Ans: C

Exp:

The World Bank Group consists of five organizations:

• The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development: It lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries.

• The International Development Association: It provides interest-free loans — called credits — and grants to governments of the poorest countries. Together, IBRD and IDA make up the World Bank.
• The International Finance Corporation: It is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments.
• The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency: It was created in 1988 to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people’s lives. MIGA fulfills this mandate by offering political risk insurance (guarantees) to investors and lenders.
• The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes: It provides international facilities for conciliation and arbitration of investment disputes.
• International Fund for Agricultural Development: It is an international financial institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. 

Ans: C

Exp:

Some of the Key Reports released by World Bank

• Global Economic Prospects: It focus on emerging markets and developing countries. 
• Global Financial Development Report: It offers new research and data that help fill gaps in the knowledge on long-term finance.
• Poverty and Shared Prosperity: The Poverty and Shared Prosperity series provides a global audience with the latest and most accurate estimates on trends in global poverty and shared prosperity, as well as in-depth research into policies and interventions that can make a difference for the world’s poorest.
• World Development Indicators: It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates.
• World Development Reports: It  assembles the best available evidence on the Internet potential impact on economic growth, on equity, and on the efficiency of public service provision.

World Economic Outlook: It is usually published twice a year. It presents IMF staff economists’ analyses of global economic developments during the near and medium term. It gives an overview as well as more detailed analysis of the world economy; consider issues affecting industrial countries, developing countries, and economies in transition to market; and address topics of pressing current

Ans: C

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: The most favoured nation (MFN) principle is based on the idea that countries should treat all their trade partners equally—that no one country should be “more favoured.” It means no country should give special treatment to goods or services coming from one particular trading partner. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has made the most favoured nation principle part of its rules. 

Statement 2 is correct: The most favoured nation principle does not include preferential tariffs under free trade agreements. For example, Canada has a free trade agreement with Korea, and many Canadian goods imported into Korea are not charged tariffs. While Korea charges tariffs on goods from its other trading partners equally, Canada does not pay any tariffs at all because the free trade agreement overrules the most favoured nation principle. As a result, Canadian goods enjoy a competitive advantage in Korea.

Ans: C

Exp:

In WTO terminology, subsidies in general are identified by “boxes” which are given the colours of traffic lights: green (permitted), amber (slow down — i.e. need to be reduced), red (forbidden). In agriculture, things are, as usual, more complicated. 

Statement 1 is incorrect : The green box is defined in Annex 2 of the Agriculture Agreement. “Green box” subsidies are therefore allowed without limits, provided they comply with the policy-specific criteria set out in Annex 2.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Blue box is the “amber box with conditions” — conditions designed to reduce distortion. Thus, there are limits on this box.

Statement 3 is correct: Development Box: Article 6.2 of the Agriculture Agreement allows developing countries additional flexibilities in providing domestic support. The type of support that fits into the developmental category are measures of assistance, whether direct or indirect, designed to encourage agricultural and rural development and that are an integral part of the development programmes of developing countries. 

Ans: D

Exp:

This BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (“CRA”) is between  the BRICS countries i.e. the Federative Republic of Brazil (“Brazil”), the Russian Federation (“Russia”), the Republic of India (“India”), the People’s Republic of China (“China”) and the Republic of South Africa (“South Africa”).

Objective: The CRA is a framework for the provision of support through liquidity and precautionary instruments in response to actual or potential short-term balance of payments pressures. The initial total committed resources of the CRA shall be one hundred billion dollars of the United States of America (USD 100 billion).