Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Cohesion policy is the EU's most powerful investment tool and currently accounts for one-third of the EU budget but cuts proposed by the European Commission for the years 2021-2017 would reduce its share from 34% to 29%. Such reduction risks deepening divides in Europe and making Europe's future weaker according to the EU-wide #CohesionAlliance.

On April 30, 2018, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Malawi. At the same time, the Board also approved a new three-year Extended Credit Facility Arrangement for Malawi and a press release on this was issued separately.

A new report highlights how care workers are losing out because of the confusing and unhelpful way in which their working arrangements and low pay interact with tax, welfare and minimum wage rules.

Ethiopia’s economy could potentially lose billions of dollars annually due to child marriage, says a new report by the World Bank and the International Center for Research for Women, on May 3, which was launched together with the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs. In contrast, ending the practice of child marriage would have a large positive effect on the educational attainment of girls and their children, reduce population growth, and increase women’s expected earnings and household welfare.

Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel debated the future of Europe with MEPs and and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday.

The launch of the European Commission’s proposals for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) throws a spotlight on how the EU budget should be used to maximise the added value of EU spending.

As Chinese yuan (CNY) plays more and more important role in the global financial markets, especially after the inclusion of CNY into the SDR basket, more central banks have diversified their foreign exchange reserves to include CNY holdings. This has created increasing demand for investors to clearly identify anchor points, against which to measure investment performance on CNY denominated fixed-income assets.

Within the EU itself, the sale of all animal-tested cosmetics has been banned since 2013.

MEPs point out that this has not prevented the EU cosmetics industry from thriving and providing around two million jobs. However, around 80% of countries worldwide still allow animal-testing and the marketing of cosmetics tested on animals.

Under this Strategy, the EU, its Member States present in Bolivia (France, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden and Germany) and Switzerland have agreed to align and coordinate their development cooperation interventions in order to strengthen their impact, reduce fragmentation and increase the effectiveness of the EU's contribution to development in Bolivia.

Due to major structural changes in world trade patterns, in particular globalisation and worldwide competition in the construction and mining machinery sectors, Caterpillar shut down its plant in the town of Gosselies (Hainaut province, Wallonia) last year.