Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

The EU and US concluded the third round of week-long negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), with the EU's Chief Negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero again stressing that any deal would uphold "the highest standards of consumer, environment, health and labour protection."

On December 16, 2013, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the 2013 Article IV consultation and the first Post Program Monitoring Review, as well as the Ex Post Evaluation of Exceptional Access under the 2010 Stand-By Arrangement with Ukraine.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the first review of Pakistan’s economic performance under a three-year program supported by an arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The completion of the review enables an immediate disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 360 million (about US$553.3 million).

Afghanistan is braced for an uncertain future once NATO and ISAF troops withdraw from 2014. The EU and its international partners will play an important role in ensuring the troubled country continues its transformation into a democratic state with a modern economy.

International donors renewed their support for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) technical assistance in Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). During a session held in Washington, D.C., they pledged $18.9 million to the work of the Trust Fund, strengthening the second five-year phase of the global AML/CFT program, which will begin operations on May 1, 2014.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a new arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for Mali for an amount equivalent to SDR 30 million (about US$ 46.2 million or 32 percent of quota). The approval enables the immediate disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 6 million (about US$9.2 million).

The World Bank announced that it has completed a $450 million weather and oil price insurance transaction for Administración Nacional de Usinas y Transmisiones Eléctricas (UTE), the Uruguayan state-owned hydro-electric power company. The transaction insures UTE for the next 18 months against drought and high oil prices, both of which have had negative financial impacts on the company in the past.

Burundi will need to mobilize more domestic revenues and improve its budget transparency in order to reduce poverty more significantly, boost jobs and opportunity, and cushion itself against economic reversals, according to ‘ Strengthening Fiscal Resilience to Promote Government Effectiveness,’ the World Bank’s latest Burundi Public Expenditure Review (PER), which was written in close collaboration with Burundi’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Planning.

Japan posted its worst November trade deficit on record Wednesday, as a weaker yen drove up the cost of imported oil and gas.

Tax revenues continue bouncing back from the low levels reported in almost all countries during 2008 and 2009, at the height of the global economic crisis, according to new OECD data in the annual Revenue Statistics publication. The average tax revenue to GDP ratio in OECD countries was 34.6% [1] in 2012, compared with 34.1% in 2011 and 33.8% in 2010.