- — Africa:
Sovereign debt default
Burdened by debt and falling revenues, Zambia became the first African country of the COVID-19 era to default on its Eurobonds after missing a coupon payment.
Era: The republic: Humanism, multiparty politics and modern Zambia
Sources: The Road to Zambia's 2020 Sovereign Debt Default · Finance for Development Lab, Zambia defaults, economically and politically · Institute for Security Studies
- — North America:
Bitcoin made legal tender
El Salvador becomes the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar.
Era: Postwar El Salvador and the Bukele Era
Sources: Nayib Bukele · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- — Asia:
Laos-China Railway opens
The 1,000-km railway linking Vientiane to Kunming begins operating, aiming to turn landlocked Laos into a land-linked hub of regional trade while deepening its debt to China.
Era: The Lao People's Democratic Republic
Sources: Lao PDR Overview · World Bank Group
- — Asia:
Economic crisis and sovereign default
A foreign-exchange crisis forces Sri Lanka's first sovereign default; shortages and protests topple President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, leading to an IMF bailout and, in 2024, the election of Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Era: Republic, Civil War and the Modern Nation
Sources: Sri Lanka: Reconstruction and the modern nation · Encyclopædia Britannica
- — Asia:
End of systemic forced labour in cotton
After sustained reforms and international monitoring, civil-society groups conclude that Uzbekistan has dismantled the systemic state-imposed forced labour in its cotton harvest.
Era: Independent Uzbekistan
Sources: Uzbekistan Ends Systemic Forced Labor, Civil Society Says · Human Rights Watch
- — Europe:
Association agreement with the EU
After concluding negotiations in 2023, the European Commission in 2024 proposed an association agreement to give Andorra (with San Marino) deep access to the EU single market, comparable to the European Economic Area.
Era: A Sovereign Democracy in the Heart of Europe
Sources: Proposal for the EU–Andorra Association Agreement (COM 2024/189) · EUR-Lex (European Commission), EU association agreement with Andorra and San Marino (briefing) · European Parliament
- — North America:
Among the region's top economies
The Dominican Republic ranks among the fastest-growing economies in Latin America and the Caribbean, driven by tourism, manufacturing, mining, and remittances.
Era: The Modern Tourism Republic
Sources: Dominican Republic Overview · The World Bank
- — Oceania:
Nickel, still the ground everyone stands on
Through the unrest and its aftermath the territory mined 116,000 tonnes of nickel in 2024 and an estimated 140,000 in 2025 — one of the largest outputs on earth, and the revenue any future status has to be paid for out of.
Era: Three Referendums and an Unsettled Future
Sources: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Nickel · U.S. Geological Survey
- — South America:
GranMorgu oil decision
TotalEnergies and APA take a final investment decision to develop the offshore GranMorgu field on Block 58, with first oil expected toward 2028.
Era: Democracy, Diversity, and Oil
Sources: Suriname: Final Investment Decision for the GranMorgu development on Block 58 · TotalEnergies
- — Asia:
A remittance-dependent economy
Remittances from Tajik labour migrants, mostly working in Russia, reach close to half of GDP — among the highest shares in the world — leaving the economy heavily exposed to external shocks.
Era: The Rahmon Era and the Mountain Republic
Sources: Tajikistan Economic Update 2025 · The World Bank, Labour Migration — IOM Tajikistan, UN Migration · International Organization for Migration (IOM)
- — Europe:
Gas to Transnistria stops
After the Russian-Ukrainian transit deal expired, Gazprom halted gas supplies to Moldova, citing a debt of 709 million dollars that Chisinau disputed. The Tiraspol-administered left bank lost heating and had rolling power cuts for weeks, while the rest of Moldova relied on other supplies.
Era: Independence, the Transnistria Conflict and the Road to Europe
Sources: Russian gas cutoff leaves thousands without heat and power in Moldova's Transnistria region · Meduza, Moldova's Transnistria region hit by blackouts and industrial shutdowns after gas cut-off · bne IntelliNews
- — North America:
A nation of 419,000
The Statistical Institute of Belize puts the mid-year population at 418,982 — a country the size of Wales with fewer people than a mid-sized city, holding the Atlantic's largest reef and some of the Maya world's greatest cities.
Era: Independent Belize and the Guatemalan question
Sources: Belize population and economic statistics · Statistical Institute of Belize
- — South America:
Contested status and an oil prospect
The islands remain a British Overseas Territory claimed by Argentina, with an economy led by fisheries and the prospect of Sea Lion offshore oil development.
Era: Referendum, Fisheries and Oil to the Present
Sources: Falkland Islands (Malvinas) — The United Nations and Decolonization · United Nations, Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Sea Lion — North Falkland Basin (project overview) · Rockhopper Exploration plc
Economy & Trade in the 2020s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged economy and trade — trade, currency, industry and resources, narrowed to the 2020s — 13 of them, drawn from 13 nations, running from 2020 to 2026. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 13
- Nations
- 13
- Earliest
- 2020
- Latest
- 2026
- Asia
- 4
- North America
- 3
- Europe
- 2
- South America
- 2
- Africa
- 1
- Oceania
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.