Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

On September 18, 2015, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Namibia.

On September 24, the city of Alba Iulia and the World Bank held a ceremony to officially conclude their year-long engagement, which helped the city to assess its long-term development plans, strategies, and projects, and ultimately, prioritize 13 projects from a long-list of over 350 projects for implementation through 2020. The ceremony was attended by the Mayor of Alba Iulia Municipality, Mircea Hava, and World Bank Practice Manager, Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice, David Sislen.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday completed the ninth review of Jamaica’s economic performance under the program supported by a four-year, SDR 615.38 million (about US$932.3 million at the time of approval) arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

Although they have made progress, India and other South Asian countries can make better utilization of opportunities that urbanization provides them to transform their economies to join the ranks of richer nations, a World Bank report released said on September 24.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday completed the eighth review of Cyprus’s economic adjustment program supported by the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement. The completion of the review enables the disbursement of SDR 99 million (about €126 million), which brings total disbursements under the program to SDR 693 million (about €882 million). Completion of the ninth review would be expected to take place before the end of the year.

EP Economics Committee chair Roberto Gualtieri (left) and ECB President Draghi before the start of the Monetary Dialogue

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved a project to increase the efficiency of Panama’s social protection system and improve the income generation capacity of the poor and vulnerable. The project seeks to encourage productive inclusion and will benefit more than 600,000 Panamanians living in poverty and extreme poverty in the country’s provinces and indigenous areas.

Pantawid Pamilya, the Philippines’ conditional cash transfer program (CCT) is one of the best-targeted social safety net programs in the world, benefitting the country’s poor and most vulnerable families.

While the economy is showing clear signs of recovery and unemployment levels are falling, further action is needed to improve people’s skills in Spain and remove barriers to innovation and employment, according to a new OECD report.