Quantitative Easing: Another Shot for the Caffeine Junkie

Early in March, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its intention to flood the market with about €1.1 trillion in quantitative easing (QE) monies over the course of 18 months by buying debt instruments – mostly government bonds – on the secondary market.

This way of hovering up bonds essentially equips commercial banks with significant volumes of new liquidity. Pessimists fear that the fresh money will be leveraged and used to invest in dubious financial products. This may cause bubbles to reappear in the financial market which, in turn, could trigger a situation similar to the one at the starting point of the 2008 crisis.

Critics emphasise that quantitative easing is a short-term measure only. They often refer to Japan where QE has been used since 2001 on a serial basis to little effect, but with huge implications for the country’s public debt.

Optimists, such as US economist Jeffrey Sachs, celebrate the ECB’s current “macroeconomic realism,” since fresh liquidity will increase the availability of credit to the real economy. This is expected to boost investment and consumption. When accompanied by a long-lasting policy of low interest rates, expanding the money supply will fuel inflation, stimulate demand, and strengthen investor confidence. The export sector also stands to gain on the back of a weakened euro.

There is indeed reason to hope that what has worked out pretty well in the US and the UK, will also do the job in Europe. In conjunction with low oil prices, the ongoing revolution in information technology, and the €315 billion investment package assembled by the European Commission, the new course of action followed by the ECB could conceivably end Europe’s economic lethargy and allow the continent to catch up with its transatlantic counterpart, currently busy gloating over its 3.2% economic growth.

While everybody – including the proverbial dog – is focused on getting GDP to grow by leveraging of the ballooning and largely fictitious balances of likewise improbable bank accounts, very real and tangible problems are waiting for a solution: the soaring wealth gap between rich and poor and the systematic destruction of the environment remain largely unaddressed.

With shocking empirical clarity, scientists like Johan Rockström of the Stockholm Resilience Centre show that since the end of the 1980s mankind has drastically overstepped planetary ecological boundaries. Climate change is just one of the irreversible phenomena mankind has put in motion over a period of just a few centuries.

Moreover, socio-economic studies have conclusively proved that in both emerging and developed nations social disparities are on the increase. A large number of people are simply barred from sharing in economic benefits.

The rationality of economic growth and profit maximisation – the driving doctrine of the capitalist system which we are so eager to boost – is responsible for the global imbalances of social and ecological nature.

In his revolutionary book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French economist Thomas Piketty expressed the issues at hand from a mathematical perspective. His conclusion is summarised simply as R > G - Rent is larger than Growth. This means that the return on invested capital is higher than the return on labour. Those who depend on labour cannot accumulate wealth at the same pace those possessing capital can.

The current economic model is defined by rules and mechanisms that counteract distributive justice. Also, the economic growth paradigm – the impetus to expand activities in order to prevail in the marketplace and generate an excess cash flow that allows for the payment of credits bearing high compound interest rates – results in an ever-increasing consumption of resources and environmental degradation. This is incompatible with the earth’s finite capacity for sustaining environmental damage.

At present, mankind already consumes more than 1.5 times the resources planet earth can replenish. With emerging economies now rising, the burden on our planet is likely to become heavier yet. Scientists know that mankind must drastically reduce its global footprint in order to be sustainable. This reduction cannot be achieved by technological progress only or by a switch to green energy; mankind will also have to significantly modify its ways of production and consumption.

Therefore, the motto for most resource- and pollution-intensive branches of the economy must emphasise de-growth – at least in the industrialised world. Here, the overheated economies need to relax and corporate behaviour must be more in tune with social and environmental concerns. This cannot be achieved by just boosting our economy while blindly accepting all the harmful tendencies – inherent to capitalism – that create social and ecological imbalances.
The solution is to change the values and the rules of economic life. The following analogy may illustrate the point: Imagine you are a doctor and workaholic comes to see you complaining about physical and mental exhaustion. What would you advise him to do? Have a double espresso with sugar whenever performance levels taper off? Or, relax a bit, have more sleep, enjoy some fresh air, and spend more time with family and friends?

This metaphor, in principle, reflects quite well the present state of global economic affairs and the options available. Quantitative easing is fuel for a machine that works the wrong way. By producing poverty and destroying nature, this machine does not serve us, rather it ruins us.

The entire global economic model – i.e. the economic and financial systems, including their institutions (WTO, IMF, OECD, etc.) and legal framework (international trade and investment law) – is arranged in such a way that it serves a small, but powerful, financial, industrial, and political elite. The model institutionalises capitalism, de-regulation and trade- and investment liberalisation in its raptorial globalised shape.

The model imposes rules, institutions, and dependencies which jointly ensure that the right of the stronger prevails. This legalises exploitation not just in North-South relations but also along the dividing line between the rich and poor within individual states.

These social and ecological imbalances should be in the public’s focus instead of the boosting of an economic system which is responsible for creating them. It is not by chance that in 2015 three international conferences – on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), on their financing, and on climate change – will take place that are of utmost importance to mankind’s future.

Of course, the keywords are “sustainable development.” This requires us to strike a completely new balance between economic, ecological, and social issues. That balance will not be attained, unless a fundamental change takes places in economic values and the rules that ensure compliance by all actors.

In my view, it is indispensable that an international authority is established to oversee global and regional resource consumption as well as any resulting damage to the environment. Such an authority would be guided by the absolute limits imposed by planetary boundaries. At the same time, it is necessary to change the framework of incentives for economic actors.

That means that we should put those companies at an advantage which behave in a socially and ecologically responsible manner. Companies should get legal and fiscal advantages for their ecological and social contributions to a degree that compensates them for their loss of competitive advantage vis-à-vis companies that act in a classically profit-oriented way.

It is also necessary to shrink the financial sector down to its original purpose: the granting of loans at affordable rates for ecologically and socially sound projects and connecting investors to responsible investments. Complex derivatives and high-frequency trading should be banned completely.

As for the North-South gap, I would recommend developing countries adopt a far more protectionist behaviour. A strong self-sufficient union of developing countries that carefully selects incoming investments and trade flows. There are many other supplementing ideas on how to rearrange the global economic and financial systems. Although it is impossible to present these ideas here in detail, the above outline makes quite obvious that I do not believe the current monetary policy of the ECB will address the basic economic problems.

A first realistic starting point on the way to improve the economic architecture of the European Union could be the implementation of an EU-wide property tax as well as a financial transaction tax. Additionally, a more careful approach to ecologically and socially responsible investment could make a difference.

China is already successfully using five-year plans for public investment. These plans are managed by its National Development and Reform Commission. The Juncker Plan, which was launched nearly simultaneously with the ECB’s quantitative easing initiative, is structurally promising but should have a more pronounced eco-social focus. The most important issue in this context would be channelling huge investments into green energy.

There is, however, a form of quantitative easing which is justifiable from time to time, at least from a social perspective: instead of throwing €60 billion monthly at the insatiable financial sector, the ECB should consider releasing the money directly to the states or, even better, to the people.

This idea is not new. It was Milton Friedman who first made the suggestion of throwing money out of a helicopter. He is not the only one with that vision. US economist Mark Blyth, former BCG (Boston Consulting Group) consultant Daniel Stelter, as well as the magazine Foreign Affairs have only recently suggested the ECB should give four-digit euro sums to each European citizen.

The concept is not unattractive. First, it could be used as a social welfare measure by supporting low-income people (distributive justice). Second, it would immediately strengthen spending power and demand (boosting the economy). Third, the inflation rate would jump which would increase consumption even more.

I bet this would be more effective than feeding commercial banks and insurance companies. They will definitely not pass all that fresh money on to the real economy. However, the ECB has made its decision and fixed its course. So, I will end my comment by stressing, once more, the metaphor of the tired workaholic unwilling to follow the doctor’s advice: Go on, have your next shot of caffeine, but don’t expect to be cured.

By Christoph Greil, PhD student of public international law at the University of Vienna.

Response: Climate Change: Good Luck with That


Principles for Responsible Investment: Fiduciary Duty - Coming of Age

Unfortunately, fiduciary duty can be a contested term when it comes to investments, with different legal interpretations in countries around the world.

Fiduciary obligations exist to ensure that those who manage other people’s money act responsibly and in the interests of their beneficiaries (or clients), rather than serving their own interests. The nature of the fiduciary relationship means that a fiduciary is expected to be loyal to the person to whom they owe a duty. In particular, fiduciaries should not put their personal interests before the duty to their beneficiaries: they should avoid conflicts to the extent possible (and, if they cannot be avoided, conflicts should be minimised, disclosed, and carefully managed to prevent any breaches of loyalty obligations); they should ensure that their fiduciary duty does not conflict with other legal duties or their own interests; and they should not profit unreasonably from their fiduciary position.

An important part of managing someone else’s money, is to act with the same care and diligence as you would when managing your own affairs. That means managing risk. Risk covers a wide variety of issues and includes environment, social, and governance risks, which can, and do, affect investment returns.

“An important part of managing someone else’s money, is to act with the same care and diligence as you would when managing your own affairs.”

