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 …
Rising concerns today about global warming owing to the build-up of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane etc) in the atmosphere, has drawn the world's attention to global biomass combustion. Whatever little research has been undertaken on combustion generated by house-hold stoves in developing countries paints a distinctly grim picture. Studies …
Have you been undergoing bouts of lethargy at work or at home lately? Do you feel your memory has started playing tricks with you? Are you getting constant headaches, nausea, eye-throat-nose irritation or breathing troubles? If your answer is 'yes', chances are that you may be suffering from what is …
DAIRY farmers in developing countries invariably face a major problem because if the fresh milk from a healthy cow is not cooled and does not reach the processor within five hours after milking, it is rendered unsuitable for processing. This results in loss of time, labour and valuable nutrition. But …
The dynamism of Western academia never ceases to amaze me. Once an idea enters the people's mind-set, scholars of all hues begin analysing it from the standpoint of different disciplines. This is quite unlike what happens in a country like India. Gunnar Myrdal in his '60s trilogy, Asian Drama, had …
FROM July 1 onwards, companies will be able to call a single number at the World Bank's (WB) Washington Dc headquarters to enquire about possible loans, political-risk insurances or credit guarantees for business projects in developing countries and the former Soviet bloc. These services for private companies are offered by …
A RECENT report by a British development non-governmental organisation (NGO) squarely blames the western countries for causing widespread destruction of the environment due to intensive prawn farming. The huge demand for shrimps in the West has also led to loss of farmland and unemployment in developing countries. According to the …
SPUTTERlNG growth has been a characteristic feature of the world economy in recent times. Yet there are encouraging indicators of a major upswing that can sustain it over a relatively long period. The developing countries of Asia and Latin America are shedding institutional shackles that restricted their growth in the …
A BATTLE royale is threatening to break out between chocolate manufacturers of the European Union (Fu) and cocoa producers in developing countries. At the crux of the issue is what should go into the making of tasty chocolate - cocoa butter or alternates like vegetable fat. The latter option, already …
If producing cultural products, such as books, newspapers, movies or radios, reflects a nation's degree of progress, then the developing world trails far behind. And the gap has decreased only marginally over the last two decades. The South-Northratio of book titles published for every million individuals was 1:10 in 1991, …
A large number of developing countries are economically dependent on tobacco export and a major proportion of their gross national product, government revenue and employment comes from tobacco production. But tobacco production has a lot of environmental consequences. Apart from the intensive use of fertilisers, pesticides and water, it affects …
IN THE backward regions of the world, there is as much a need for technology as there is for organisational know-how for improving productivity. Effective administration and demand-supply management can be established by cost-beneficial electronics communications and Computer technology advances which make possible a state of 'zero-tag-time' taken to reach …
Deadly pesticides pose a serious hazard to the environment in the developing world. These countries continue to import banned pesticides from the West. At least $72.5 million of 12 banned pesticides, called the-Dirty Dozen, were exported from the US between 1991 and 1994. Worse, these dangerous chemicals end up in …
THE rural areas of developing countries disadvantaged in many ways, one rthem being access routes. Heavy and flood conditions completely Mdcte these remote villages when Coa h roads are either washed away mud-swamped. Richard Tufnell, International R%C;@nator of the Dry Stone Walling *Avociation of Great Britain has a method which …
Everyday, some 40,000 people die from hunger-related causes. In the 47 'least developed' countries, 10 per cent of the world's population subsists on less than 0.5 per cent of world's income. Over a billion people are compelled to live on less than a dollar a day. And the strain on …
ETHIOPIA, one of the poorest nations of the world, contains a treasure trove of a particular plant species - C arabica, a coffee germplasm. But it cannot develop the germplasm commercially and mint money by selling high-tech coffee varieties to the rich inclustrialised countries. This is because Escagenetics Corp, a …
RECESSION, debt and oil crisis are common features of the present decade, which crippled the economy of many countries. The decade expe rienced very little stimulation and support to the health system. It is within this context that interes in the sustainability of healthcare in developing counte emerged, and questions …
GARBAGE strewn all around... green pastures for flies ... long queues with containers at the tubewells --- and a sea of humanity crawling out of shanties to go about their daily routines. This is a typical slum in most parts of the Third World. The unhappy residents of these inhuman …
WIND power has been used for centuries to lift water in farms, especially in countries like Australia and the us. Some problems inherent in the existing windpump designs - high initial cost, difficulty in local manufacturing, and the need for regular maintenance - have rendered this age-old technology nonviable in …
ALL the way up at the North Pole, Arctic lakes are teeming with severe cases of pesticide contaminated fish. Dangerous levels of the pesticide toxaphene in the trout and turbot stock in Lake Laberge, in Yukon, Canada, have been reported by a team of Canadian researchers investigating the causes of …
