Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Using development aid to build trade capacity in poor countries is helping to improve economic diversification and to economically empower marginalised groups, yet progress remains geographically uneven, according to the latest OECD-WTO report on Aid for Trade.

Fossil-fuel subsidies are environmentally harmful, costly, and distortive. After a 3 years downward trend between 2013 and 2016, government support for fossil fuel production and use has risen again, in a threat to efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and the transition to cleaner and cheaper energy. Support across 76 countries increased by 5% to USD 340 billion in 2017, according to a new OECD-IEA report prepared for the G20.

The Centenary International Labour Conference got underway on Monday at the UN in Geneva, with ILO chief Guy Ryder, calling on hundreds of delegates from around the world to help “construct a future of work, with social justice for all”.

China’s economic growth has so far remained resilient in the face of high global uncertainty. GDP growth was 6.4 percent year on year in the fourth quarter of 2018 and in the first quarter of 2019, compared to 6.8 percent in the first half of 2018. Growth is projected at 6.2 percent for 2019 and 6.1 percent for 2020.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Anna Ivanova met with Ecuadorian officials to further discuss the implementation of Ecuador’s economic program, supported by the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

A staff team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Calixte Ahokpossi, visited Ouagadougou during May 16–29, 2019 to conduct discussions for the second review of Burkina Faso’s economic and financial program supported by the IMF under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. Dominique Desruelle, Deputy Director of the African Department of the IMF also joined the discussions.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Christoph A. Klingen visited Niamey from May 15 to May 28, 2019 to hold discussions on the fourth review of the program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement and to conduct the 2019 Article IV Consultation. Niger’s program was approved by the IMF Board on January 23, 2017.

The World Bank Treasury published a new report, “Managing Public Debt in Middle-Income Countries”, on the impact of the of the Government Debt and Risk Management (GDRM) Program from 2011 to 2017, commencing completion of Phase I of the program implementation. The GDRM Program, funded by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), supports countries in developing sustainable debt and risk management frameworks to reduce vulnerability to financial shocks.

A New World Bank report released, on May 30, examines how marine pollution in the Caribbean threatens the region’s resilience to climate change. The report calls for urgent actions to restore damaged ecosystems and protect the Caribbean’s marine resources, a key source of food, livelihoods and jobs to millions of people dependent on tourism, fisheries and the ocean economy.