1. Nepal Government officials join INGAF training course in New Delhi
• The Third group of 22 officials of Nepal`s Ministry of Finance joined their training course on ‘Global Perspectives on Public Financial Management’ at the Institute of Government Accounts and Finance (INGAF) in New Delhi.
• The training is being held under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme of the Ministry of External Affairs.
• This is a special tailor-made training course on Public Finance Management designed at the request and requirement of Nepal`s Ministry of Finance for a total of 62 officials.
• The training will enhance capabilities of these officials in global practices dealing with e-payment system, accounting & cash management, public burrowing system, accounting of foreign loans/grants and repayments, pension payment system, internal audit, fiscal responsibility and budget management.
• Earlier, 40 Nepali officials had successfully completed their 10-days long training at the INGAF. The INGAF is a premier training institute of Government of India in the field of Public Finance Management with state-of-the-art learning facilities.
• It is one of the Partner Institutes for imparting professional trainings to officials from friendly developing countries across the world under the ITEC programme.
2. OECD cuts global growth forecast over trade
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, has again cut its 2019 forecast for global economic growth due to ongoing trade tensions and Brexit uncertainty.
• In an interim version of its Economic Outlook, the OECD lowered its forecast to 3.3 per cent for this year, down from the 3.5 per cent it predicted in November, which was itself a downgrade from a previous 3.7 per cent.
• It warned that trade tensions and political uncertainty including Brexit are weighing on the world`s economy.
• The OECD, which groups the world`s top developed economies, revised growth estimates lower in almost all of the countries in the G20 group of industrialised and emerging nations.
• The 19-nation eurozone was particularly hard hit, with predicted growth dropping from 1.8 per cent to one per cent.
• The growth forecast for European powerhouse Germany sank to 0.7 per cent from 1.4, while Italy`s fell from 0.9 per cent growth into a recession at minus 0.2 per cent.
• Britain`s growth forecast was chopped from 1.4 to 0.8 per cent, which would mark the first time it had fallen below one percent since 2009 following the global economic crisis.
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