Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a zero-interest credit of $250 million to help Kenya fight extreme poverty by setting up a potentially transformational national social safety net program. The safety net, which will knit together several existing government programs into a better coordinated and more efficient system, aims to reach up to 3.3 million of the country’s poorest people by 2017.

President Truong Tan Sang will become the second Vietnamese head of state to visit the White House since the two countries normalized relations nearly 20 years ago. The talks are expected to cover the two countries’ increasing trade, Hanoi’s relations with China and U.S. concerns over Vietnam’s human rights record.

The World Bank Group committed $52.6 billion in loans, grants, equity investments, and guarantees to help promote economic growth, increase shared prosperity, and fight extreme poverty in developing countries during fiscal year 2013, which ended on June 30.

The Government of Nepal and the World Bank held a joint portfolio review to assess the performance of development projects assisted by the World Bank in Nepal. The meeting was co-chaired by Finance Secretary Mr. Shanta Raj Subedi and World Bank Country Manager for Nepal Ms. Tahseen Sayed.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly half of the world’s usable, uncultivated land but so far the continent has not been able to develop these unused tracts, estimated at more than 202 million hectares, to dramatically reduce poverty and boost growth, jobs, and shared prosperity.

The OECD presented to G20 finance ministers plans for a two-pronged attack on tax avoidance and evasion from both companies and individuals.

National tax laws have not kept pace with the globalisation of corporations and the digital economy, leaving gaps that can be exploited by multi-national corporations to artificially reduce their taxes.

Vietnamese merchants in Ho Chi Minh City are waiting for business, and for the economy, to pick up, Jul. 18, 2013.

Detroit, Michigan filed for bankruptcy in U.S. federal court, making it the largest municipality in U.S. history to seek Chapter 9 protection. The filing is the latest move that comes after years of population decline and decreasing tax revenues in a city plagued by corruption and financial mismanagement.