Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Claims for jobless benefits have dropped sharply again in the United States, a new signal that the country's labor market may be improving.

The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve and the Swiss National Bank are today announcing an extension of the existing temporary US dollar liquidity swap arrangements until 1 February 2014. Previously, these swap arrangements had been authorised until 1 February 2013.

Australia’s labour market reforms over the past 15 years have boosted employment and cut welfare benefit dependency. But further efforts are needed to help people with a partial work capacity get back to work and to tackle the high rate of people working part-time who want to work full-time, according to a new OECD report.

“Bribery distorts markets and increases the cost of doing business. This month marks the 15th anniversary of the OECD’s Anti-Bribery Convention, the first and only legally-binding international instrument to focus exclusively on active bribery in business. Colombia’s joining the Convention sends an important signal to governments and business in Latin America of the importance of working together to fight corruption.”

President Barack Obama used a truck manufacturing plant in the midwestern United States as the backdrop for a speech Monday about the economy, and the importance of achieving an agreement in fiscal negotiations with congressional Republicans.

On December 10, 2012, Latvia announced its intention to make an early repayment of its entire outstanding obligations to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amounting to SDR 603.038 million (about €714.3 million). Latvia had borrowed from the IMF under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) approved in December 2008.

President Barack Obama met with the U.S. Congress’ top Republican, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Sunday in search of a deficit-reduction package that would prevent substantial spending cuts and tax increases from going into effect on January 1.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today released preliminary results from its 2011 annual Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS). The CDIS is the Fund’s worldwide survey of bilateral foreign direct investment positions1. The survey has been conducted annually since 2009. The results, published as an online database, comprise preliminary estimates of positions for end-2011 and revised estimates for 2009‒2010. The IMF will also post revised data for 2009 forward in mid-2013.The end-2011 survey includes data from 86 economies. New participants include Benin, Guatemala, Mali, and Venezuela.

Guatemala is the second Central American country, after Costa Rica, to sign since the Convention was opened for signature to all countries in June 2011.

Agreements for the Triumph Power Generation Company, a new independent power producer, were signed Wednesday between the Government of Kenya, Kenya Power, JP Morgan Bank, and the World Bank for a $45 million Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG).