My Research Paper "Impact of FCI on Economic Growth in Pakistan" is Published in the Journal of Independent Studies and Research, Volume 5, Issue 1, January 2007.

ABSTRACT:

The Two-Gap Model suggests that the Poor countries have to rely on the foreign capital inflows (FCI) to fill the two Gaps: Import-Export Gap and the Savings-Investment Gap. There are many forms of the foreign capital inflows like FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), External loans & Credit, technical assistance, Project & non-project aid etc. So, UDC (including Pakistan) have to rely on the Foreign aid, foreign Debt FDI and portfolio investments. The role of these external resources (FCI) always remains questionable. This paper analyzes the impact of the foreign capital inflow on GDP Growth in Pakistan during 1975-2004.

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The International Monetary Fund's latest World Economic Outlook is out.

 

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) presents the IMF staff's analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups (classified by region, stage of development, etc.), and in many individual countries. It focuses on major economic policy issues as well as on the analysis of economic developments and prospects.

Source: World Bank Poverty and Growth Program

The ECA and the African Development Bank are organizing the 2007 African Economic Conference on the theme “Opportunities and Challenges of Development for Africa in the Global Arena”, which will take place in Addis Ababa on 15-17 November. The program committee invites submission of abstracts (or papers) by interested participants on any economic issues of relevance to African economies.

 

Deadline to submit abstracts is April 30.

 

Full announcement and contact information. Source: World Bank Poverty and Growth Program

According to UNECA's latest edition of the Economic Report on Africa (ERA 2007), African economies are forecast to grow by an average of 5.8% in 2007.

 

From the press release:

 

The report, titled “Accelerating Africa's Development through Diversification,” notes that African economies continued to sustain the growth momentum of previous years, recording an overall real GDP growth rate of 5.7% in 2006. 28 countries recorded higher economic growth rates in 2006 than 2005.

 

According to the report, Africa's recent growth performance was underpinned by improvements in macroeconomic management in many countries as well as strong global demand for key African export commodities, resulting in high export prices, especially for crude oil, metals and minerals.

 

Factors that are likely to hinder growth in the future include lack of diversification of production and exports as well as instability and vulnerability to shocks, and the increasing spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which undermines labour supply and labour productivity. In addition, inefficient public infrastructure and unreliable energy supply at the national level as well as poor integration of transportation and energy networks at the regional level will continue to undermine the productivity and international competitiveness of African economies.

 

En Français

Source: World Bank Poverty and Growth Program

The Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen and its Development Economics Research Group (DERG) is organizing the next Nordic Conference in Development Economics (NCDE) to be held in Copenhagen on 18-19 June 2007. The conference aims at bringing together Nordic and international scholars for exchange of ideas and discussion of recent results within theoretical and applied development economics research. The organizers particularly encourage young researchers based in the Nordic countries (independent of nationality) to submit papers on all topics within the field of development economics.

 

More information and how to register here.

 

Deadline to submit papers is May 1, 2007.

Source: World Bank Poverty and Growth Program

Today is World Water Day. The theme this year is "Coping with Water Scarcity".

 

A good day to repost what writer Mario Vargas Llosa wrote recently about UNDP's Human Development Report 2006.

(my translation)

 

From this reading, the first conclusion I reach is that the emblematic object of civilization and progress is not the book, the telephone, Internet or the atomic bomb, but the toilet. Where human beings empty their bladder and intestines is the decisive factor to know if they still find themselves in the cruel underdevelopment or if they have started to make progress. The repercussions that this simple and very important fact has on people’s life are vertiginous…

…

In Dharavi, a populous part of Mumbai, there is only one toilet per 1,440 people, and in the rainy season the water flooding the streets turns them into rivers of excrements. The abundance of the liquid element is, in this case as in many third world cities, a tragedy, because, given the condition in which people live, water, instead of being life is often times the instrument of sickness and death…

…

In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo wrote that “sewers are the conscience of the city” and … he tried to do a strange interpretation of history through human excrement. This terrific report does something similar, without the poetry and eloquence of the great French romantic, but with a much better scientific knowledge.

…

“We are born among feces and urine”, wrote Saint Agustin. A shiver should shake us when we think that a third of our contemporaries never leave the filth in which they came to this valley of tears.

 

 Full article (in Spanish): El olor de la pobreza (the smell of poverty)

 

Source: World Bank Poverty and Growth Program

Sarah Jane Hise writes in the CGD Blog about presidential candidate John Edwards and his Global Poverty Proposal launched last week: "Restoring America's Moral Leadership by Fighting Worldwide Poverty"

 

Three cheers for John Edwards for being the first presidential candidate of the 2008 campaigns to put forth his proposal on global poverty.

 

Owen also blogs about it: 

 

It would be good news for development if this becomes an issue in the US Presidential elections.

 

We agree with both.

Source: World Bank Poverty and Growth Program