For some, fiduciary duty and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations do not always sit well together. Part of this has to do with how legal cases over the years have been interpreted with regard to fiduciary duty. Another part of it is how people assess risks. Some investment professionals believe that looking at any considerations other than financial performance is a breach of their fiduciary duty. The answer to this latter point is that we need to expand our risk universe and our interpretation of financial risk as a company may look solvent according to the bottom line but a host of ESG time bombs might be waiting to go off which could place in jeopardy the reputation, financial performance, and even survival of the organisation. In recent years, we have seen this all too frequently, with ESG scandals from oil spills to Libor rigging erupting across well-known organisations.

Fiduciary duty and ESG risks really came into the spotlight a decade ago when the landmark UNEP FI (United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative) report, The Integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance Issues into Institutional Investment was published. The report concluded that “integrating ESG considerations so as to more reliably predict financial performance is clearly permissible and is – arguably required – in all jurisdictions.”

In 2005, a report by international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer concluded that pension funds are legally required to consider an ESG criterion, if there is a clear consensus amongst beneficiaries in favour of this criterion or if the criterion is believed to be financially beneficial.

The report went on to say that when exercising their powers, trustees must take into account all relevant considerations and ignore any irrelevant considerations. This is the duty of adequate deliberation, and concerns the nature of trustees’ decision-making process rather than the scope of the power itself. There are no “hard and fast rules” as to what might be relevant. For example, it is fairly well settled that the tax consequences of a decision will usually be relevant.

Following on from the Freshfields report, in 2014 the Law Commission in the UK released a report looking at how the law of fiduciary duties applies to investment intermediaries and to evaluate whether the law works in the interests of the ultimate beneficiaries. The project arose from the Kay Review, published in July 2012. Professor Kay conducted a year-long review of the UK equity market and was highly critical of the way it worked.

One of his main findings was that investment chains were too long, with growing numbers of intermediaries between an investor and the company in which they invest. He argued that this led to increased costs, misaligned incentives, and reduced trust.

According to Prof Kay, the central problem was “short-termism” in which many investment managers “traded” on the basis of short-term movements in share price rather than “investing” on the basis of the fundamental value of the company. Furthermore, shareholders did little to control bad company decisions.

Who Has Fiduciary Duties?

In investment, the most common fiduciaries are the trustees of trusts or pension funds. Beyond trustees, different jurisdictions have different interpretations of who exactly holds fiduciary obligations and who simply has duties of care. A comparison between the United Kingdom and the United States provides a good illustration of these differences. In the UK, investment consultants do not generally define themselves as fiduciaries, whereas they are accepted as such in the United States.

Moreover, in the US the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) explicitly states that fiduciary liability attaches not only to trustees but also to anyone exercising discretion over investment plan assets. That is, under ERISA, asset managers have direct fiduciary obligations, and the appointment of asset managers is itself a fiduciary function. In the UK by contrast, where fiduciary obligations are not defined in this way, some asset managers consider that their relationship with clients has a fiduciary character whereas others consider it defined by, and limited to, the contract between them.

“This autumn, PRI will be publishing a report, in conjunction with the UNEP FI, covering fiduciary duty across eight national jurisdictions: US, UK, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, and Australia. We hope that this report will serve as a global roadmap – or action plan – for ESG integration across the financial services sector and help remove the last remaining barriers to the question of ESG and fiduciary duty.”

This question of who holds fiduciary duties is likely to change. The shift in many countries to contract-based defined contribution (DC) pensions raises the question of who is responsible for protecting the interests of these savers. The specific question that policy makers will need to address is what duties are owed by insurance companies, asset managers, and sponsoring organisations (i.e. employers) in contract-based schemes (i.e. where the pension provider does not have fiduciary or equivalent obligations to the beneficiary in the way that a trustee would in a trust-based scheme).

In the Netherlands, the board members of a pension fund have a statutory duty to - in the performance of their duties - follow the interests of the scheme members, deferred members, the pension beneficiaries, and employers. The board must also ensure that these parties can feel that the consideration of their interests is balanced.

Also in the Netherlands, a draft legislative proposal introduces a catch-all clause with a fiduciary duty for providers, advisors, and intermediaries regarding - in short - investment properties, electronic payments, current accounts, loans, savings accounts, and insurances. This draft proposal does not apply to investment firms. The proposal states that these financial services providers must observe the interests of the client carefully; that advisors must act in the best interest of the client, and that these financial services providers must refrain from acts or omissions that have or may have negative consequences for their clients.

Can Fiduciaries Only Consider Financial Factors in their Decisions?

In many jurisdictions, fiduciary duty is widely considered as imposing obligations on trustees or other fiduciaries to maximise investment returns. This narrow interpretation originated from the concern that trustees might put their personal ethical values over their fiduciary obligations to their clients or beneficiaries; this position appeared to be confirmed in the widely cited 1984 case of Cowan vs Scargill, although this narrow interpretation has been challenged (see, for example, UNEP FI (2005), Fairpensions (2011), and Kay (2012).

Apart from the legal implications of this case, the practical consequence has been that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks have tended to be neglected in investment practice; that the maximisation of investment returns has focused on short-term returns rather than seeking an appropriate balance between short and long-term returns; long-term and systemic risks to savers have been overlooked, and there has been relatively low demand for active ownership (e.g. engagement) directed at the creation of long-term sustainable investment value.

This is changing in a process driven by three factors. The first is that as the materiality of ESG issues has become clear, meaning the argument that investors should not take account of these factors in investment practice has become less tenable. The ground-breaking 2005 Freshfields Report on fiduciary duty stated: “…in our opinion, it may be a breach of fiduciary duties to fail to take account of ESG considerations that are relevant and to give them appropriate weight, bearing in mind that some important economic analysts and leading financial institutions are satisfied that a strong link between good ESG performance and good financial performance exists” (UNEP FI, 2005, p. 100).

The second is that expectations of investors are changing. As more and more investment organisations make commitments to responsible investment it is likely that the duties that investors owe their clients will also evolve to reflect these changes. That is, the interpretation of fiduciary duty, both in practice and at law, is likely to be much wider than at present.

The third is that the assumptions (e.g. in relation to the efficiency of markets) underlying the prevailing finance theories used during the last half of the 20th century have been questioned over the past decade, in particular as a result of the global financial crisis. The consequence is that investors are increasingly expected to take account of factors such as systemic risks and low probability/high consequence events (“black swan” events), as well as the insights from areas such as behavioural finance, in their investment decisions.

We are also starting to see action by beneficiaries who believe that trustees who do not take issues such as climate change into account are in breach of their fiduciary duty, by not properly assessing the risk that climate change may cause to investments over the long term.

Recently, it was revealed that the law firm Climate Earth is preparing for such an action against the trustees of a yet to be named UK pension fund. There is also discussion of a claim against a US endowment fund, for the mismanagement of the funds finances due to the fact that the fund has a large holding in fossil fuels.

This autumn, PRI will be publishing a report, in conjunction with the UNEP FI, covering fiduciary duty across eight national jurisdictions: US, UK, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, and Australia. We hope that this report will serve as a global roadmap – or action plan – for ESG integration across the financial services sector and help remove the last remaining barriers to the question of ESG and fiduciary duty.

About the Author

Fiona Reynolds is the managing director of Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).


The Time Is Now: Paradigm Shift Signals Opportunity

[caption id="attachment_10013" align="alignright" width="284"] Apoquindo: Santiago Business District, Chile[/caption]

Few people realise that in 2013 a turning point was reached. In that year, emerging economies displaced developed markets as the main engines of global economic growth. This was not a one-off event or an oddity: it signalled no less than a watershed moment and the start of a new trend that is here to stay.

By 2020 it is expected that up to 70% of the world’s economic growth will take place in emerging markets. China and India will account for 40% of that. These numbers – coming from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – do not take into account differences in purchasing power. If they did, the shift would appear even more pronounced.

Recent IMF statistics contain another gem: already next year, China’s national purchasing power is set to overtake that of the United States. The Chinese Century will have begun. Clearly, emerging markets are where most of the action will be taking place.

Investors looking for a possibly lucrative haven for their monies – as opposed to a merely safe one – would be wise to broaden their horizon, ditching preconceived notions. The world has changed. In fact, it has changed profoundly.

Brazil, Nigeria, and a host of other countries are not what they used to be. It used to be that Brazil grew at night, when the government was asleep. Brazil also used to be called “tomorrow’s country” much like some kiosks that have a sign for all patrons to see stating “We don’t offer credit today. Check back tomorrow.”

"The world has changed. In fact, it has changed profoundly."

Well, tomorrow has arrived and the sign was removed. Brazil is wide awake, chomping at the bit, and very much open for business. That is not to say that the country has effectively found answers to its many issues and challenges. What it does mean is that whereas twenty or so years ago the Brazilian government basically couldn’t care less about adopting and implementing sensible development policies – it was way too busy with esoteric questions of a more political and/or ideological nature – today it has, at long last, embraced pragmatism.

It takes a bold move for politicians to become sensible and pragmatic. When in the late 1970s, Deng Xiaoping in China reportedly proclaimed: Getting Rich Is Glorious, others were rather slow to catch on.

