Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Latvia has improved its laws since acceding to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in 2014. Yet serious personnel issues until recently as well as negative government commentary concerning KNAB, Latvia’s anti-corruption law enforcement agency, have cast doubts over its capacity to enforce those laws. Lax enforcement and weak regulation heighten the risk that proceeds of foreign bribery are laundered through Latvian banks, according to a new report by the OECD Working Group on Bribery.

A longtime reliance on economic indicators as a barometer of progress in Middle Eastern and North African countries masked the level of frustration and dissatisfaction in the region ahead of the ‘Arab Spring,’ according to a new World Bank report released on October 21.

Colombia needs to improve its capacity to investigate foreign bribery by establishing an effective corporate liability regime, improving coordination between its numerous agencies and more rigorously training law enforcement, according to a new report by the OECD Working Group on Bribery.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday completed the fifth and sixth reviews of Bangladesh’s economic program under a three-year arrangement supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). The Executive Board’s decision enables the immediate disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 182.845 million (about US$258.3 million) to Bangladesh, bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 639.96 million (about US$904.2 million).

Average annual drop in emissions in 2005-12 and implied drop for post-2020 goals

* Includes land use, changes in land use and forestry, except for the EU 28.
** Shaded areas show the range of reduction rates needed to meet targets that are expressed as ranges.

The World Bank is lowering its 2015 forecast for crude oil prices to $52 per barrel from $57 per barrel in July on economic weakness and expectations of a jump in Iranian oil exports after international sanctions are lifted, according to the Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook, a quarterly update on the state of the international commodity markets.

Mobilizing private sector investment in high-quality, sustainable infrastructure is crucial to ensuring access to markets and basic services that will boost trade and productivity, provide jobs, and improve people’s lives.

The World Bank Tuesday (October 20) approved a $250 million grant to help support the Government of Afghanistan’s efforts to improve road transport links across the Hindukush mountain range, including the rehabilitation of the Salang road and tunnel.

For the first time, an unprecedented alliance of Heads of State, city and state leaders, with the support of heads of leading companies, have joined forces to urge countries and companies around the globe to put a price on carbon.

Top players in frontier technologies & change from 2005-07 to 2010-12

(Share of IP5 patent families filed in US & Europe)