis has shown just how this capable. mo we must build on this brother says of common responsibility to foster

a fair recovery and the resilience postponed they make worlds now we've all heard the phrase all dressed up and nowhere to go well now that many of us have nowhere to go we're not really dressing up anymore zoomie tings have made business where passe and sweatpants are having a moment the late great german fashion designer karl lagerfeld once said that people who wear sweatpants have lost control of their lives now whether you agree or not it's still causing a moment of reckoning within the german fashion industry. when monica klein is at home in birmingham preparing her design management classes for the university she likes to wear sweatpants and a hoodie or actually she might put on a casual dress for a video conference. to see if the does the dress or the suit you know it's not so comfortable so. it's more comfortable and maybe the

better look i look at a bit lazy to pull you know the proper the proper clothes the proper office clothes she's not the only one who prefers to dress comfortably these days the trend is also caught on with brylin designer label of pierre de ish she sells her collection from her shop in the heart of burma. to my festered is that i've been noticing a lot of people dressing much more casually because they're working from home so just at home in general they hardly ever go out hardly ever meet up with people they have less of a desire or need to make themselves look beautiful but i still think you should also make yourself look nice at home and not waste away on such as he often has to hold on to and check on the germans have apparently not lost their appetite for shopping they're currently allowed to make shopping appointments in stores but it pekin kloppenburg a major fashion chain sales of business clothing are currently sluggish sales of men's suits in germany tumbled 54 percent last year while sales of sweat pants

jumped 43 percent and the global market for sports where continues to grow pekin kloppenburg has already shifted its strategy. time for time for one thing we're downsizing our retail space for business fashion for men's suits for example also for women's dresses it's being reduced so that we can expand other areas like casual wear jeans and lounge where it's certainly the result of the lock down mr. klein only bought a few casual outfits and 2020 she wants to wait until she can see her colleagues again in person not just virtually before buying anything else. i'm joined now by kareena hoyer from oxford economics she is the managing director for a year up there and scott lipinski c.e.o. of the german fashion council welcome to you both glad to see we're all dressed for the occasion scott i'd like to start with you the shift in consumer taste as to

what we call pandemic chic casual loungewear and such that's been an almost global phenomenon but what has that done to the fashion industry. for sure there are a couple of winners and the fashion industry where this increase in revenue trends are all the casual wear but those brands and those companies are not the only ones actually who make the fashion industry so we have formal wear brands we have evening wear brands we have business where parents and all of them actually have a decrease in revenue and it's not just the brands itself so we also should think about everyone participating and aligned with the supply chain so it's the manufacturers maybe not also in germany but globally it's there in the the partner is not these brands work with they're also suffering under these circumstances so it basically is also one foot on them and the consumers are also not be thinking

why and what they're buying how many items they're buying over the year and brands are also be thinking their business model and their supply chain so that basically is the major major issues right now right well that is obviously very key but curran i want to ask you is there any chance that like what scott said this is an opportunity this pandemic is an opportunity to reset global fashion supply chains and make them safe fairer and more sustainable. yes most certainly so we have of course seen i mean over the past years one of the key trends in and especially in germany has been that textiles and clothing manufacturers our manufacturers have extensively outsourced and so on the one had not with the lock downs and it was you global restrictions they have largely disrupted supply chains and the status quo so this is certainly been a great opportunity for fashion brands to reconsider how and also where they manufacture and on the other hand this fast fashion trend that we have seen really

over the past year is that too has obviously been disrupted and consumer demand as scott has mentioned is shifting and we can see that it is shifting towards buying fewer but more sustainable and higher quality pieces and the global fashion industry said and you will have to and it is already a very much so adapting to innovate and to come over sustainable but it's also important to note made here that it's not just only on the fashion brands but the consumers to will have to become more aware of the associated costs that are producing parent more sustainable fashion because so many expecting parents as they will fashion but one thing a kind of prospect fashion price tag is something that might be quite difficult to achieve that he said at the moment right so at least in some way it is a turning point for the global fashion industry but scott for example when i think of a german clothing brands i think of i do think of puma so surely the german fashion

