Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

On June 5, 2017, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed its review of Colombia’s qualification for the arrangement under the Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and reaffirmed Colombia’s continued qualification to access FCL resources. The Colombian authorities stated their intention to continue treating the arrangement as precautionary.

On June 5, 2017, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) [1] for Sierra Leone for SDR 161.778 million (about US$224.2 million, or 78 percent of Sierra Leone’s quota) in support of the authorities’ economic development efforts.

A new World Bank report released on June 6th, called for increased private sector investment in Africa’s under-developed electricity transmission infrastructure, a vital ingredient for reaching Africa’s energy goals.

The Iraqi authorities and an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team reached a staff-level agreement on the second review of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) that was approved by the IMF Executive Board on July 7, 2016. The SBA aims to restore fiscal and external balance and to improve public financial management while protecting social spending. Iraq completed the first review under the SBA on December 5, 2016 and received a disbursement of SDR 0.46 billion (US$0.6 billion). Completion of the second review will release a further disbursement of SDR 0.6 billion (US$0.8 billion).

Despite Bangladesh’s robust economic growth, the pace of job creation has slowed in the recent years, says a new World Bank analysis discussed at a high-level workshop, on June 5th. The country needs to proactively address the challenge, starting with the development of a National Jobs Strategy to increase the pace of formal job creation, raise the quality of jobs, and connect vulnerable workers to jobs.

Public and private sector leaders from across Sierra Leone and beyond met on May 29 in Freetown to discuss ideas, initiatives and partnerships that can spur private investment to unlock the potential of Sierra Leone’s economy.  

The Chinese government on May 26th, launched a database of poverty-reduction cases, which aims to share innovative and successful approaches and solutions from China and other developing countries and contribute to the global fight to end poverty.

Two truck owners have filed a class-action lawsuit against General Motors, alleging the company rigged diesel pickups to cheat government emissions tests.