Nearly 65% of adults in the Arab region remain excluded from formal financial systems, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Annual SDG Review 2025 paints a sobering picture of persistent financial exclusion that is undermining the region’s ability …
AKINWUMI A ADESINA Vice-president, policy and partnerships,Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Though AGRA says it is supporting small farmers, Annan held a separate meeting with private players, including the International SeedFederation and the International Fertilizer Association , and not with civil society groups Green revolution in Africa: The …
There is a paradigm shift in the agricultural research and development policy of developing countries, primarily driven by scarcity of public funds. The countries with a strong research system like India and China have initiated a number of reforms with an objective to diversify the sources of funding and increase …
The main objective of this study is to assess the overall debt position of the farmers in Punjab and identify the factors affecting their indebtedness.
This paper estimates and compares the paid-out cost of cultivation of wheat in India, the most state-protected crop, during the input subsidy regime of the 1970s and 1980s and after its abolition in the 1990s, when economic reforms were initiated. The study uses the valuable time series information collected as …
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme in the Philippines has made substantial progress in dealing with land reform. Much more remains to be done and Filipino society is actively engaged in critically discussing the past and the future of CARP. There are lessons here for India where policymaking circles remain obsessed …
National Sample Survey data in Income, Expenditure and Productive Assests of Farmer Households, 2003 showed that 96 per cent of farmer households are in deficit and half of the households are indebted. Debt waiver can only be welcomed in such a situation. Once indebted, marginal and small farmers will hardly …
The development agenda of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development has undergone modifications that are unfavourable for developing nations. Can the recent Accra Accord change this? How can UNCTAD be better enabled to address critical development issues?
The loan waiver will lighten the debt burden of the farmers. But in the long term this will adversely affect the rural credit institutions that extend loans to farmers. A discussion of the likely fallout.
The waters are rarely calm for finance ministers attending Group of Eight meetings. As soon as the stewards of the global economy feel ready to take some pride in navigating through one squall, they get a better view of others looming ahead. At the G7 gatherings this year in Tokyo …
This paper presents a methodology for estimating the burden of diseases in monetary terms instead of a demographic indicator. The purpose was to ascertain the financial burden arising out of various categories of morbidity in the community. The disease-wise burden would act as a pointer for the policy maker to …
This paper provides guidance for implementing Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) vehicle insurance, which directly incorporates mileage as a rate factor. It describes PAYD pricing options, discusses PAYD benefits and costs, describes regulatory reforms, evaluates various objections to PAYD, and provides specific recommendations for PAYD implementation. Various data sources indicate that crash costs …
This study is to understand the financial services sector with regard to low-income fisherfolk, especially, in a comparative analysis framework in the post tsunami context, with the following objectives: to understand the extent to which men and women in fisheries are excluded from the mainstream financial system; to identify their …
This book attempts to partially fill the void by systematically assessing health financing reforms in nine low- and middle-income countries that have demonstrated good performance in expanding their populations
It was interesting to read the article 'Rural Short-term Cooperative Credit Structure' by Mandira Sharma and Rajiv Kumar (March 1, 2008) but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. The authors would have done well to fist understand some basic concepts like capital, non-performing assets, majority shareholding, etc, before commenting at …
Ghana's Minerals Commission has come up with a regulatory framework that will ensure that mining companies operating in the country cough up more to the government coffers. The new legislation will require the companies to pay an exact percentage of their total revenue, which is yet to be calculated, as …
The European Commission has launched a fund to mobilize private sector investments in energy-efficient and renewable energy projects. The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (geeref) will focus on projects in developing countries and transition economies with an initial fund of
The two-day Africa summit in New Delhi last month opened a significant chapter in India's external affairs. Inaugurating the summit, attended by 14 African leaders, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced India would spend heavily on development projects in Africa. The summit sought to establish a partnership of mutual benefit. If …
Traffic and Transportation Policies and Strategies in Urban Areas in India was conducted in 1994 to establish the urban transport scenario and forecast the anticipated issues that would most likely crop up in the future. Further to this, a National Urban Transport Policy was approved in 2006 to help in …
The uneven economic development undergone by Latin America throughout the last decades has had an impact on its political and social dynamics. Governments in the region have been looking for strategies to cope with the unstable economy and sharp inflation rates, trying to protect their most vulnerable population from the …
