UJ Economics & Finance Librarian APK

World Bank Updates

2009-02-23T13:17:00.002+02:00

The World Bank yesterday approved a grant of US$8 million to support the Government of the Central African Republic to rehabilitate the country’s power infrastructure, balancing supply and demand in the capital Bangui, and helping the power utility to improve its financial and operational sustainability. During the recent energy crisis in June 2008, over half of the electricity supply was lost for several weeks, affecting Bangui’s water supply, which relies on electric power for pumping water around the city. Hospitals were also affected by the lack of power. The project will reduce the risk of such a crisis reoccurring in one of Africa’s poorest countries.

IAS: Trustees announce membership of reconstituted Standards Advisory Council

2009-02-23T13:10:00.003+02:00

The Trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) Foundation, the body that oversees the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), announced today appointments to the reconstituted Standards Advisory Council (SAC). Membership of the SAC is for the period ending on 31 December 2011.

Subscribing to the IMF's alerting service

2009-02-09T07:20:00.007+02:00

To subscribe to the International Monetary Fund's alerting service is easy and fast, and ensures you are kept up to date with any changes or new publications. All new information is sent via email.

Steps:

1) Go to their website:

2) Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Free Email Notification

3) Choose whether you would like to be notified regarding Country information or Selected series:

4) Selected series covers a vast array of data:

Choose from:

IMF and Civil Society News - Provides civil society organizations with relevant, up-to-date information on new developments at the Fund
Communiqués - Are typically issued on behalf of ministerial groups, such as the G-10, G-24, Development Committee, and others.
Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER) - Quarterly aggregate data based on an IMF database that keeps end-of-period quarterly data of the currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves. The currencies identified are the U.S. dollar, Euro, Pound Sterling, Japanese yen, Swiss francs, and other currencies.
Finance & Development - A quarterly magazine, F&D presents articles and book reviews on a wide variety of topics in international economics and finance, as well as economic development.
Financing IMF Transactions - A report on the use of the Fund's available quota-based resources, both its holdings of official SDRs and creditor members' currencies, to finance the Fund's non-concessional lending and repayment operations.
Financial Statements of the IMF - The statements for the IMF's General and SDR Departments and Administered Accounts (as at end-July, end-October, and end-January) are unaudited, condensed versions of the annual financial statements. The April 30 financial statements are the audited annual financial statements published in the IMF's Annual Report
GFSR Market Update - This series has been initiated to cover global financial market developments. GFSR Market Update (formerly known as Financial Market Updates) is produced twice a year and timed to fall between the semi-annual publication of the Global Financial Stability Report.
Global Financial Stability Report - A Semiannual Report by the International Capital Markets Department on Market Developments and Issues
IMF Country Reports - This series includes Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes, Article IV Reports, Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Documents, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), Interim PRSPs, PRSP Progress and Status Reports, Joint Staff Assessments (JSAs), Offshore Financial Center Assessments, and Assessments of Compliance with the Basel Core Principles.
IMF Financial Activities - Summary of financial assistance to member countries in support of their policy programs, available IMF resources, arrears, and key IMF rates. Includes current Stand-By, Extended, and Poverty Reduction and Growth (PRGF) Arrangements and Status of Commitments of HIPC Assistance.
IMF Policy Papers
IMF Seminars, Conferences and Economic Forums - These events are hosted by the IMF on a regular basis to promote more informed discussion on major issues confronting the organization and the international community more broadly
IMF Working Papers
IMF's Financial Resources and Liquidity Position - A summary of the IMF's financial resource and liquidity position expressed in SDRs, the IMF's unit of account.
Regional Economic Outlook Reports - They discuss recent economic developments and prospects for countries in various regions. They also address economic policy developments that have affected economic performance in the regions and discuss key challenges faced by policymakers. The reports include data for countries in the regions.
SDR Valuation - The SDR's value is determined using a basket of currencies. The basket is reviewed every five years to ensure that the currencies included in the basket are representative of those used in international transactions and that the weights assigned to the currencies reflect their relative importance in the world's trading and financial systems.
World Economic Outlook Report (WEO) - A semiannual review of recent global developments, forecasts and risks, and current policy recommendations.

