The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
PAKISTAN will not abandon its nuclear programme until there is an agreement to make the entire region a nuclear weapons free zone, said the country's foreign minister Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali during a debate in parliament. Pakistani nationalists, however, fear the programme may be put at a standstill to pacify …
WHEN PETER Sutherland lowered the gavel in Geneva on December 15 to signify the end of the Uruguay round of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the reaction in India was sharply divided. While an enraged opposition charged the "economic sovereignty of the country had been …
THIS IS not a time for capitalism to Icelebrate. The heady days of 1989 have given way to disenchantment with free markets in the Anglo-American world. The high tide of capitalism has touched the shores of the Nordic countries, bastions of social democracy, while the politi-cally correct stalk North America. …
THE IRAQI government's campaign to drain the Howeiza Marsh in the south to flush out Shiite rebels has prompted an exodus: Every day for the past three months, about 25 refugees have fled across the marsh to the Iranian side. Sardiya Ali, a refugee, said, "We can no longer fish …
THE EUROPEAN Community has refused to fully compensate German farmers for rises in the D-Mark. Germany wants a restoration of the "switchover" system whereby each realignment of EC currencies pushes up farm prices in all member countries to follow the movement of the strongest currencies -- invariably the D-mark and …
IN THE wake of economic liberalisation, the need to streamline the country's research and development (R&D;) institutions acquires a sense of urgency. However, ongoing protests by scientists at two leading institutions over who should head these bodies highlight the difficulties of implementing such measures. In the first case, relating to …
THOUGH Moeen Qureshi is only interim prime minister of Pakistan, he has dared to challenge the wealthy and influential landowners of the country by imposing a wealth tax on agricultural income. This is something that former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto did not dare to do, fearing a …
IN A CORNER of Gujarat lies the Gir national park, perhaps the last home in the wild for the Asiatic lion. The range of the park has shrunk progressively from vast stretches of Asia to its present, forest department-protected 1,200 sq km. For thousands of years, the Maldharis and their …
What are your reactions to the government finally agreeing to your demand for talks on SSP? It's a big step forward for NBA to have brought the government to the negotiating table after two abortive attempts. We are fully confident these discussions will culminate in a review of the project. …
Did you do anything to stop your hut from being demolished? What could I have done against the state's strong-arm tactics? There was a 1,000-strong police force in Manibeli at that time, more than 100 of whom came with labourers to raze my hut. I was not there when they …
THERE are few words in the English language as evocative as population. Most tongues would wag it as something uncontrollable. It also evokes the notion of pressure, of human flotsam spilling over national boundaries. Among development experts, it evokes the concept of irresponsible procreation, and insufficient funding for birth control …
AFTER struggling for eight long years against the massive Narmada dam, the people of the valley are still caught between the devil and the deep blue sea -- in this case, the threat of submergence on one hand, and a repressive government machinery on the other. The doughty anti-Narmada crusader, …
IS THE Indian economy becoming more and more environment-intensive? The greater the use made of energy and materials by an economy to produce goods and services worth one unit of its GNP, the greater its impact will be on the environment. Available data shows economic development in India relies upon …
CONSUMPTION is a constantly evolving process influenced by a multiplicity of factors, of which the major ones are disposable income, level of awareness and standard of living. Different societies go through specific consumption patterns at different points of time. Mahatma Gandhi's statement that "India lives in her villages" was apt …
What do you think of Agenda 21, especially as there are so many who would prefer to find fault with the document? It's a broadbased question. Agenda 21 should be taken for what it is -- a broad inter-governmental agreement on a number of principles and objectives that is long …
ALL THROUGH the second half of the 20th century, whenever Western governments have seen their industries lagging behind globally, they have resorted to updating their technology policies. The result has been that technology strategies became the key to economic growth not only in the US and in several European nations, …
Even as Union finance minister Manmohan Singh proclaimed the success of liberalisation and globalisation of the country's economy before World Bank officials in April this year, the Clinton administration targeted India for discriminatory sanctions under the Special 301 provisions of the US Trade Act. This is the third time since …
What prompted you to enter politics? And how significant is your nomination as green party candidate in view of current happenings, particularly in Chile? I didn't take the initiative. Frankly, being a presidential candidate wasn't a part of my scheme of things. In fact, I have never belonged to any …
TECHNOLOGY change is resulting in problems of large-scale and permanent unemployment. The demand for blue-collar employees is decreasing, while that of white-collar workers is increasing. Overall, many economies are showing trends of becoming increasingly less labour intensive delinking outout from total employment. In the USA, blue-collar employment in the manufacturing …
PRODUCING a newspaper or a newsmagazine is something like an unending string of little miracles. As technologists designing new machines well know, "if anything can go wrong, it will." The same happens with us too, all the time. Yet, the publication must and does come out regularly and, more or …
