Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

The international community continues making progress toward greater cooperation to ensure effective information exchange in tax matters. The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes issued 12 new reports that highlight action being taken by jurisdictions to implement the international standard for exchange of information on request.

The Netherlands is gradually emerging from a double-dip recession with strengthened public finances and reforms on track to improve the labour and housing markets and the health care and pension systems. These reforms are paying off, says the OECD. Growth is expected to reach 1% this year and 1.3% in 2015.

The State Bank of Vietnam and the World Bank signed credit agreements and related documents for three projects to support community infrastructure, agriculture and livelihoods in Vietnam’s poorest areas, and to strengthen the country’s social assistance system.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved support for Burkina Faso to cut poverty and hunger by laying the foundation of a national safety net system. The new credit will provide the initial investment in a cash transfer program which can be scaled up nationwide and eventually reach a large share of the country’s poor people.

The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors approved an allocation of US$45 million equivalent to finance the first phase of the transformative Central Asia Roads Links Program, to be implemented in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2014-2019.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a US$100 million grant to the Republic of Burundi to finance the Jiji and Mulembwe hydropower project.

Sri Lanka became the first South Asian country to access an innovative form of World Bank financing that provides immediate payouts after a major catastrophe such as a tsunami, cyclone or flood.

The famed Sherpa guides of Nepal are considering a strike, following a massive avalanche on Mount Everest last week that killed 13 guides. The Sherpas are seeking better pay and welfare provisions.

The Government of Bangladesh and the World Bank launched the Municipal Governance and Service Project to improve municipal governance and basic urban services in city corporations and municipalities in Bangladesh. The initiative will benefit 3.4 million people in around 100 urban communities across the country.

The governments of 86 countries have taken a key step towards preventing value added tax from weighing on trade while also safeguarding state revenues by endorsing the first internationally agreed framework for applying national VAT rules to cross-border transactions.