Indian Rupee Looking for a Line in the Sand

Earlier this week, Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram unveiled a comprehensive – and long-awaited – plan to improve the country’s crumbling infrastructure by reviving no less than 36 stalled projects. The government has earmarked over $28bn (€21.2bn, £17.7bn) to finance

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Corruption as the Scourge of Development: The Case of Venezuela

Corruption is the scourge of development. From outright stealing and cooking the books to kickbacks and price-fixing; corruption permeates some societies, stifles their growth and denies untold millions a measure of prosperity. A case in point is Venezuela where billions

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Complimentary Currencies: Development Tool on Trial in Kenya

The Central Bank of Kenya has asked the public prosecutor to charge American economist and former Peace Corps volunteer Will Ruddick with forgery. Earlier this year Mr Ruddick and five others were duly arrested by police and thrown in jail.

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Shareholder Value: Outdated and an Obstacle to Corporate Success

The pursuit of increased shareholder value is much overrated, may hurt corporations and is certainly not the legal requirement some CEOs hold it to be. In her book The Shareholder Value Myth, legal scholar Lynn Stout of the Clarke Law

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Doomsayers Enjoying a Field Day with Deutsche Bank

A tiny but apparently growing number of pundits is pretty sure the Deutsche Bank will shortly tumble and fall. As a systemic – if not essential – bank, the DB will not descend into insolvency on its own. Those in

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Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Group: China, Brazil – Two Tales of a Growth Slowdown

China and Brazil are both facing a growth slowdown, as compared to the period prior to the global financial crisis. They were both able to respond with aggressive anti-cyclical policies to the post-Lehman quasi-collapse of the global economy. In both

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Super-Size My Pay: US Fast Food Workers Walk Off Job

Thousands of workers in the US fast food industry went on strike earlier this week to demand a super-sizing of their pay. The walkout started on Monday in New York City and has now spread to several major cities. The

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IMF: Sri Lanka Has the Potential

On July 9, Anoop Singh, Director of the IMF’s Asia Pacific Department, delivered the keynote speech at the inauguration of the 2013 Sri Lanka Economic Summit, held in Colombo. The event was sponsored by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and

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World Bank: Efforts for Better Land Governance in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly half of the world’s usable, uncultivated land but so far the continent has not been able to develop these unused tracts, estimated at more than 202 million hectares, to dramatically reduce poverty and boost

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UN Says Bangladesh Labour Laws Fall Short of International Standards

The United Nations labour agency today on Monday 22nd July that amendments to the Bangladesh Labour Act “will hopefully prove to be a first step” in addressing workers’ rights and boosting occupational safety and health, but urged the Government to

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