Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Poland’s economic ascent is remarkable, but further reforms are needed to meet citizen’s expectations for faster convergence with the European Union, says the new World Bank report “Lessons from Poland; Insights for Poland”.

Over the past fifteen years, Madagascar's population has faced two political crises that have slowed economic growth, suffered severe climate shocks, and withstood the global rise in food prices. As a result, 70.7 percent of the people of Madagascar were living in poverty in 2012 and had not seen any significant improvement in their welfare.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery commends Italy for the adoption of a Bill on 15 March, by the Italian Senate, which, if adopted by the Chamber of Deputies, would significantly extend the statute of limitations to allow more time to prosecute and sanction foreign bribery cases. The Bill was adopted by the Senate after a “Confidence vote” was submitted by the Italian Government in order to speed-up the adoption process as the Bill had been pending before the Senate for two years.

The World Bank’s Board on March 20, approved a $200 million credit to support the Government of Nigeria’s response to the acute humanitarian and forced-displacement crisis triggered by the Boko Haram conflict in North East Nigeria. The project will provide multi-sectoral crisis recovery in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, including service delivery restoration and infrastructure rehabilitation in health, education, transport, water, and sanitation sectors.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved $450 million in financing to support the Government of Indonesia’s efforts to expand access to affordable housing for low-income families.

Our meeting showed once again that the G20 provides a critical platform for major economies to work together within an established framework. We met at a time when growth is gaining momentum around the world and there are signs that the global economy has reached a turning point, even though uncertainties remain.