Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Bas Eickhout

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the fifth review of Jamaica’s economic performance under the program supported by a four-year, SDR 615.38 million (about US$932 million at the time of approval) arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The completion of the review enables an immediate disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 45.95 million (about US$68.8 million). The Board made the decision based on lapse-of-time procedures, without a formal meeting. The EFF arrangement was approved on May 1, 2013.

The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Monetary and Capital Markets Department and Banque de France (BdF) organized the first IMF Central Bank Forum for Developing Markets, in Paris from September 9-10, 2014. Discussions at the Forum focused on The Road to Inflation Targeting and Transitional Monetary Arrangements.

Birgit Hansl: “In the first half of 2014, macroeconomic stability continued and Russia remains in possession of large buffers to uphold stability in the near future"

The World Bank Group announced the debarment of Chinese state-owned enterprise China International Water and Electric Corp. (CWE) and its controlled affiliates for a period of three years with conditional release.

The World Bank and the Government of Bangladesh concluded a Joint Tripartite Portfolio Review of selected World Bank supported projects in Bangladesh. Since independence, the World Bank has committed more than $18.6 billion, which accounts for 29% of the total foreign aid the country received so far.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced the launch of a private sector partnership that will improve employment opportunities for more than 300,000 women over the next two years. The initiative was announced by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.

Economic recovery is losing momentum; European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Monday, citing slowing growth in the second quarter and less than encouraging economic indicators in the summer. "The weak credit curb, high unemployment, political and geopolitical tensions could work against the necessary confidence the ECB is trying to build", he explained.

Increasing productivity is critical to achieving strong, sustainable and inclusive growth and well-being. Technological change and innovation are the key drivers of increased productivity, along with better skills and organisational change.

“Despite the global recovery continuing, the pace of growth remains low and uneven, in part given increased geopolitical tensions and risks of financial market turmoil. Promoting economic policies that can contribute to a more robust and job-rich recovery is therefore critical at this stage.