Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture: Sustainability and Growth in Investments from Private Sector, but Banks Overcharge

The expected gains of the N450billion Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) special credit portfolio set aside by the Central Bank of Nigeria is yet to be seen due to high interest rates pegged on it by banks,

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WTO and Aid for Trade: Connecting to Value Chains

The WTO has announced the agenda for the Fourth Global Review of Aid for Trade to be held on 8-10 July. The theme of this year’s event is “Connecting to Value Chains”. The review will focus on the development implications

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IMF Facility for Mali: And Hopes for a Resumption of Growth

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a disbursement of an amount equivalent to SDR 10 million (about US$15.1 million) for Mali under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). The disbursement will help the authorities meet their urgent

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PwC, South Africa: Africa Rising

Africa is rising. These days, one cannot pick up a newspaper or magazine without coming across an article or some piece of insightful and fascinating enunciation about the opportunities in Africa. Africa is ripe for the picking and there is

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European Council’s President, Herman Van Rompuy: Unlocking Opportunities for Growth and Competitiveness

“Unlocking opportunities for growth and competitiveness” Keynote opening speech by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy at the European Business Summit 2013 Speaking today at the opening of the European Business Summit in Brussels, President Van Rompuy reiterated that

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The BRICS Leaders’ Summit: Rich Outcomes

President Jacob Zuma hosted the Fifth BRICS Summit in March 2013 in Durban, South Africa under the theme: “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation.” Quite a lot was achieved on financing and development, most notably: The BRICS

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The Fed’s Flawed Model

In May 22 testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke issued another of many similar positive interpretations of central bank policy. Yet again, he continued to argue that quantitative easing has decreased long-term interest rates

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Revenue Watch: 4 out of 5 Companies Fail in Good Governance

The Resource Governance Index (RGI) measures the quality of governance in the oil, gas and mining sector of 58 countries. From highly ranked countries like Norway, the United Kingdom and Brazil to lowranking countries like Qatar, Turkmenistan and Myanmar, the

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Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Group: Fiscal Policy Redux

As part of their response to negative shocks coming from advanced economies after the Lehman Brothers’ collapse in 2008, most developing countries resorted to countercyclical fiscal policy. Such a policy choice was available to many developing economies that entered the

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Vladimir Putin Talks About BRICS

BRICS’ relatively new phenomenon attracts increased global attention due to the optimistic predictions about its development, especially against the backdrop of global crisis developments in the world economy. What is BRICS’ immediate and long-term significance for Russia? Is such a

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