Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

A fisherman casts his fishing net on the coast at sunset Gabon.

The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to investigate whether Gazprom, the Russian producer and supplier of natural gas, might be hindering competition in Central and Eastern European gas markets, in breach of EU antitrust rules.

More than 21 000 workers dismissed due to the economic crisis and the effects of globalisation were helped to find new job opportunities by the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) in 2011, according to a report adopted today by the European Commission.

Jobless rates among young people will get even worse globally as the spill-over of the euro crisis spreads from advanced to emerging economies, according to a United Nations paper issued today.

Oliver Stolpe (r), Senior Advisor, Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative, and Robert Wallner (l), Liechtenstein's Prosecutor General, at an OSCE seminar on identifying, restraining and recovering stolen assets in the OSCE

The World Bank declared effective the Additional Financing for Tajikistan’s Energy Loss Reduction Project (ELRP). This will allow the project that started in 2005 to continue to support the Government of Tajikistan’s efforts to improve the financial management and viability of the energy sector, to build better accountability for energy and revenue flows, and to explore energy export options for long term sector sustainability. The project will also support the continuation of the assessment studies of the proposed Rogun Hydropower (HPP) Project.

Up to 16 million inhabitants of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will benefit from a US$300 million Development Policy Loan (DPL) approved today by The World Bank Board of Directors. The Rio State Development Policy Loan lll will improve the State’s financial and tax administrations, as well as the provision of education and health services.

The European Union's policy of bailing out the banks in hopes of "saving" the euro is destroying the only basis for eventual recovery: Europe's people. The most critical case now in the headlines is Greece, but Greece is not alone. Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Italy are most rapidly falling into the same abyss.

Global food prices soared by 10 percent in July from a month ago, with maize and soybean reaching all-time peaks due to an unprecedented summer of droughts and high temperatures in both the United States and Eastern Europe, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch report.

The World Bank (WB) Board of Directors approved a US$11.7 million grant today to promote sustainable production and in favor of Mexico’s biodiversity. It seeks to create sustainable production systems combining production activities, natural resource management, preservation and conservation of biodiversity, in nine biological corridors located across six states: Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Chiapas.