Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

An agreement to partner on a new joint initiative to support first time entrepreneurs, and in particular young people and women, was signed on Oct. 9 in Washington DC by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank Group (WBG). Roman Escolano, Vice President of the EIB, and Hafez Ghanem, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, signed a Letter of Intent to develop and support the Boost MENA initiative at the margins of the 2016 IMF/World Bank Group Annual Meetings. This agreement reaffirms the WBG and EIB’s long-term partnership in the Mediterranean region.

At a groundbreaking summit at the World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings, on October 6, nine countries pledged to make a range of major investments designed to dramatically reduce childhood stunting and equip tens of millions of young children with the abilities they need to succeed in a fast changing world. The commitments are expected to help create future economic growth by preparing people – in the early years -- for the jobs of the future.

On October 3, 2016, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a modification of the mechanism governing interest rate setting of PRGT facilities and set the interest rates to zero on all Fund concessional loans under the PRGT for the next two years through end-December 2018. Under the modified mechanism, rates will continue to be set at zero for as long as and whenever global interest rates are low. This provides continued support to LICs amidst the current challenging global environment.

Amid a backdrop of weak global growth, remittances to developing countries are expected to increase only slightly in 2016, says the World Bank’s latest paper on Migration and Development.

European Parliament debate on the preparation of the European Council meeting of 20 and 21 October 2016

European Parliament debate on the preparation of the European Council meeting of 20 and 21 October 2016

The OECD and the Greek Government, with the support of the European Commission, launched a collaboration project to strengthen Greece’s action plan to fight corruption, on October 5.

While EU growth is projected to remain low, with limited scope for quick policy fixes, a new World Bank report says reforming the service sector could significantly boost incomes and convergence. The World Bank EU Regular Economic Report (EU RER) projects that service sector reforms could increase productivity by an average of 5 percent, providing more and better jobs, stimulating investments, and deepening integration.

On September 26, 2016, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s macroeconomic outturn during the past year 2015/16 has been adversely affected by a severe drought and the weak global environment. As a result, output growth is estimated to have slowed down in 2015/16 to 6.5 percent.