For all their differences in size, culture, and history, most emerging countries have now decided to heed Mr Xiaoping’s advice: the moaning and whining about the injustices inflicted by colonialism and by a global system set up by supposedly conniving Western powers has – at long last – ceased. It is time for all to get down to business and get rich while at it.

Almost everywhere in the developing world, borders are opening up and red tape is being cut. Governments everywhere are busy streamlining processes and operations while good governance – both at state and corporate level – is the new magic word.

In countries such as Brazil, Nigeria, and India foreign investors – previously shunned if not distrusted – are now being welcomed and fêted as equal partners in a quest that will make money aplenty for all concerned.

Today’s Brazil and Nigeria are fast becoming dynamic powerhouses. The world has become a village and that village is moving on at an ever faster pace and doing so to a more uniform beat.

While investors should be very much aware of the many opportunities arising, they should not go haywire. It’s best to tread carefully and obtain local expertise. Pragmatism may reign supreme and regulatory frameworks are converging: specialist local knowledge still remains an essential ingredient required for success.

Investors may want to look first and foremost for countries that have the basics in place such as:

Low rates of taxation on capital;

Strong currencies that appreciate gradually;

Fiscal predictability, i.e. a set of fiscal policies that is not subject to sudden change;

Political stability, i.e. countries where the protagonists agree on the basic tenets of development policy and only bicker about the details;

Consistently low inflation rates; and,

Rule of law, i.e. countries that take themselves seriously.

When looking for these characteristics, do not discard the smaller markets, for they are often amongst the most dynamic.

Take Chile. It’s a very small country, spaghetti-shaped, straddling the western seaboard of South America. Even though its domestic market is relatively, Chile maintains an impressive number of comprehensive free trade agreements. According to the World Bank, Chile is one of the world’s most open and liberal economies.

As such, Chile is the almost perfect place to set up shop and operate globally – or to take a stake in a company that already does so. The country’s industrial and services sectors have operated for over thirty years in a highly competitive environment. As a result, most Chilean companies operate as efficiently as their counterparts in North America or Europe: their prowess leaves little, if anything, to be desired. These companies just have to be world-class in order to survive in such an open and deregulated economy.

Eastwards, across the South Atlantic, have a look at Botswana – the Jewel of Africa. No corruption here, nor silly policies that aim to annoy foreigners or stifle entrepreneurship. A tiny country perhaps, but one with the courage to trace sensible vectors along which to plot its development. For investors, it’s an exceptionally good place to be.

Bigger economic powers-in-being – Brazil, India, Nigeria – often blind investors to the opportunities available elsewhere. The good news is that there are currently very few places you probably do not wish to be. Sadly, Argentina – otherwise a most fascinating country – comes to mind.

But for every Argentina, there’s an Egypt on the other end of the scale. If one country is making headway in getting its national act together, it surely must be Egypt. Its president may at times be a little out-of-tune politically, but the man receives no criticism for his bold vision. Not just that: he actually does something about it and has merrily set his nation to work with a set of policies that is effective and most sensible.

Also, have a closer look at the Middle East. Saudi Arabia – the local juggernaut – is opening up to foreign capital. Up to now, foreign investors only enjoyed indirect access to this most buoyant of markets. Few superlatives do this country justice. Even the fast-moving Chinese have cause to be impressed and perhaps even a little jealous.

Saudi Arabia is right now building no less than five new cities. Arising from the desert sands, these cities are not just embellished sub-developments, but future metropolis being planned on a scale that defies the imagination. Just about everything is needed there, from universities and their attendant academic arrangements, to leisure facilities, shopping arcades, light industry, residential estates, and the infrastructure to weave it all together – and connect the country to the outside world. With its capital market now opening up to outsiders, Saudi Arabia may well become the Land of Opportunity.

While Saudi Arabia’s mega-projects are dazzling in size and scope, the next door United Arab Emirates should not drop off the investors’ radar screen. The UAE has mastered the art of leveraging its tiny but well located geographical footprint and becoming a hub for the world. Coming almost out of nowhere, the emirates are now a global crossroads not just for airline travellers, but for capital and trade as well.

UAE corporations are exceptionally well poised to provide the preferred gateway to Saudi Arabia and its enticing markets. Their expertise, as a corporate switches for trade and capital, is unsurpassed. Saudi Arabia’s opening up offers UAE businesses a host of new opportunities.

The world is not only awash in idle cash, it now also offers opportunities that, while at times mind-boggling, are just too good to ignore. Investors need no longer sit on the side lines and may want to take a careful look over the parapet of their portfolios. Some may even dare to leave their comfort zone and venture into the wider world.

While mature Western economies are by no means yesterday’s news, and may still offer a winning combination of safety and profit; the real excitement is found elsewhere. Now investors have a golden opportunity to try and wiggle their way in on the ground floor. While the good times will last for quite a while yet, admittance will not always come as cheap as it does today.


InstaForex: Globally-Recognised Excellence

Today there are lots of brokerage firms on the forex market. The lion’s share of them are small dealing centres working under a license of a larger broker. As a rule, such companies charge higher service fees or hide their charges behind additional terms and conditions. Moreover, these brokers offer no more than just access to the market.

Market experts and savvy traders recommend opting for major companies having not only many years’ experience and a large customer base, but also featuring a well-known brand. This overview is devoted to a broker of that fits both requirements – InstaForex.

InstaForex started its operations back in 2007. It took the company eight years to appear at the forefront of the forex brokerage service. From the very first day of its existence, InstaForex has tailored its services to the customers’ needs. Streamlining its products, services, and technologies, InstaForex was in on the ground floor of an efficient and competitive business model.

“The highly skilled members of the company’s team work incessantly to provide innovative high-tech solutions that meet the needs of traders.”

Traders choosing InstaForex as their broker obtain a set of benefits which allows them to concentrate on trading and making money. The forex market may look like uncharted waters to a newcomer. Consequently, it could a take long time before a profit is turned. It is crucial to remember that brokers act not only as an intermediary between the global market and a trader: they provide an educational environment, information support, a technical base, and the freedom to choose between trading tools and profit-making techniques.

InstaForex runs the gamut of things needed for a currency trader. It therefore takes much less time for traders to get into the swing of the trading process and make profits. In a rapidly changing financial environment, and upon gaining experience, a private investor needs an increasing amount of information in order to spot the opportunities.

Not every broker can ensure the professional advancement of its traders and provide them with all they need at their particular level of professionalism. Thus, InstaForex’ expertise means the can identify with its traders’ growing money-making needs, rolling out new services and boosting its technical firepower.

However, let’s deliver specifics. Directly cooperating with market-makers, InstaForex charges low spreads (commissions), providing its customers with a wide range of trading instruments. Whatever a trader wants to invest in, InstaForex will enable him/her to make the most of the opportunity, complementing its offerings with high-profile service.

Customers of the broker get efficient 24/7 support as well as a chance to attend free online webinars. They are also encouraged to make use of InstaForex analysis overviews and forecasts prepared daily by dozens of seasoned experts.

The highly skilled members of the company’s team work incessantly to provide innovative high-tech solutions that meet the needs of traders. This makes InstaForex one of the prime movers behind the advancement of technology altering the forex industry’s landscape.

Special mention should be given to the InstaForex affiliate programme which has been at the core of the firm’s operations since the very beginning. The following classical example may shed some light on how the affiliate system works:

In 1996, online retail behemoth Amazon launched a then unprecedented affiliate programme which allows websites to write product reviews and get paid referral fees in case a customer buys from Amazon through the affiliate’s link. Despite the fact that the forex affiliate programme is slightly more complicated, as there are no traditional sales, the company grasped the opportunity to branch out using this promising model. In context of forex, partners are more than just webmasters; they are people raising other traders, developing trading software, and preparing much needed market overviews.

Thus, affiliates on forex not only attract customers; they also supplement the broker’s services. This is InstaForex considers the affiliate program a priority. Providing one of the best terms on the market, the company also offers a myriad of promotion and analysis materials from high-resolution banners to complex systems of web analytics to boost its affiliates’ efficiency.

InstaForex has the following business creed as its guide: help a customer start making money and become a partner in a profitable venture. It proved to be a most successful approach, bringing in more than two million customers from over eighty countries.

Over one thousand traders open accounts with InstaForex each day. The company has now evolved into an extensive network of branches with more than 200 offices in 25 countries. InstaForex is a world-class forex broker and gained wide recognition for the excellence of both its products and services. The company received an abundance of awards from, amongst others, World Finance, CNBC Business Magazine, European CEO, International Finance Magazine, and Global Banking & Finance Review. Moreover, InstaForex rarely leaves any financial conference or exposition without adding to its award collection. InstaForex received awards at the China International Online Trading Expo, International Investment and Finance Expo, ShowFx World Expo, and Forex & Investment Summit, Jordan EXPO.


Playing with Fire: Greek Tragedy Reaches Climax

As the Greek tragedy nears its climax – now scheduled for next Thursday – European stock and bond markets took a hit with investors scurrying for safety and protagonists hurling verbal abuse across the stage. In Athens, Prime-Minister Alexis Tsipras lashed out at the country’s creditors, accusing them of political machinations aimed at perpetuating the plundering of his nation. Unfazed, the prime-minister assured that his government will patiently wait for cooler heads to prevail and realism to set in.

