Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

A quarter (25.3%) of the population aged 16 or over in the European Union (EU) reported long-standing limitations, i.e. some or severe long-standing limitation in usual activities due to health problems in 2015. This means that they feel limited in performing everyday activities, such as studying at school, occupational activities, housekeeping or participating in leisure activities for six months or longer.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and PWN, the water utility for the Dutch province of Noord-Holland, have signed a lending agreement of EUR 100 million.

Staff from the European Commission, in liaison with staff from the European Central Bank, visited Dublin from 29 November to 2 December to conduct the sixth post-programme surveillance (PPS) review for Ireland. This was coordinated with the International Monetary Fund's sixth post-programme monitoring mission. Staff from the European Stability Mechanism also participated in the meetings on aspects related to its Early Warning System. The main objective of PPS is to assess the country’s capacity to repay loans granted under the former EU-IMF financial assistance programme and, if necessary, to recommend corrective actions.

The European Commission has on December 1 unveiled a series of measures to improve the Value Added Tax (VAT) environment for e-commerce businesses in the EU. Our proposals will allow consumers and companies, in particular start-ups and SMEs, to buy and sell goods and services more easily online.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), as Trustee of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), has entered into an amendment of its 2010 borrowing agreement with the Danmarks Nationalbank (see Press Release No.10/51), through which Denmark will provide an additional amount of up to SDR 300 million (about US$407 million) in new loan resources. Accordingly, the total loan amount under the borrowing agreement with Denmark was amended to provide up to SDR 500 million for the PRGT benefitting the IMF’s low‑income member countries.

UK large companies will be required to publish details on how quickly they pay their suppliers, under draft regulations released on 2 December 2016 by Small Business Minister Margot James.

The World Bank Group pledged $1.3 billion over the next three years to support Madagascar’s development through its national development plan. The announcement was made at the Donors and Investors Conference for Madagascar, held in Paris on December 1 and 2, 2016.

Following Parliament's final vote, President Schulz signed the EU Budget for 2017 into law. It was negotiated by Jean Arthuis (ALDE, FR), Indrek Tarand (Greens/EFA, ET) and Jens Geier (S&D, DE) (from left to right)

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Nicolas Blancher visited Morocco from November 16 to December 1, 2016, to conduct discussions with the Moroccan authorities on the 2016 Article IV consultation, as well as on the first review under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) arrangement approved in July 2016. The discussions focused on increasing the resilience and the potential of the Moroccan economy.

The Executive Board of the World Bank Group, on December 1, discussed a First State Consolidation Development Program (SCDP) for CAR to support the country’s development agenda for the next five years (2016-2021) and approved a $20 million budget support grant for the reestablishment of basic fiscal management and transparency as well as economic recovery.