Trade and development report update: April 2024
The report forecasts global economic growth to 2.6% in 2024, barely above the 2.5% threshold commonly associated with a recessionary phase. The report says the prevailing focus on inflation overshadows
Economy
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A profane proposal
10 years ago, <i>Down To Earth</i> reported on the state of sacred groves in India see: <a href="full6.asp?foldername=19940131&filename=Anal&sec_id=7&sid=3"><font color=red><i>Down To Earth</i>, January 31, 1994 </font></a>. Patches of forest protected
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Bench mark
AS CHINA prepares to enter a market economy, it is busy putting its house in order. Two specialist courts will be set up in the key commercial centre of Shanghai to handle trademark and copyright
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VIETNAM
This tiny Asian nation, still struggling to gain a secure economic foothold, is pressing ahead with its first oil refinery which has already become a centre of controversy. Work on the us $1.2
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FIJI
The South Pacific island of Fiji is suffering from a massive drought. The sugarcane crop of 1998 is well below normal production. Even the torrential rains due to La Nina, which lashed Australia,
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KENYA
In a move that will see the world's deepest oils drilled off the East African coast, the Kenyan government has signed an exploration treaty with a uk- based company. Although the move is likely
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The small big polluter
Small-scale industries: Where regulations are meaningless and pollution control an unaffordable luxury. Can they leapfrog to cost-effective technologies and find shelter in policies that provide reservation in pollution-free sectors?<p> <font face=arial
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Urban poor need microfinance for livelihoods
There is a touch of irony in India's growth story. Jobs in the government, private and public sector are limited and restricted to the educated. At the same time, the informal economy in India is growing at a fast rate, employing 93 per cent of the labour force in the country. But informal economy workers, who contribute 63 per cent of the <font class="UCASE">gdp</font>, still cannot benefit from the additional wealth they have contributed to generate.<br> <br> Why? That's because they do not have access to credit to take advantage of economic opportunities.<br>
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IVORY COAST
Foreign and national investors are being wooed in a big way to the Ivory Coast, which is overhauling its 30-year-old mining code for their benefit. The objective, according to a draft code presented
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MALAYSIA
The Malaysian government would help its neighbours to fight the haze blanketing part of the Southeast Asian region to ensure non-disruption of the Commonwealth Games. Prime minister Mahathir
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VENEZUELA
Amid environmental concerns, a Venezue lan power line was inaugurated in Brazil recently. The us $400 million high-voltage line runs through Vene zuela's ecologically sensitive southeast