However, the vice-chairman of the Slovenian finance committee, Jozef Kollar, on Monday seemed utterly unimpressed. He also lost his cool and accused Greece of “swindling the world.” Mr Kollar enjoys somewhat of a reputation for his off-the-cuff remarks. In 2010, he almost managed to single-handedly block the implementation of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the bailout fund that preceded the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) launched in 2012 to underpin the euro. Only after he was reminded that tiny nations should perhaps moderate their tone of voice did Mr Kollar regain his sense of proportion.

"In Athens, Prime-Minister Alexis Tsipras lashed out at the country’s creditors, accusing them of political machinations aimed at perpetuating the plundering of his nation."

Meanwhile in Germany, Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel – until now deemed a friend to Athens – warned the “game theorists of the Greek government” that they are in the process of gambling away their country’s future. Mr Gabriel added, rather ominously, that his country will not let itself be blackmailed into underwriting “exaggerated electoral pledges made by a partly communist government.” Ouch.

With the rhetoric escalating to unseemly heights, market analysts and other assorted pundits are at a loss to explain the events surrounding the euro – let alone offer some perspective. This much, however, is clear: for all the angry words, nobody has yet told the Greek to embark on a hike or found the courage to cut the Gordian knot.

Talks between Greece and its creditors have been ongoing since late 2009 when the Great Recession laid bare the structural inadequacies of the country’s economy. So far, the Greec has received almost €240bn in bailout funds. All but a tiny fraction of this cash never actually reached the depleted state coffers in Athens. Instead, it was used to swap old non-secured debts, mostly held by privately-owned banks, for new bonds backed up by iron-clad guarantees from Eurozone member states, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Central Bank (ECB). In effect, private banks were taken off the hook, replaced by taxpayers in a classic case of privatise the profits and socialise any losses.

Therein lies the clue: for want of €2bn – the sum of additional expenditure cuts now being imposed on the recalcitrant Greek in return for a resumption of the bailout programme – European taxpayers risk losing all. Prime-Minister Tsipras has not embarked on a flight of fancy: his allegation that demands for yet more cutbacks is motivated, not by economic considerations but by political spite rings true.

Negotiations stalled over the Greek government’s refusal to further increase VAT rates on electricity, food, books, medicines, and other essentials – a suggestion expected to net the state an extra €950m annually. The Tsipras Administration also rejects reducing old age pensions still further.

Following the money trail, Greece sliding into default and out of the Eurozone would impose massive losses on the creditor nations. Germany’s exposure amounts to €56bn in bilateral loans plus its slice (27%) of ECB funds. France stands to lose €42bn while Spain, beset by its own woes, backed Greek securities worth €25bn. With that money at risk of dissipating into a great Hellenic void, heads are sure to roll should Greece be forced into default.

While the recriminations flying about may be dismissed as so much hot air, the risks to Europe’s financial stability and well-being are real. So are the delusions: the idea that Greece may one day be able to grow its way out of its colossal debt is rather disingenuous. To expect the country to rekindle its battered economy through yet more austerity, as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble does, borders on the insane.

Prime-Minister Tsipras has asked the creditor nations to display a modicum of realism when making demand on Greece. The request seems reasonable enough in light of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country.

Whichever way the conundrum is looked at, the plain fact remains that for want of €2bn Europe risks undermining its maligned, but all the same cherished, single currency. The markets will surely start questioning the premise on which the euro was erected; namely that once in, no country can revert back to its previous currency without also turning its back on the European Union. There is no exit mechanism.

Once the taboo on ditching the euro has been broken, how will markets feel about the prospects of other weaker members of the monetary union such as Spain and Portugal? How will anti-austerity forces fare politically, once it becomes clear that in times of trouble the euro may be discarded?

Though Greece may not represent much in the grand order of all things European, the country’s fate can still set a dangerous precedent. And all that because Mr Schäuble and his finger-wagging friends in Brussels insist on extracting an additional €2bn from the long-suffering Greek. Principles now stand in the way of a solution. That holds true for all sides involved.


Tawakkol Karman: Nobody’s Pawn

The lady speaks her mind and would appreciate an opportunity to do so without getting harassed – or silenced – in the process. Tawakkol Karman, who shared the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize with two Liberian peace activists, is one of the many faces that marked the Arab Spring. Though the popular movement may have fizzled out, it did leave an indelible imprint behind.

Mrs Karman steadfastly refuses to be classified or boxed-in. Though an active member of Al-Islah – the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood – she declines to speak on behalf of the party and, pointedly, does not endorse its more extreme positions. She also opposes any kind of Islam-inspired revolution: “The ousting of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012 was not meant to solve political issues. The aim was to address societal problems.”

Bringing a whiff of pragmatism to Yemen’s often tumultuous political scene, Mrs Karman deplores the continued interventions by a host of foreign powers that destabilise the country and do little or nothing to address the plight its population. She has repeatedly called on the US government to end its drone strikes, arguing that the policy not only violates Yemeni sovereignty and international law, but also swells the ranks of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda.

Mrs Karman has devoted much of her energy to furthering the cause of Arab women in Yemen and elsewhere. She has drawn worldwide attention to the malnutrition suffered by many Yemeni girls, as boys are habitually awarded priority access to whatever little food may be on the table, and is an advocate for a ban on child marriages.

She shed the traditional niqab and now sports colourful hijabs instead, arguing that Yemeni women should stop seeing and feeling themselves as part of the problem, and dare become part of the solution: “We have been marginalised for far too long and need not ask anybody’s permission to stand up and become active members of society.”

More recently, Mrs Karman has accused disgraced former President Saleh of being in cahoots with the Iran-backed Houthi (Ansar Allah) rebels who have long dominated the northern governorates and last February forced the constitutional government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to vacate the capital Sana’a and move to Aden in the south of the country.

When the insurgents marched south in hot pursuit, President Hadi had to flee the country by sea. Egypt and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, already annoyed by the Shi’ite presence along its southern border, unleashed yet another storm on the Arab Peninsula; building up an intervention force and sending in bombers to rain destruction from the sky.

Recent developments have thus confirmed Mrs Karman’s worst fears: domestic strife, fuelled by outside interest, denies Yemen society the opportunity to set a national agenda suited to its aspirations. “Injustice is exploding while opportunities for a good life are coming to an end.”

Leading the Women Journalists without Chains group, Mrs Karman continues to rally against the violation of her country. She recently asked the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for help in setting up an independent radio and television station for Yemen to enable a new generation of female reporters to receive training and offer a counterweight to male-dominated official media outlets.

After meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara just days after the start of the Egypt / Saudi offensive against the Houthi rebels, Mrs Karman delivered a passionate plea for help, stating that the Yemeni people deserve deliverance from the Shi’ite militias that have overrun the country. “While I encourage the Houthi to remain active as a political party, they cannot be allowed to hijack the nation.”


World Bank: Asian Countries are among Top Achievers on Sustainable Energy Progress

Asian countries are making a vital contribution to achieving global sustainable energy goals, a new World Bank report finds. But while the region performs strongly on ensuring electricity access for people and using more modern renewable energy, there is room for further improvement on energy efficiency and access to clean, smoke-free cooking.

The report is the second in a series that tracks the world’s progress toward the three goals of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative—universal energy access, doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy by 2030.

While the first edition from 2013 measured progress between 1990 and 2010, this edition focuses on the 2010-2012 period.

Asia accounted for about 60 percent of the global progress on energy access and clean energy objectives during 2010-2012 — according to the report titled “Progress Toward Sustainable Energy: Global Tracking Framework 2015” — contributing well beyond its share of global population and energy consumption.

"Whereas globally, consumption of modern renewable energy grew by 4 percent per annum during 2010-2012, in Asia that growth was almost twice as fast at close to 8 percent."

Asia’s performance on expanding modern renewable energy (from sources like solar, wind and geothermal) was particularly strong. Whereas globally, consumption of modern renewable energy grew by 4 percent per annum during 2010-2012, in Asia that growth was almost twice as fast at close to 8 percent.

Asia also moved rapidly to expand access to electricity for its citizens growing the population with electricity by 0.9 percent annually over the tracking period 2010-2012, well ahead of the global rate of 0.6 percent.

And while the global population with access to clean, modern cooking fuels actually fell during 2010-2012, Asia showed a modest improvement in access, but still far short of what is needed.

However, Asia’s progress on reducing the energy intensity of its economies with a compound annual growth rate of 1.3 percent annually—a commonly used measure of energy efficiency—lagged behind the global average of 1.7 percent.

Some of Asia’s larger economies are critical to the global effort to reach Sustainable Energy for All. The report highlights some strong performances during the 2010-2012 tracking period including:

India, Philippines and Bangladesh were the strongest performers on electricity accessand added around 4 percentage points to electricity access rates.

Vietnam and Indonesia were particularly strong on access to clean, modern cooking fuels, and added around 3-4 percentage points to their access rates.

Japan and Indonesia stood out in reducing their energy intensity (commonly used as an indicator of energy efficiency) by a compound annual growth rate of around 5 percent.

Australia and China increased their renewable energy shares by about 1 percentage point each.

