Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

The Steering Committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Regional Technical Assistance Center for Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (CAPTAC-DR) met in Washington, D.C., USA, on April 13, 2016 to assess the activities of the Center over the period from May 2015 to date, discuss the program of operations for 2017–2019 and review the work plan for fiscal year 2017.

Imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5% of global imports, with US, Italian and French brands the hardest hit and many of the proceeds going to organised crime, according to a new report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

A new World Bank report estimates that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is losing US$285 million in revenues annually under the current economic arrangements with the Government of Israel. The report states that these revenues can significantly ease the Authority’s fiscal stress.

Mr. Abdoulaye Bio-Tchané, Chairman of the African Caucus, and Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), co-chaired the African Consultative Group meeting at the IMF Headquarters on April 17.

An International Monetary Fund mission, led by Mr. Alejandro Guerson, visited Dominica during March 29-April 11 to conduct the 2016 Article IV consultation.

Member states should declare a moratorium on winter heating disconnections, so that no household can be cut off from energy in the cold, says a European Parliament resolution voted on Thursday. To step up the fight against poverty in the EU by reducing household energy costs, MEPs call for more support for poor families and further investment in energy efficiency projects to reduce utility bills.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank President Jin Liqun on Wednesday signed the first co-financing framework agreement between the two institutions.

Share of ODA spent on refugees in donor countries

Remittances to developing countries grew only marginally in 2015, as weak oil prices and other factors strained the earnings of international migrants and their ability to send money home to their families, says the World Bank’s latest edition of the Migration and Development Brief, released on April 13.