![Investors, analysts and Cuban citizens will all be watching this weekend's congress closely — and seeing how many more of the country's so-called 'historic generation' actually depart, as Raul Castro (centre) has. That, experts say, will be crucial to knowing whether economic change is actually in the cards or whether business will continue as usual [File: Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AP19355685980477.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Cuba is now confronting new and dire economic challenges along with historic ones.
![Coinbase’s debut on the Nasdaq this week had crypto sceptics sitting up and taking notice [File: Richard Drew/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AP21104517199454.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
We gather the numbers to know from the week’s biggest economic news stories so you can impress your friends.
![Governments around the world are weighing how to infuse cash into their economies to help them recover while avoiding high rates of inflation from all that extra cash [File: Emrah Gurel/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AP51638029861.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Here’s what you need to know about inflation as food and petrol prices rocket.
![In this artist's rendition, NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter flies through the Red Planet's skies [Courtesy of NASA]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-08-Mars-Ingenuity-ART-PIA23961.png?resize=270%2C180)
We gather the numbers to know from the week’s biggest economic news stories so you can impress your friends.
![Volunteers like Malia Chafee of New York City-based non-profit WGIRLS have stepped in to help those in need book COVID-19 vaccine appointments, which often involves navigating multiple state, hospital and pharmacy websites and refreshing browsers to score limited appointments [Courtesy: Malia Chaffee]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_9006.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Armies of online volunteers have taken it upon themselves to help total strangers navigate myriad US vaccine systems.
![International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said a new Special Drawing Rights allocation would help 'overcome the worst recession since the Great Depression' [File: Remo Casilli/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/kristilina.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The IMF is considering $650bn in new Special Drawing Rights to help poorer countries and support global recovery.
![About 400 container ships were stuck in the Ever Given traffic jam in Egypt's Suez Canal, which also prompted a flurry of memes from a world eager to laugh - and plenty of kudos for the little excavator trying to free it [File: Satellite Image 2020 Maxar Technologies/EPA-EFE]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/h_56790932.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
We gather the numbers to know from the week’s biggest economic news stories so you can impress your friends.
![United States consumer confidence hit its highest level since the coronavirus pandemic began in March, and easing COVID-19 restrictions led many firms to rehire workers in a spring boom [File: Rogelio V Solis/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AP21089456789312.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The reopening of businesses with higher capacity limits have helped firms rehire, and consumer confidence is high.
![Virtual investors are flocking to buy Decentraland's digital parcels, which can be bought using MANA, the company's own crypto token [Courtesy: Janine Yorio/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/DCL-Realm.png?resize=270%2C180)
We gather numbers to know from the week’s biggest economic news stories so you can impress yourself and your friends.
![Women entrepreneurs who had built businesses around wellness and self-care had to rethink everything during an unprecedented public health emergency [Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Bobbi-Mongkhon-2.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
A year after US COVID-19 lockdowns began, Al Jazeera asked US small businesswomen about challenges and silver linings.