sector has seen some benefit to the leisure wear boom has it not. well you know for sure i mean the names that you just mentioned are global players and sports where industry and are german brands but as i said earlier those are not the only players in the german market so we have so many other talented small mid-size brands that also use this time to rethink their business model to also they were able to do we invent themselves in some cases realigned their new products fitting to the current situation but again there's still so many other products that they weren't able to sell they're sitting on stock. i always try to believe that there is an opportunity out there and this is time for change and the brands that we speak with are rethinking are trying to reset their way of working their way of sounding that we are distributing going more digital and i think that's

a huge huge topic right now. some optimism there from scott but kareena briefly if you can i'd like to give you the last word once this is all over what might happen to consumer spending and what overall relevance does that german fashion industry carry within europe. sure and so very briefly we are extremely optimistic about consumer spending so according to our analysis that talks that economics are yours and consumers are very keen to start spending our modeling there has been based on a range of you know i think that's. shows that actually most of the current restraint on spending is being forced by the closures of spending outlets rather than really being a voluntary response and this is also what credit card data we've analyzed suggests so overall the signaling to get consumer spending up again is looking very good and the german fashion industry is our study that we conducted with the german fashion

council and it's shown that the fashion industry in germany actually contributes 6000000000 to g.d.p. and 1300000 jobs so. it's an industry not to be an estimated and thankfully consumer spending is looking good to see what that's some good news crew to hire from oxford economics bandaging director for europe there and scotland's k c o of the german fashion council thank you both very much for your time today. a year in and the pandemic still is grappling with huge questions among them how to make safe travel possible a group of tech engineers in kenya have been working on one solution and called an obvious it's helping enable travel between countries by providing data and allowing users to store relevant documents on it this young entrepreneur comes here regularly to be tested for call that 19 he often travels from kenya to uganda and he needs proof that he is not infected it's documented on his cell phone when i'm

out here you are where you will get tested you will bring our cord and you are going to record that this indeed was better we got from here to have hope i don't because you are one of those experiences that you are. consortium and he can that group in partnership with the africa centers for disease control and prevention are working together to keep travelers moving data is gathered at authorized testing centers and shared with airlines port entry officials and with travelers. and a bios is active in over $150.00 countries across the world. travelers from outside the continent must applaud their negative called in 1000 test results on the system before they are allowed to fly. as one of the main called the 1900 test in centers in nairobi which is using the platform it was made in park form to travel outside is for surely the interruption of their travel last chord because of

a less hostile or unique identifier that identifies them from any point of entry or exit through the country. the up also came by time when the african union was launching the africa continental free trade area and generally this year according to the world bank this free trade area is the largest trading block in the world with 54 out of 55 african countries participating for the expanse of trade to take shape movement of people from one corner of the continent to the other is key when you you make sure that this tribe will last as safe for free from coffee and you see all the documents are right that can be verified by the end my. health so it is very easy to continue trade it is very easy for you see investments they can warn very easy so we are really targeted on the african countries and maybe even at

that point south momo go is hoping to continue travelling agita trading with the neighboring country while pano bios wants to keep traders like him safe on the rolled in the skies. and that's it for me and the business team for more you can always go to our web site that's d.w. dot com slash business thank you so much for watching. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus update 19 special. on t w. are you ready for some great news i'm pristine window on the eye on the edge of my country with a brand new d.w. news africa the show that tackles the issues shaping the conscience of the car with

more time to off on in-depth look at all of the crime stuff caught up to you what's making the hittites and what's behind it where on the streets to give you the end of reforms on the inside. w. news in africa every friday on g.w. . the problem in society we have at the moment is every one of the great of making of what may happen if we don't do. the pandemic has changed life as we know it. but what comes next. war fast paced logs pick up again. will we continue to innovate regardless of the cost.