Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

The Government of Kenya launched Kenya’s component of the US$197m Regional Pastoral Livelihoods Resilience Project (RPLRP), on 30 July. Over 93,000 households whose livelihoods rely mainly on pastoral activities in the 14 participating counties are expected to benefit directly from the project.

The fight for fair taxation in the EU became a priority for the Parliament long before the revelations of LuxLeaks and the Panama papers. Since the start of the economic and financial crisis, MEPs have been pushing for greater transparency and an end to unfair tax practices. Check out our top story for an overview of the Parliament’s work.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 20 million to Agricover Credit IFN in order to finance smaller projects implemented by SMEs in the agricultural sector. This is the first EIB transaction in Romania benefitting from the support of the EU budget guarantee under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financing component of the Investment Plan for Europe (IPE).

The European Banking Federation, as representative body for 32 national banking associations in Europe, takes note of the publication by the European Banking Authority (EBA) of its 2016 European Union-wide stress test.

On July 27, 2016, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation and the Fifth Post-Program Monitoring Discussion with Ireland.
The rebound of the Irish economy has been exceptional. According to the previous data release in March 2016, Ireland’s real GDP was reported to have grown by 7.8 percent in 2015 on the back of strong domestic demand and solid export growth. Subsequent revisions to the national accounts in July 2016 have led to an upgrade of the 2015 GDP growth to 26.3 percent, mainly due to much larger net exports contributions, while private consumption growth was modified much more moderately from 3.5 to 4.5 percent.

The Concessional Financing Facility (CFF), an international initiative to address the impacts of the Syrian refugee crisis, announced the first financing to support refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon, on 28 July. Only three months after a pledging session in Washington, DC that raised over US$140 million in initial grant contributions, and US$1 billion pledged in loans that will separately generate further grant contributions, the facility has been made operational, supporting two projects totaling over US$340 million.

On July 27, 2016 the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the equivalent of SDR 220 million (about US$304.7 million, or 180 percent of current quota) under a 40-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement for Madagascar, to help reinforce macroeconomic stability and boost sustainable and inclusive growth.

On July 18, 2016, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV Consultation with Saudi Arabia.
Real GDP growth is expected to slow to 1.2 percent in 2016, but recover to 2 percent in 2017 as the pace of fiscal consolidation eases and to settle around 2.25 -2.5 percent over the medium-term.

With the oil market entering a new normal of lower prices, the price per barrel is projected to settle in the range of $53 to $60 by 2020, when supply and demand are expected to be in balance.