Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

OECD Harmonised Unemployment Rates, s.a.

The United Kingdom figure refers to October 2014 data compared to September 2014 and October 2013 data.‌‌‌

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a US$9.59 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), aimed at preserving biodiversity in about 554,000 hectares of the Atlantic and central-eastern regions of Panama. The GEF grant will complement funding from the Government, municipalities and private sector to improve the management effectiveness of protected areas and improve the livelihoods of 48,450 Panamanians in rural and indigenous communities.

I strongly support the G20's call for action to implement the policy commitments of the Brisbane Action Plan which can raise global growth by at least 2 percent and create millions of new jobs over the next four years. Given the risk of persistent low growth and high unemployment faced by many countries, time is of the essence.

On February 4, 2015, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the 2014 Article IV consultation1 with the Union of Comoros.

Stable growth momentum in the OECD area

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, led by Martin Cerisola, Assistant Director for the Middle East and Central Asia Department, visited Tehran from January 24 to February 5, 2015. The team held discussions with the authorities on recent developments in the Iranian economy, the near-term outlook, and the authorities’ macroeconomic policies and reform agenda.

Determined and systemic action to implement a comprehensive reform agenda across a wide range of policy areas offers governments the best chance to boost weak demand, restore healthy economic growth, create jobs and ensure that the gains are broadly shared across society, according to the OECD’s latest Going for Growth report.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited São Tomé and Príncipe from January 30-February 06, 2015 to discuss recent economic developments and support the preparation of the 2015 budget by the newly-elected government. São Tomé and Príncipe’s medium-term economic program is supported by the IMF under a three-year, SDR 2.59 million (about US$4 million) Extended Credit Facility (ECF)1 arrangement, which was approved by the IMF Executive Board on July 20, 2012. The second ECF review was completed on December 16, 2013.

The OECD will present the latest developments in the OECD/G20 project to combat base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) by multinational enterprises during a G20 Finance Ministers meeting on 9-10 February in Istanbul, Turkey.

World Bank in Mongolia, together with the National Disaster Management Agency (NEMA) and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (DRMS), hosted a training program on “Disaster Risk Reduction” February 3-6, 2015. Over 30 participants from NEMA, National Security Council, government agencies, and city and aimag administrations participated in the training to learn about mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction in development planning as a means to reduce disaster risks.