Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Latvia has taken an important step on the road to OECD membership by completing the process to become a member of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Latvia will become the 41st Party to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention on 30 May 2014.

Setting up an occupational pension scheme is becoming more important given Europe's increasingly ageing population. However, such pensions are of little value to Europeans having to move to another EU country for work. As rules differ between member states, these workers may lose out on the benefits. MEPs discuss and vote next week on rules to better protect these workers' pension rights.

A deal with the EU Council of Ministers on measures to boost sales of EU farm produce within the EU and abroad and to restore consumer confidence in the event of market disruptions was approved by the Agriculture Committee on Monday.

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to rise from 4.7 percent in 2013 to a forecasted 5.2 percent in 2014. This performance is boosted by rising investment in natural resources and infrastructure, and strong household spending, according to the World Bank’s new Africa’s Pulse, a twice-yearly analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects.

South Korea and Australia have signed a free trade deal aimed at realizing the "untapped potential" between two of Asia's largest economies.

The Philippines is likely to remain as one of the fastest growing economies in the East Asia and Pacific region in the next two years. Further reforms, including the removal of remaining barriers to doing business for firms of all nationalities and sizes as well as improving logistics, will strengthen the country’s competitiveness and enhance its capacity to generate more and better jobs.

Libya's government has reached an agreement with rebels to reopen two of four oil ports, in a major breakthrough to end an eight-month blockade.

Developing countries in the East Asia Pacific region will see stable economic growth this year, bolstered by a recovery in high-income economies and the market’s modest response so far to the Federal Reserve’s tapering of its quantitative easing, according to the East Asia Pacific Economic Update released by the World Bank.

After the expiry of the financial sector programme in January 2014, a staff team from the European Commission, in liaison with staff from the European Central Bank, undertook the first visit to Spain in the context of the post-programme surveillance (PPS) on 24-28 March and on 3 April. The European Stability Mechanism participated in the meetings on aspects related to its own Early Warning System.

Action taken by many European countries to return their public finances to health are beginning to pay off, says the OECD. The Euro area economies which emerged from the crisis with serious current account deficits are now in surplus. Debt-to-GDP ratios are stabilising and market tensions have abated.