On a global basis, the report found that 222 million people worldwide got access to electricity between 2010 and 2012, still leaving 1.1 billion people without access to energy. Meanwhile, 2.9 billion people are still using biomass fuels like wood and dung. Most of this population is in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and eastern Asia.

Also, while the world avoided using as much energy in 2012 as Japan used the same year, the report says energy intensity must decline at least 50 percent faster to achieve the SE4All energy efficiency goal.

Global consumption of modern renewable energy accelerated by 4 percent per year between 2010 and 2012, but must be closer to 8 percent—two times the current rate—to reach the SE4All renewable energy goal.

“We are heading in the right direction to end energy poverty,” said Anita Marangoly George, Senior Director of the World Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice, “but we are still far from the finish line. We will need to work a lot harder especially to mobilize much larger investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Leveraging public finance to mobilize private capital is imperative in achieving these goals.”

The Sustainable Energy for All Global Tracking Framework is produced jointly by the World Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice, the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), and the International Energy Agency, and is supported by 20 other partner organizations and agencies. Source


Ma Yansong: The Modular Rhythms of Human Experience

[caption id="attachment_10051" align="alignright" width="210"] Urban Forest. Courtesy MAD Architects.[/caption]

“This guy should not be allowed to practice architecture.” Just one reaction, not atypical, to the biophilic designs of Chinese architect Ma Yansong whose work tends to evoke strong feelings. Seeking a novel – and radical – approach to the nature-versus-civilisation debate raging amongst architects since the dawn of time, Ma Yansong unfailingly comes up with structures that link people to their surroundings in atmospheric ways – reaching high to touch deep.

Founder of MAD Architects, Mr Yansong draws his inspiration mostly from the exquisitely detailed shan shui ink paintings. The style first arose in the 5th century during the Lui Song Dynasty (420-479) and allows artists to depict nature as embellished by their own imagination while adhering to a basic set of rules on composition, colour, and elements. However, Mr Yansong prefers not to get embroiled with the much more rigorous prescriptions of the feng shui harmonisation model which is sometimes considered an extension of shan shui.

Offering a contemporary interpretation of the timeless eastern spirit, MAD Architects designs spaces that, while appearing futuristic, are rooted in China’s past. The studio was founded in 2004 and gained worldwide recognition – or notoriety – two year later with the winning design for a pair of residential towers in Toronto. The resulting Absolute Towers – affectionately dubbed the Marilyn Monroe Towers by local residents – parallel the fluidity of life’s natural contours.

MAD Architects went on to conclude major projects that redefined cityscapes. In Harbin, the studio designed both the China Wood Sculpture Museum and Culture Island, an urban park with an opera house and cultural centre set amidst the wetlands bordering the city.

In 2011, the firm caused quite a sensation with its design for the Ordos Museum, an amorphous building seen as a bold statement that aims to subvert the orderly and strictly geometric master plan at the root of the new city erected on the shifting sands of the Gobi Desert of Inner Mongolia.

Mr Yansong makes no secret of his dislike of everything mass-produced: “Much of today’s architecture is served up as a consumer product and lacks in spirit. It is almost disposable. Use once, and then throw away. I much prefer timeless designs that move and inspire people, and make them feel and think.”

Born in Beijing, in 1975, Mr Yansong graduated from the University of Civil Engineering and Architecture where he now holds a professorship. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Yale University. Mr Yansong insists that new technology is, though useful, not the answer to the trials faced by architects as they attempt to erase the boundaries between their designs and nature.

According to Mr Yansong, this dichotomy is perhaps best addressed by downplaying green architecture’s dependence of space-age materials, automation, and gadgets: “It is time to stop confusing new architecture with new technology. The two are not interchangeable.” For Mr Yansong, buildings must, above all else, awaken a desire towards nature: “the sun, wind, and sky that echo the modular rhythms of the human experience.”


The Proposals from Greece: Prospects for a Deal Improve Dramatically

[caption id="attachment_10064" align="alignright" width="245"] Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras[/caption]

New economic proposals submitted by Greece on Monday have been welcomed by euro zone leaders and financial markets around the world. The expectation is for a deal to be announced within days. Although in all likelihood the country will need to be supported by the IMF and ECB for many years to come, the immediate risks of default on a EUR 1.6 billion loan repayment due this month and a possible Grexit have been removed.

French finance minister Michel Sapin described the proposals as ‘good work’ and said that efforts towards a deal were now underway with the conditions termed as good.

Markets in Paris and Frankfurt rose 3.7 per cent on news of the Greek offer and the Nasdaq and Dow Jones improved too. The value of shares on the Athens Exchange rose by 9 per cent and Credit Suisse gives a 75 per cent probability of a deal being done.

Meanwhile the euro zone’s recovery continues well with GDP up 0.4 per cent first quarter 2015 which is on track for 2 per cent growth for the year.

Greek law makers, however, described the negotiations that led to this offer as a failure which prime minister Alexis Tsipras needs to explain to his countrymen.

The proposals from Greece are thought to include higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, selective VAT increases and a cutting of deficits in the pension system.


All Eyes on Greece: Is the IMF Asking for More than PM Tsipras Can Deliver?

Financial markets around the world slipped today on growing fears that Greece may be unable to reach an agreement with her international creditors and thereby default on a $1.6 billion loan repayment due this month. Failure to repay could result in Grexit – the withdrawal of the country from the euro zone.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has reportedly rejected IMF counters to the economic reform proposals he laid out at the beginning of the week. These proposals were welcomed by European ministers and the financial markets but it is now clear that what Greece felt it could offer at that time would only represent a starting-point for presumably rather heated discussions.

Before entering talks aimed at securing agreement, Mr Tsipras criticised Greece’s creditors for not accepting the suggestions he had made and for treating Greece differently from other states that had negotiated bailouts. He suggested that this might mean that the creditors did not want to do a deal.

The initial proposals from Greece included higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, selective VAT increases and a cutting of deficits in the pension system. But right now creditors seem to be insisting on far stronger measures than a left-wing government in Athens could reasonably be expected to stomach.


Enhancing Integration, Unlocking Investment in West Africa

[caption id="attachment_10081" align="alignright" width="296"] Participants discussed policies and incentives to increase the flow of investment across West Africa.[/caption]

West Africa is stepping up efforts to integrate regional economies and improve the investment climate with the support of the World Bank Group. At a mid-June event in Dakar, a regional public-private dialogue framework was launched to jointly identify regional and national investment constraints, facilitate investment-policy improvements, and enhance integration in the region. Preliminary national investment policy reform agendas were developed for each country that are part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

More than 50 representatives participated in the two-day event from the public and private sectors of the 15 ECOWAS countries, including ministers from Senegal, Niger and Liberia. The member countries strongly welcomed the initiative. It was hosted by ECOWAS and the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

Kalilou Traore, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Industry and Private Sector Promotion, said, “This project will enable our region’s integration into the global economy while ensuring the competitiveness of our private sector by improving the business climate.”

"West African countries have enormous potential to strengthen competitiveness and increase trade and investment flows, which can drive growth, reduce poverty, and deliver jobs in the region."

- Houria Sammari, Manager, IFC Sub-Saharan Africa

Reforms target investment entry regulations and investment incentives, to help reduce uncertainty for investors, enable governments to attract more and better-quality investments to their countries, and increase the flow of investment across the region. The improvements will be monitored through scorecards and offer opportunities for member countries to discuss best practices.

Speaking at the event, Houria Sammari Manager, IFC Sub-Saharan Africa, said, “West African countries have enormous potential to strengthen competitiveness and increase trade and investment flows, which can drive growth, reduce poverty, and deliver jobs in the region.”

The Improved Business and Investment Climate Project four-year project is funded by the European Union (€7.7 million) and implemented by the World Bank Group Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice. Source


Alisher Usmanov: A Likeable Oligarch

 Billionaire Alisher Usmanov is a Russian oligarch with a twist. Mostly known for his thirty percent stake in Arsenal FC, Mr Usmanov is also famous for the in-your-face style with which he habitually displays his vast personal wealth.

Flying about in his custom-fitted Airbus 340 wide-body jet and maintaining a few pricey properties in London, does not necessarily make Mr Usmanov a figurehead of frugality. However, this perhaps archetypical representative of Russian nouveau riche also has a few powerful, and surprising, tricks up his sleeve which possibly constitute redeeming qualities.

In December 2014, Mr Usmanov paid $4.8 million (£3.18m) at an auction in New York City for the Nobel Prize Medal awarded to US molecular biologist James Watson for his research on the structure of nucleic acids. This work later led to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. Dr Watson shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with fellow researchers Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins.

“In December 2014, Mr Usmanov paid $4.8 million (£3.18m) at an auction in New York City for the Nobel Prize Medal awarded to US molecular biologist James Watson for his research on the structure of nucleic acids.”

Dr Watson had approached Christie’s, the world’s leading action house, to offer his Nobel Prize medal for sale in order to raise funds for scientific research. After he put in the winning bid, Mr Usmanov promptly returned the medal to its previous owner: “In my opinion it is unacceptable that an outstanding scientist must sell a medal that recognises his achievements.”

The Russian billionaire also noted that Dr Watson’s work has proved essential in the search for a cure for cancer: “My father died of that disease. To me it is important that the money spent on this memento helps support scientific investigation while the medal itself stays with the owner who deserves it.”