State of Green Business in the USA

2009-02-04T11:21:00.000+02:00

Greenbiz.com releases an annual State of Green Business report and recently released the newest one.

The report assesses how, and how well, companies are doing from an environmental perspective. The free 62-page report offers 10 trends of the past year as well as their GreenBiz Index, a set of 20 indicators that, in aggregate, provide a picture of U.S. companies' environmental achievements.

Here is the table of contents
Top Stories of 2008............................................................................4

The Green Economy Gains Currency.............................................................. 4

Water Becomes the New Carbon.................................................................... 5

Building Efficiency Rises Again........................................................................ 7

Universities Take Class Actions........................................................................ 9

Green Moves Up, and Down, the Chain of Command................................. 10

Product Stewardship Creates a Material Change.......................................... 11

Green Marketing Suffers a Failure to Communicate..................................... 13

Carbon Becomes a Business Imperative....................................................... 14

Information Technology Plugs Into Green..................................................... 16

Greener Design Comes Out of the Lab........................................................ 17

The GreenBiz Index

Introduction ................................................................................................... 19

Summary Chart .............................................................................................. 20

Building Energy Efficiency ............................................................................ 22

Carbon Intensity............................................................................................ 24

Carbon Transparency .................................................................................... 26

Cleantech Investments ................................................................................. 28

Clean-Energy Patents.................................................................................... 30

Corporate Reporting..................................................................................... 32

Employee Commuting.................................................................................. 34

Employee Telecommuting ............................................................................ 36

Energy Efficiency........................................................................................... 38

E-Waste......................................................................................................... 40

Financial Impacts............................................................................................ 42

Fleet Impacts.................................................................................................. 44

Green Jobs..................................................................................................... 46

Green Office Space ...................................................................................... 48

Green Power Use .......................................................................................... 50

Packaging Intensity ....................................................................................... 52

Paper Use and Recycling............................................................................... 54

Toxic Emissions ............................................................................................. 56

Toxics in Manufacturing.................................................................................. 58

Water Intensity................................................................................................ 60

Credits / About Greener World Media........................................................... 62

Take Overs - December 2008 to 4 February 2009

2009-02-04T09:44:00.000+02:00

Please see a summary of this month’s TakeOver Talk activity below. Additional information and search / sort facilities are available on our website (click on TakeOver Talk):

click on image to enlarge

Access to the South African Insitute of Race Relations

2009-02-04T09:07:00.004+02:00

The library recently acquired access to the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).

This website is home to the largest and most comprehensive database tracking trends on South Africa. It provides a wide variety of statistical and other data on South Africa, ranging from education, health, social development and welfare to business, employment, the economy, and politics.

It really is a terrific website and well worth bookmarking it or subscribing to its RSS feed.

The Research and publications section covers the following:

South Africa Survey
The South Africa Survey has been published annually by the Institute since 1947. It is a 500-page statistical reference work on every area of the country’s socio-economic development. Made up of statistical tables and charts, the Survey tracks trends over time and offers forecasts where available. It also contains international comparisons and limited analysis.
Fast Facts Online
Fast Facts is a monthly bulletin providing analysis of key development and policy indicators. It is designed to be read quickly by busy people. Fast Facts also tracks 170 socio-economic indicators in each issue.
Resource Centre
The Institute's Resource Centre tracks and updates files on over 1200 political, social, and economic subject headings on a daily basis. It is the best and biggest current affairs library in South Africa. It also contains significant holdings of books, journals, historical documents, and biographical files. It provides an Information Service for Business and Corporate subscribers to send electronic requests for any available data on South Africa. Queries are answered within 24 hours.
South African Mirror
The South African Mirror is a state-of-the-nation style briefing presented annually by the Institute at venues around South Africa. Briefings are also available in-house for Corporate subscribers
Special research projects
The Institute operates a number of Special Research Projects which range from information services for public representatives to in-depth research on race relations, affirmative action, and other topical issues.
Outreach projects
The Institute is regularly consulted by the local and international media on all aspects of South African development. Literally hundreds of Articles and News Reports cite the Institute annually. This section contains selected references to the Institute from the media.
Annual Report
The Annual Report contains the activities and accounts of the Institute for any given year
Historical publications
The Institute has published widely on South Africa since 1929. A selection of these historical documents, reports, and papers will be uploaded to this section of the website from time to time.
Hoernlé Lectures
The Hoernlé memorial lecture honours Professor R F Alfred Hoernlé, and his wife, Agnes Winifred Hoernlé, both of whom, as presidents, shaped Institute thinking during the organisation's early existence.

