Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly able to secure bank loans supported by a Government-backed scheme, as lending under the scheme reached its highest level since 2010.

Young Yemeni women at work weaving a rug. Bani Hushaish, Yemen.

One third of the EU budget for 2014-2020 will be invested in member states, to boost regional development, with a strong focus on employment, energy efficiency, innovation and research.

Lao PDR and the World Bank Group have been close partners in the development and implementation of the Nam Theun 2 project. Analysis of several rounds of socio-economic monitoring shows that over 97% of households resettled under the Nam Theun 2 project met stringent Household Income Targets specified in the Concession Agreement.

The European Parliament approved the EU’s budget for 2014 on Wednesday. This budget is the result of the deal struck with the Council in last week’s negotiations. For payments €500 million were added to the 2014 budget, bringing the total compared to the initial Council position to €135.5 billion.

The global economy is expected to continue expanding at a moderate pace over the coming two years, but policymakers must ensure that instability in financial markets and underlying fragility in some major economies are not allowed to derail growth, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

“Since the mid-2000s, Bolivia's macroeconomic performance has been very strong. Macroeconomic stability and social policies have contributed to a significant increase in average personal incomes and have helped to reduce poverty and income inequality. Prudent macroeconomic policies have allowed safeguarding a portion of the revenues from the boom in international hydrocarbon prices, thus improving the economy’s capacity to weather external shocks.

Economies around the world are adopting a range of policies as they strive to strike a balance between raising tax revenues and encouraging growth, according to a new report from the World Bank Group and PwC. This year, 14 economies significantly increased their total tax obligations or the amount of tax a case study company has to pay, while 14 others lowered theirs.

Cerdanya Hospital in Spain - a project co-financed by the European Union

“Economic activity continues to recover from the crisis at a slow pace. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is projected at 1.9 percent in 2013, marginally higher than 2012. A reduction in stopover tourist arrivals and the completion of major public infrastructure projects is being offset by a pickup in foreign private investment under the large Baha Mar project and other smaller foreign-financed ventures in the tourism sector.