Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved on May 25th, two important projects totaling US$19 million for the Eastern Caribbean countries of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.

Reducing by half the average rush hour in-vehicle travel time by public transport from Guediawaye Prefecture to Petersen Bus Station in Dakar Plateau (18.3 kms) will be one the most important outcomes of the EURO 280.9 million ($300 million equivalent) Dakar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Pilot Project approved by the World Bank, on May 25th.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on May 24th, approved a three-year extended arrangement under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Mongolia in a total amount of SDR 314.5054 million (about US$434.3 million, or 435 percent of quota) to support the country’s economic reform program.

On May 24, 2017, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the first review of the arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for Afghanistan. The completion enables the release of SDR 4.5 million (about US$6.2 million), bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 9 million (about US$12.4 million).

The Russian Federation is showing encouraging signs of overcoming the recession it entered in 2014. The economy is projected to grow 1.3% in 2017, and then 1.4% in both 2018 and 2019, according to the World Bank’s latest Russia Economic Report (no. 37 in the series) launched on May 23th, in Moscow.

The number of carbon pricing initiatives implemented or scheduled has almost doubled over the past five years, according to Carbon Pricing Watch 2017, a new publication released at the Innovate4Climate Summit today.

On April 13, 2017, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) discussed the staff paper “State-contingent Debt Instruments for Sovereigns”.