Mr Usmanov features prominently on the Sunday Times Giving List which shows him donating no less than £114 million to worthy causes in 2014. Going by the past few years, it would seem that Mr Usmanov is determined to annually gift about one percent of his £10bn fortune.

The Russian bestows his largess mostly on the arts, science, and sports. A talented sabre fencer who represented his native Uzbek SSR (Soviet Socialist republic) at international competitions, Mr Usmanov in 2012 was re-elected to a second term as president of the International Fencing Federation. He also sat on the council of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

As a patron of the arts, Alisher Usmanov is a man of great gestures. He regularly buys up great collections which are subsequently donated to museums. In 2007, Mr Usmanov managed to avoid the piecemeal sale of the famed art collection owned by the late Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. He plopped down £20m for the collection and donated it to the Russian state. The artwork is currently housed at the Konstantinovsky Palace near St Petersburg.

Mr Usmanov also intervened to buy up the rights to a large collection of rare classic cartoon movies which he entrusted to a Russian television network for children.

Mr Usmanov made his fortune in the wild and confusing years following the collapse of communism with investments in mining and heavy industry. He has since diversified into technology, publishing, and broadcasting. Mr Usmanov wisely keeps close to those in power and is regularly showered with awards and medals bearing rather pompous titles such as the Order for Service to the Fatherland IV Class.

He also dislikes press freedom, especially when it inconveniences his friends in high places, sacking the editor of his Kommersant Vlast magazine after the publication of a picture showing a ballot paper with a scribbled note suggesting President Vladimir Putin engage in a lascivious act.

Still, as Russian billionaires come, Mr Usmanov is one of the least offensive and, in fact, quite likeable. He shows genuine empathy to those in need and displays an understanding of those who may dislike him, going so far as to publically commiserate with the journalists of Kommersant Vlast when they expressed their anger over the dismissal of their editor: “Emotionally, I can understand their feelings. I only hope they may return the favour.”


<br>Schlumberger Nigeria: Best Sustainability Award

In over forty countries, oilfield services company Schlumberger is actively engaged in promoting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education through its SEED (Schlumberger Excellence in Education Development) programme. The company is fully committed to share its corporate culture which prioritises science and learning.

SEED is the embodiment of this passion. The programme counts on the volunteer work of hundreds of educators to reach students and engage them in global challenges such as climate change, energy, and water which may be addressed by science.

In Nigeria, SEED has collaborated with over 34 schools and the Nigerian Academy of Science to promote science education. Participating schools work on research projects aimed at igniting a passion for science in students.

The CFI.co Judging Panel considers SEED an exemplary initiative and applauds Schlumberger for its sustained commitment to STEM education. As production processes become ever more complex, demand for engineers and scientists are expected to increase by leaps and bounds over the next few decades. A technology company par excellence, Schlumberger seems to not just recognise this need, but address it in a hands-on manner as well. The CFI.co Judges unanimously decided to hand Schlumberger Nigeria for the second consecutive year its Best Sustainability Award.


At High-Level Forum, UN Official Calls for Final Push Towards New Sustainability Agenda

[caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="258"] A wide view of the meeting at the opening of the High-level Segment of ECOSOC's 2015 session. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe[/caption]

The international community stands on the cusp of eradicating extreme poverty and reaching the world's most vulnerable people with “a chance to live a life of dignity,” the Vice-President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) declared today, as he appealed to delegates to strengthen the platforms for implementing the new development agenda that will be adopted in September.

“If we want to give the final touch to and implement a universal, transformational and people-centred agenda, we need to change our mind-sets. We cannot go on doing business as usual and expect different results,” affirmed Oh Joon in his remarks to the opening of the High-level Segment of ECOSOC's 2015 session.

“We have a responsibility to contribute, through our deliberation, to the process that will chart our way for the next 15 years and beyond,” Mr. Oh continued. “If we get it right now, we will get it right for generations to come.”

The High-level Segment coincides with the Ministerial Segment of the 2015 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, which is meeting from 26 June through 8 July. The latter aims to foster debate between governments, the UN system and other organizations, scientists, major groups and other stakeholders of civil society on all aspects of surrounding the implementation of the new sustainability agenda and push to eradicate global poverty.

"If we want to give the final touch to and implement a universal, transformational and people-centred agenda, we need to change our mind-sets."

- Oh Joon

In September, Member States will adopt a set of sustainable development goals that build on the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which had a deadline of 2015. The UN is working with governments, civil society and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs and carry on with an ambitious post-2015 development agenda.

Addressing the opening of the High-Level Political Forum last week, ECOSOC President Martin Sajdik told delegates that the session could ultimately realize three objectives, including taking stock of the international community's standing ahead of the impending Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; providing an opportunity to prepare for implementing the post-2015 development agenda; and designing a methodology to keep progress and implementation under review in each country and region.

In today's message to the Forum, Mr. Oh reiterated that sense of urgency, noting that Member States would need to discuss and determine “how to ensure that we build on strong foundations” while also uniting and integrating all efforts – at regional, national and global levels – towards a unified objective.

“An integrated agenda will require an integrated vision, particularly at the conceptual level of policy making,” Mr. Oh added. “We are on the verge of creating an exceptional deed. Let us get it right.”

Also speaking at the opening of the High-level Segment, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson agreed with Mr. Oh, stating that the global community's legacy “will depend in no small part on whether the agenda we adopt at the September Summit is ambitious and transformative and whether we live up to it.”

“We are clearly heading in the right direction,” Mr. Eliasson continued. “The litmus test for the new agenda will be its implementation.”

The Deputy Secretary-General observed that 17 sustainable development goals proposed by Member States were, in fact, transformative and established “a holistic vision of development focussed on people.”

At the same time, he said, one of the lessons from the MDGs is that the world cannot work in silos, focusing on one goal, without considering the links to other goals.

“We need more than a new toolbox of policy measures. We need an essential 'rethink' of the way we make and implement policies. We must learn how to shape, implement and review development plans reflecting both economic, social and environmental dimensions,” Mr. Eliasson stated. “That is why we need an integrated vision of implementation, in which interlinkages are well understood and utilized.”

Meanwhile, Sam Kutesa, the President of the General Assembly, similarly underscored the need to “redouble efforts” to bring the negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda to “a successful conclusion” while also scaling up mobilization of resources and renewing and enhancing global partnerships for development.

“It is self-evident why successful outcomes from all of these processes will be critical towards achieving sustainable development and putting our world on a safer, more equitable, and sustainable pathway,” Mr. Kutesa told those gathered.

“The deliberations at this session of the HLPF will deepen understanding of critical issues related to the post 2015 development agenda, and the vital role the Forum will play in ensuring that the new agenda is understood, communicated and achieved by the engagement of all actors.” Source


Rachida Dati: Brawn and Brains French Style

 Daring stiletto heels and perfectly-fitting leather trousers: Rachida Dati does not lack self-confidence. In fact, her composure is faultless. A daughter not of landed nobility, but of an impoverished bricklayer from Morocco, Rachida Dati was the second-born in a family of twelve. She spent most her childhood on a dilapidated estate in Chalon-sur-Saône in east-central France, about midway between Dijon and Lyon.

Though raised in a Muslim family, Rachida was sent to Roman Catholic schools and went on to obtain a Master’s in Economics from the University of Burgundy and a law degree from the Panthéon-Assas University in Paris. In 1997, following a brief career in business, Ms Dati gained admission to the prestigious École Nationale de la Magistrature from where she emerged a judge two years later.

After meeting Nicolas Sarkozy in 2002 while working on anti-crime legislation, Ms Dati joined his Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) four years later, eventually becoming the future president’s spokesperson early 2007. After Mr Sarkozy was swept to power in May 2007, Ms Dati was appointed Minister of Justice – the first woman of Muslim origin to hold that office.

“I was warned by Elisabeth Guigou, my predecessor at the Ministry of Justice, that the high heels would soon have to go. I, of course, ignored the advice.”

Ms Dati caused a few eyebrows to raise when she in September 2008 announced her pregnancy without revealing the name of the father or expressing any wish to get married. The tabloid press proved insatiable: almost the entire who’s who of the French political establishment at one time or other was named as the missing dad, as were countless foreign leaders. The mystery was lifted only four years later when Ms Dati initiated legal proceedings against French casino tycoon Dominique Desseigne (70) – mostly known for his forever-young looks – who was eventually recognised by the court as the legal father of Zohra, now eight years old.

Never one to be deterred, Ms Dati was elected to the European Parliament in June 2009 for the hotly-disputed Île-de-France constituency. Last year, Ms Dati cancelled her plans to run for the Paris mayoral office after Sarkozy’s rather spectacular fall from grace severely curtailed her chances of success in an extreme – and most unfortunate – case of guilt-by-association.

Full of ideas on financial reform and other complex issues, and quite relentless in their pursuit, Ms Dati’s perhaps greatest contribution to date is the renaissance of femininity in politics she helped bring about. Unabashedly interested in fashion and all its accessories, Ms Dati argues – and, more importantly, shows – that flair and style need not exclude content. She has built-up a sizeable following outside France, and particularly in the UK where an unwritten rule seems to dictate that women diminish the outward appearance of their femininity in order to better accumulate and preserve power.

