Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Bank deleveraging in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe (CESEE) slowed in the second quarter this year but credit growth remains subdued, according to a new report from the Steering Committee of the Vienna Initiative.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Mr. Harry Trines, Mission Chief for Comoros, visited Moroni during October 20−November 4 to conduct discussions for the 2014 Article IV consultation.

The Global Economic Development Indicator Center is a pioneer initiative, which will start operating in the first quarter of 2015.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved emergency financial assistance under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) equivalent to SDR3.55 million (about US$5.24 million) for Guinea-Bissau to enable the authorities to meet their urgent balance of payment and fiscal needs. The Board’s approval enables the immediate disbursement of the full amount, which is equivalent to 25 percent of Guinea Bissau’s quota in the IMF.

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lead by Mercedes Vera Martin visited Nouakchott from October 20−30 to conduct discussions for the 2014 Article IV consultation.

Non-implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the judgments of the Strasbourg Court “threatens the very survival of the Convention system”, warned PACE President Anne Brasseur, opening a seminar in Madrid on the role of national parliaments in the implementation of Court judgments.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved two International Development Association (IDA)* credits totaling US$200 million. The first program will enhance Rwanda’s public financial management and statistics systems in order to make better informed decisions on the use of its public expenditures. In addition the second program will focus on enhancing food security and nutrition, increasing crop yields and expanding the private sector role in agriculture.

There is an unmistakable indicator that provides information about whether a government is making good policy or not: If the majority of the population is happy and optimistic about the future, the government would appear to be fulfilling its mission to serve the common good. Should the vast majority of people, however, be pessimistic about the possibility of change and a better future, then this government is obviously pursuing a bad policy. By this standard, the governments of China and India, for example, have an excellent policy, and the governments of Europe an abysmal one. In Germany, around 90% of people believe that “Man kann ja sowieso nichts machen” (“You cannot do anything anyway.”)

The World Bank Group announced an additional $100 million funding in its Ebola crisis response to speed up deployment of foreign health workers to the three worst-affected countries in West Africa. The announcement increases the World Bank Group’s funding for the Ebola fight over the last three months in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to more than $500 million.