Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi.

As mobile banking and other technological innovations fuel the expansion of financial services in many developing countries, a new World Bank Group report urges policy makers to focus on products that benefit the poor, women and other vulnerable groups the most.

A “youth charter” setting out common principles on internships and volunteering, measures to foster entrepreneurship at an early stage and enabling young people to manage a small part of the EU Youth Employment Initiative programme were among the key recommendations of the Citizens’ Agora on Youth Unemployment, held in Brussels on 6-8 November. These conclusions could serve as input for the conference of heads of state on youth unemployment in Paris.

The World Bank has appointed Rodrigo Chaves, an economist with over 20 years of experience working in development and public policy in more than 30 countries, as the new Country Director for Indonesia.

Mr. Nicola Bonucci, Director, OECD Legal Directorate, Her Excellency Maria Ubach, Ambassador of Andorra to France and Mr. Pascal Saint-Amans, Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at today’s signing ceremony.

The global economic crisis has had a profound impact on people’s well-being, reaching far beyond the loss of jobs and income, and affecting citizens’ satisfaction with their lives and their trust in governments, according to a new OECD report.

The Myanmar Economic Monitor (MEM) reports that growth in 2012/13 was strong at 6.5 percent driven mainly by strong performance in gas production, services, construction, foreign direct investment, and commodity exports. It also indicates that the outlook in the short to medium term remains positive although there are risks, both on the domestic as well as external fronts.

In its newly released semi-annual Mongolia Economic Update, the World Bank said that the persistent large balance of payments imbalance is a key challenge to the Mongolian economy. The World Bank underscored that the current fiscal and monetary policies should be tightened further to address the growing current account deficit and to ensure macro-economic stability going forward.

EU aid to redundant workers would continue in 2014-2020 and go to new categories of workers, such as the self-employed and those on temporary contracts, under a provisional deal struck by Employment and Social Affairs Committee MEPs and the Lithuanian Presidency and approved by the committee on Tuesday. If approved at the November plenary, it will take effect on 1 January 2014.