To Ms Dati, such talk is nonsense: “I was warned by Elisabeth Guigou, my predecessor at the Ministry of Justice, that the high heels would soon have to go. I, of course, ignored the advice.” Not just that: while in office, Ms Dati appeared on the cover of Paris Match in fishnet tights and a pink leopard-print Dior dress as if to make a point – which she did.

While Ms Dati’s in-your-face attitude is considered offensive in some of France’s more conservative societal niches, her stance on feminism and the empowerment of women is generally well appreciated, if imperfectly understood.


Volatility in Chinese Stock Values: Potentially Much More Dangerous than a Greek Tragedy?

The problems facing the global economy in the event of a Greek exit from the euro zone could be dwarfed into insignificance by downward movements on the Chinese Stock Markets. In 1989, Margaret Thatcher  famously declared:  “You can’t buck the markets” referring to UK Finance Minster Nigel Lawson’s failed attempt to shadow the Deutsche Mark that year. It seems now that the Chinese state would be well advised to listen to her words of wisdom. Already more than $3 trillion has been wiped off the value of Chinese stocks which represents something like twenty times the figure economists expect to be the cost of a Greek write-off.

There are 90 million Chinese investors many of whom are highly leveraged - making up of a significant proportion of the middle class - and they are expected to contribute heavily to the growth China needs to maintain its economic miracle. They  are feeling a lot worse off now than they were a month ago. Bearing in mind the economic importance the Chinese markets have in providing equity capital to business this fall in value of the markets and the lack of confidence it creates could have a very serious negative effect on Chinese growth.

"The problems facing the global economy in the event of a Greek exit from the euro zone could be dwarfed into insignificance by downward movements on the Chinese Stock Markets."

The Chinese State is implementing a number of measures in an attempt to stop the dramatic falls in stock prices. We are seeing the freezing of shares, temporary halts of IPOs, provision of credit to brokers and the freeing up of insurance companies to invest more of their assets in stocks. Such interventions carry their own risks and can add to volatility. Beijing’s attempt to move economic power from state owned enterprises to the private sector was never going to be easy and despite this state intervention the markets seem to have decided on a major adjustment: there is little Beijing can do in the long term.

Commentators are already making comparisons with the 1929 Wall Street crash when the entire world felt the impact. These events in China could make a Greek default look like little more than a side show. China has achieved so much over the past decades but learning to run with the market could be one of its biggest challenges.


EU Offers a Third Bailout: Greece Will Remain in the Eurozone but Austerity Stays too

The EU has survived the Greek debt default crisis and after seventeen hours of negotiations agreement for a third bailout was reached today. Greek PM Alexis Tsipras termed the negotiations as a tough battle that resulted in a growth package and debt restructuring.

The EU will be financing the country to the tune of EUR 86 billion over the next three years. Greece must now commit to streamlining pensions, raising tax revenues and liberalising the labour market. There will be no Grexit. EC chief Junker commented that they were no winners or losers and what we are seeing here is a typical European arrangement.

Austerity policies will continue in Greece and, as a result of the agreement, much of the country’s sovereignty will be given up to outside supervision. There will be quarterly external monitoring of the economy during the three years of funding.


World Bank Group: Investing in Women is Vital to Ending Poverty, Boosting Needed Growth

[caption id="attachment_10124" align="alignright" width="301"] Yosr Toumi Ep Gharbi works as a consultant for Famex 2, an export promotion agency at Maison D'Exportateur in Tunis. Photo: Arne Hoel[/caption]

Closing persistent gender gaps is vital to boosting sustainable growth and ending poverty by 2030, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said Tuesday, calling for scaled-up efforts to expand women’s access to good jobs, assets, and infrastructure.

“Economic growth is the most powerful tool we have for realizing a world free of poverty.  The world economy needs to grow faster and more sustainably,” he told a panel here alongside the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. “It needs inclusive growth that promotes opportunity for all, and that requires the full participation men and women.”

Aid targeting gender equality has risen in recent years, contributing to significant gains in health and education in many countries. But aid aimed at leveling the playing field for women remains low in what the OECD calls the “economic and productive sectors” of transport and storage, communications, energy, banking and business, industry, mining, construction, and trade.

Women’s jobs in these sectors are lower-paying and less secure. Globally, they still earn less, own less, run smaller businesses, employ fewer people, and create fewer jobs than men, and they remain vastly more vulnerable to poverty. They are also far less likely than men to have access to a bank account, mobile money provider, or other financial service, according to the latest Global Findex report. IFC, the Bank Group’s private sector arm, meanwhile estimates the annual financing and capacity gap facing women-owned small and medium enterprises in emerging markets at US$260 billion-$320 billion.

"Economic growth is the most powerful tool we have for realizing a world free of poverty."

- Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President

All of this adds up to a costly missed opportunity for women, families, and economies, research shows. The OCED estimates that on average, across its member countries, a 50 percent reduction in the gender gap in labor force participation along would boost GDP an extra 6 percent by 2030, with a further 6 percent gain if gaps closed entirely.

“When women earn more, public finances will improve and commercial profits increase because of increased demand and productivity,” President Kim said. “When we promote true equality—including equal pay for equal work—we all stand to benefit, because better educated mothers produce healthier children, and women who earn more invest more in the next generation.”

“We have fallen short in bringing women’s assets, earnings, and employment in line with those of men. This should galvanize us to arm ourselves with the best possible evidence about what works to close these gaps, leverage new partnerships and funding streams, and sharply scale up the smartest, most promising programs to meet these challenges.”

Along with other multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the IMF, the World Bank Group announced plans July 10 to extend more than US$400 billion in financing over the next three years and work more closely with private and public sector partners to mobilize the resources needed to achieve the historic new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

To finance those goals, “collecting taxes fairly, efficiently, and transparently is critically important —in ways that don’t penalize women when they bring home a second income, for example, or spend money on food and other goods that sustain their families,” President Kim said. “So is government spending on the smartest possible investments that lift constraints and unleash the potential of all citizens. Foreign direct investment, bond issuance, and financing from institutional investors are also needed.”

The SDGs are ambitious and demand equal ambition in using the “billions” of dollars in current flows of official development assistance (ODA) and all available resources to attract, leverage, and mobilize “trillions” in investments of all kinds—public and private, national and global.

ODA, estimated at US$135 billion a year, provides a fundamental source of financing, especially in the poorest and most fragile countries. But more is needed. Investment needs in infrastructure alone reach up to US$1.5 trillion a year in emerging and developing countries.

The Bank Group is now concluding global consultations on a new gender strategy, to be launched in late 2015. Participants from government, civil society, and the private sector have stressed that along with healthcare and education, women need equal access to good jobs, training, financial resources, safe public transportation and other key infrastructure, and support in caring for others. Source


Dianne Feinstein: Keeping the Eavesdroppers in Check

 Even a US senator can face an uphill battle. Such it is with Dianne Feinstein, vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee in charge of monitoring the entities that monitor global society. Hers is an unenviable position: Mrs Feinstein has to help keep the expansive US intelligence community on the straight and narrow while ensuring that possible threats and conspirators are identified early-on and stopped.

Though of impeccable Democrat stock, Mrs Feinstein made few friends on the left with her vigorous defence of the need to breach the privacy of ordinary citizens in order to obtain the big data required to map presumed terrorist networks. She has repeatedly branded whistle blower Edward Snowden a “traitor” for disclosing the mass surveillance programmes involving the National Security Agency (NSA) and others.

She did, however, condemn the tapping of the mobile phones of friendly foreign leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Mrs Feinstein also supported a number of bills that include backdoor provisions through which the NSA may continue to conduct warrantless searches.

“Mrs Feinstein has to help keep the expansive US intelligence community on the straight and narrow while ensuring that possible threats and conspirators are identified early-on and stopped.”

Perhaps not the stuff heroes are made of. However, Senator Feinstein did cause quite a stir when she labelled the US government’s rendition programme a “stain on our values and on our history.” She has since been on the Central Intelligence Agency’s case, ensuring that it operates within well-established legal bounds and refrains from clandestine adventures.

Just before the Republicans reclaimed the chair of Senate Intelligence Committee on January 6, Mrs Feinstein introduced a legislative proposal that would outlaw the use of torture – euphemistically and malignantly described as enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) – and limit the CIA’s legal ability to keep suspects in detention for longer than a few days.

Mrs Feinstein’s initiative aims to provide a legislative backstop to the executive orders of 2009 that were supposed to close all torture loopholes. Though these orders were signed into law by President Barack Obama, they can be easily revoked by a future president.

Mrs Feinstein was first elected to the US Senate in 1992 after a failed gubernatorial bid two years earlier. Since then, California voters have re-elected her four consecutive times. In 2012, Mrs Feinstein set a national record for senate races when she received 7.75 million direct votes.

While in Washington, Senator Feinstein gained notoriety as a staunch liberal. In 1994, her Federal Assault Weapons Ban was accepted as a subsection on the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. The ban included a prohibition on the manufacturing and sale of both semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines for use by civilians.

