Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on July 10th, approved US$50 million from the International Development Association for the Strengthening Critical Infrastructure Against Natural Hazards Project in Tajikistan. The project will strengthen the country’s capacity to prepare for, mitigate and respond to natural disasters.

Global value chains (GVCs) are transforming world trade, but must be more inclusive if they are to deliver greater benefits to developing countries and smaller companies, according to a new report from the World Bank Group, WTO, OECD, Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO) and the Research Center of Global Value Chains of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE).

Countries are making major progress towards the goal of creating a fairer and more effective international tax system, including increasing efforts to close down loopholes, improve transparency and ensure that multinational enterprises pay tax where they carry out their activities, according to a new OECD report.

Global food commodity prices are projected to remain low over the next decade compared to previous peaks, as demand growth in a number of emerging economies is expected to slow down and biofuel policies have a diminished impact on markets, according to the latest 10-year agricultural outlook published by the OECD and FAO.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Nicolas Blancher visited Morocco from June 29 to July 10, 2017 to conduct discussions with the Moroccan authorities on the second review under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) arrangement. The IMF Executive Board approved the PLL arrangement for Morocco in the amount of SDR 2.504 billion (about US$3.42 billion) in July 2016.

A new World Bank report estimates that as of early 2017, the conflict in Syria has damaged or destroyed about a third of the housing stock and about half of medical and education facilities, and led to significant economic losses. A key finding of the report is that the breakdown of the systems that organize both the economy and society, along with the trust that binds people together, has had a greater economic impact than the destruction of physical infrastructure.

On July 10th, the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) signed the $6 million agreement to support the Government of Mozambique in its efforts to strengthen the sustainable management of its forest sector, promote good governance, improve forest concession systems, and enable private sector participation.

Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement at the conclusion of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Hamburg, Germany

On the occasion of the G20 leaders’ summit, the World Bank Group on July 8th, announced the creation of an innovative new facility that aims to enable more than $1 billion to advance women’s entrepreneurship and help women in developing countries gain increased access to the finance, markets, and networks necessary to start and grow a business.

On July 7, 2017, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the Seventh Review of Mali’s performance under an economic program supported by an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.