Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

In Malawi, civil society groups have expressed concern that President Joyce Banda is not doing enough to stimulate the nation’s economy.

Continued political bickering in the United States is hurting stock and commodity prices and slowing spending by some U.S. holiday shoppers.

The World Bank executed a US$1 billion currency swap transaction for Morocco to manage its exposure to the US dollar from a recent bond issuance. This transaction supports Morocco’s currency risk management strategy by hedging against fluctuations between the US dollar, in which bond payments will be made, and the Euro.

Tanzania’s compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which promotes greater transparency and accountability in managing oil, gas and mining sectors, “is a milestone for the country’s economic growth prospects,” said the World Bank’s Tanzania country director.

The French Alsatian city of Strasbourg has been on the map for years as a major tourist destination during the holidays, with close to two million visitors expected to have taken in the sights this season.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Friday approved the extension of the exceptional interest waiver on concessional loans by two years to end-December 2014 in view of the global economic crisis. The Board also approved a one-year postponement of the next review of Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) interest rates to end-2014. The Executive Board’s decision was taken on a lapse of time basis1.

President Barack Obama has told U.S. congressional leaders to work out a stopgap deal that would prevent the U.S. economy from falling off the fiscal cliff of expiring tax cuts and mandatory government spending cuts.

U.S. lawmakers are heading home for the Christmas holidays without any agreement or even a clear path forward on a way to avoid a combination of massive tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.

Republican U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has suffered a major setback in his showdown over taxes and spending with President Barack Obama.