Though the ban was repeatedly challenged in court for allegedly violating constitutional rights not specifically enumerated (Ninth Amendment) and breaching the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourth Amendment. Curiously, the ban was never fought under the right to bear arms provision as contained in the Second Amendment. The act – and the ban – remained in force until it was allowed to expire in 2004 as per its sunset clause. Since then, all attempts to renew the ban have failed.

Now 81, Mrs Feinstein is the oldest serving US Senator.


Barclays Africa Group: Striving to Be the ‘Go-To’ Bank in Africa

Barclays Africa Group Limited (Barclays Africa), listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, is one of Africa’s largest financial services groups. It is uniquely positioned as a fully global, fully regional, and fully local bank. Barclays Africa is 62.3% owned by Barclays Bank PLC (Barclays). Absa Bank Limited (Absa Bank) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barclays Africa.

The group was formed through combining Absa Group Limited and Barclays’ African operations on 31 July 2013. Reflecting the enlarged group’s Pan-African focus, the name changed from Absa Group Limited to Barclays Africa Group Limited on 2 August 2013.

Its registered head office is in Johannesburg, South Africa and the group has majority stakes in banks in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania (Barclays Bank Tanzania and National Bank of Commerce), Uganda, and Zambia. It also has representative offices in Namibia and Nigeria as well as insurance operations in Botswana, Mozambique, Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia.

“Today it has seen continuous progress in business banking, as it strives to achieve its ambition of being the go-to business bank in Africa. This has been possible because it puts the customer at the centre of all it does.”

Barclays Bank Kenya and Barclays Bank Botswana continue to be listed on their respective stock exchanges. Barclays Bank PLC has operations in Egypt and Zimbabwe which are an integral part of its African business. Barclays Africa continues to oversee the management of these entities.

Barclays Africa is a diversified financial services provider, offering an integrated set of products and services across personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management, and insurance. It has grown into a leading financial services group in its chosen countries in Africa and selected customer and client segments. It combines its global product knowledge with regional expertise and its extensive, well established local presence.

Building the Banking Destination of Choice for Business in Africa

The group’s goal is to build not only a sustainable, trustworthy business, but a business which customers and clients consider as the first choice for answers and solutions – their ‘Go-To’ bank. Two years ago, the group increased strategic emphasis on its business banking offering. Today it has seen continuous progress in business banking, as it strives to achieve its ambition of being the ‘Go-To’ business bank in Africa. This has been possible because it puts the customer at the centre of all it does.

It is no secret that Africa continues to develop at a rapid pace and is considered the new growth frontier the world over; this is why the group continues to uniquely position itself to be able to leverage these exciting opportunities across the continent for the benefit of its customers. Key to its success and managing its dynamic business banking franchises across all 12 countries, is the support of its dedicated staff that has a passion for relationship building and service excellence.

Absa is fortunate to be able to tap into the greater Barclays family not only for insights, but for support and learning as well. This makes it a fully global, fully regional, and fully local bank; putting it in the enviable position to best serve existing and prospective customers and clients by combining global product knowledge, regional expertise, and an extensive, well-established local footprint.

In their adjudication when awarding Absa Best SME Bank, CFI.co emphasised that Absa aims to empower entrepreneurs with more than just credit. The judges also highlighted Absa’s nationwide network of seven enterprise development centres as another key component in enabling SMEs.

Apart from providing financing for small business, the bank has also started a range of other initiatives in support of entrepreneurship that existing or would-be business owners can tap into. In South Africa, the bank has in the past few years established entrepreneurship development centres throughout the country with the aim to encourage the development of small businesses across a wide spectrum of sectors, such as real estate development, agribusiness, and franchising.

Such initiatives stem from the bank’s understanding that the small business sector requires the group to play a meaningful role by supporting entrepreneurs beyond just their financial needs. One of the largest obstacles facing small businesses is not financial, but access to markets. The ability to penetrate existing markets, or create new ones, is the difficulty SMEs face when having to compete with established businesses. Unique to these centres is that SMEs have access to Absa’s procurement portal, which is a virtual marketplace that links SME suppliers with blue-chip companies and government bodies, to encourage corporates to buy more services and products from small and medium-sized enterprises.

Ultimately, the group’s ambition is to help each one of its clients by putting world class banking solutions within the reach of every business in its targeted markets. The belief is that this approach will ultimately allow the group to achieve its vision of empowering SMEs to prosper, as it builds and aspires to be the ‘Go-To’ Pan-African business bank.


WGB Launches New Country Partnership Framework to Support Azerbaijan’s Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Growth

[caption id="attachment_10133" align="alignright" width="329"] Azerbaijan[/caption]

The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors today discussed and endorsed the 2015-2020 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Azerbaijan. This CPF represents a five year joint strategy of the World Bank Group comprising the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). It aims at supporting Azerbaijan on its path toward sustainable, inclusive and private sector-led growth.

The CPF is underpinned by the Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCD) for Azerbaijan, the World Bank Group’s comprehensive analysis of economic conditions, challenges and constraints that the country faces in the short and longer term. It proposes a program that will help address a selected set of those constraints, and which is well aligned with Azerbaijan’s own development priorities and the World Bank Group’s global twin goal of reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Over the past decade, Azerbaijan has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. Poverty incidence declined from close to 50 percent of the population in the early 2000’s to about 5 percent in 2013, accompanied by growth of the middle class from about 4 percent to 29 percent of the population during the same period. These achievements were largely accounted for by a stellar economic performance with an economic growth rate of 13 percent on average and substantial public spending from oil revenues. In the current environment of low oil prices, slowdown of oil production and uncertain regional economic prospects, Azerbaijan is looking for a new growth model in which the private sector will play a central role.

"IFC will also seek investment and advisory opportunities to support the real sector, including critical infrastructure projects, agriculture, and other export-oriented sectors."

“The World Bank Group’s new Country Partnership Framework is coming at a challenging yet opportune time for Azerbaijan. In the turbulent global economic environment which calls for efficiency in public spending and for a new model of growth, the CPF will help Azerbaijan maintain and enhance its achievements on the twin goals and strengthen the country’s resilience to external shocks”, said Henry Kerali, World Bank Group Regional Director.

The CPF focuses on two areas: Public Sector Management and Service Deliveryand Economic Competitiveness, which are supported by eight specific objectives. Under the CPF’s first focus area, the World Bank Group will help the country strengthen public resource management, facilitate public service delivery and improve the quality of environmental assets. Under the second focus area, the World Bank Group will provide support for improving selected infrastructure networks, increasing the country’s financial inclusion, reducing regulatory burden on the private sector, and supporting economic activities in rural areas. The themes of governance and gender are recognized as critical for effective management of resources, social inclusion and accumulation of diversified assets and, as such, will be duly addressed across the whole CPF program.

The CPF objectives will be achieved through a number of ongoing operations and new interventions, both as investment lending and technical assistance. Advisory and analytical work that will be carried out by the World Bank Group will underpin the proposed lending projects as well as cater to the government’s emerging needs with “just-in-time” responses.

IFC’s primary focus will be on supporting the CPF’s economic competitiveness agenda, continuing and strengthening initiatives to boost financial inclusion and improvements in the business environment. IFC will also seek investment and advisory opportunities to support the real sector, including critical infrastructure projects, agriculture, and other export-oriented sectors.

“We are committed to helping Azerbaijan’s private sector create new jobs and contribute to growth. IFC’s investments and advisory services in the financial sector will remain a strategic priority, helping to increase access to finance for businesses across the country. We will also help reduce regulatory barriers for businesses and support the government to leverage public-private infrastructure finance mechanisms,” said Jan van Bilsen, IFC Regional Manager for the South Caucasus.

Azerbaijan joined the World Bank in 1992 and IFC in 1995. The World Bank commitments to the country over the last two decades have totaled over US$3 billion for 55 projects. The current World Bank investment portfolio in Azerbaijan includes 16 projects with a total commitment of US$2 billion. Since 1995, IFC has invested more than US$365 million in 54 long-term finance projects and mobilized US$74 million from other lenders. IFC has also supported trade worth about US$77 million through its trade finance program, and implemented advisory projects focused on private sector development. Source


Statement on World Bank’s $2.1 Billion Support to Nigeria

[caption id="attachment_10138" align="alignright" width="187"] Muhammadu Buhari[/caption]

On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 the World Bank Group President Jim Kim held a meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at Blair House in Washington, D.C. In the meeting it was indicated that Nigeria has up toUSD $2.1 billion of uncommitted resources from the International Development Association(IDA) as well as other support from IBRD, for addressing the development challenges of Nigeria, including in the North East and the North, in particular.

The Acting World Bank Group Country Director for Nigeria, Indira Konjhodzicsays the Bank is ready to start discussions with the Nigerian authorities on how to move this agenda forward. “We are going to work closely with the Government of Nigeria to determine the best way to support their priorities in the context of our Country Development Framework and our commitment to ensure the continued growth and development momentum in Africa’s biggest economy.”

In order for World Bank lending to become effective, a project(s) must be prepared in consultation with the government that is borrowing, after which the project must be approved by the Bank’s board of executive directors.  The World Bank reiterates its commitment to support Nigeria in ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. Source