Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Economic growth in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) will accelerate slightly in 2017, following the stabilization of oil prices, benefitting the eastern half of the region, and a continued recovery in the western half of the region.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Cheikh Anta Gueye visited Niamey from May 3 to 10, 2017, to assess economic developments during 2016 and in early 2017, and to discuss with the authorities corrective measures needed to achieve the end-June 2017 targets under the program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. The program was approved by the IMF Board on January 23, 2017.

Economic growth in Georgia is forecast to accelerate from an estimated 2.7 percent in 2016 to 3.5 percent in 2017, led by external demand and public investment. According to Trade in Transition, the latest Economic Update for Europe and Central Asia (ECA), on May 11th, launched in Tbilisi, this growth is expected to continue into the future, forecast at 4.0 percent in 2018 and 4.5 percent in 2019.

The external positions of BIS reporting banks in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe (CESEE) have broadly stabilized, and post-crisis deleveraging seems to have been largely completed, while banks’ strategies in the region have become more selective, according to two new reports from the Vienna Initiative. A third such report shows that levels of bad loans in the region declined in the year to mid-2016, but in several countries, they continue to have a negative impact on the local economy, and further action is needed to deal with them.

On the sidelines of the UK-hosted Conference on Somalia, the Somali government and high level business actors endorsed a Public-Private Cooperation Agreement to Accelerate Somalia’s Economic Recovery. The event was supported by the World Bank Group and the British Department for International Development (DFID) and was opened by His Excellency Mohamed Abdullahi “Farmaajo”, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia and Rt. Hon Priti Patel, UK Secretary of State for International Development.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on May 14 and 15 in Beijing.

On May 5, 2017, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Luxembourg.

Benefiting from its major role in intermediating international capital flows, Luxembourg has enjoyed strong growth supported by competitive advantages of fiscal stability, a qualified workforce, and business friendly regulations and oversight.

Businesses need to step up the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, materials and processes if countries are to reap their full potential in terms of productivity gains, according to a new OECD report.

Development and implementation are taking place mostly in large firms, and even then new technologies are underemployed and could be contributing much more than is currently the case, it says.