Matric results from 2008

2009-02-04T09:01:00.002+02:00

The PMG released the National Senior Certificate 2008 Results from the DoE.

Summary:
The Department of Education briefed the Committee on its technical report on the national senior certificate results of 2008. The report looked at the examination cycle, the milestones reached, the National Curriculum Statement, National Senior Certificate requirements and the types of interventions that took place in 2008.

Of the 533 561 students that wrote the exam, 37.25% had failed or qualified for a supplementary exam. The national average pass rate was 62.5%.

Provinces that achieved below the national average were the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Accounting, agricultural science, math and physical science were the lowest scoring subjects.

Results also showed that females fared better than males in most of the exams.

The National Achievement rate per quintile showed that the less resourced a school was, the poorer they performed. Quintile 1 schools, which were the poorest schools, only achieved an average pass rate of 50.10% while quintile 5 schools received an average pass rate of 84.94%. The Minister had initiated an investigation into the reasons why about 50 000 results were outstanding on the 30 December 2008.

Members were concerned that there were 200 000 learners who did not have a place in higher education due to their poor matric results. They were also concerned that so many students left school before their matric year.

The Committee noted that the math literacy results were higher than the physical science results. The Department would conduct an investigation on this.

A question was raised that there had been reports that the Mathematics paper had been below standard requirements. The Department stated that the paper had been approved by Umalusi and was not too easy. Another allegation was raised that examination markers had been told to inflate certain marks.

The Department assured the Committee that this allegation had proved to be groundless. The late submission of cumulative marks by schools was also discussed and the Department agreed that this had been very disappointing. The poor performance in certain subjects such as agricultural science would be investigated by the Department to find out where learners went wrong.

Those 24 schools that produced 0% matric results would no longer be allowed to offer Grade 11 and 12. The matter of certain “no fee” schools not receiving timely funding from the Department was also discussed.

Annual Report of Unemployment Insurance Fund & Annual Report of Compensation Fund

2009-02-04T08:55:00.002+02:00

The Parliamentary Monitoring Group released the Unemployment Insurance Fund Presentation on Annual Report as well as the Compensation Fund Presentation on Annual Report recently.

Summary:
The Commissioner of the Unemployment Insurance Fund outlined its financial performance and a summary of financial achievements. Gains in operations performance were presented and the decentralisation of functions was highlighted as one of the UIF's most important goals. An increase in the total benefit payment was noted. He reported on social security reforms, stakeholder engagements, people management and corporate governance.

The matters highlighted in the Auditor-General’s audit report were discussed and the progress made in this financial year as well.The members expressed concerned about the insufficiernt numbers of taxi drivers and domestic workers registered with the Fund. Concerning UIF benefits for new mothers, the role of agencies was queried. Clarity was sought on the vacancy rate, if the labour force training the UIF was considering introducing was relevant to the South African labour market and if its own staff training produced results.

The UIF was asked how they determined increases and decreases in unemployment and if their surplus could be used to increase unemployment payments. The UIF was asked if the decrease in operational expenditure was a reflection of increased efficiency. The lack of maintenance of rented buildings was raised as a concern as was the accessibility of their services to seasonal workers. The UIF was also complimented on taking their services to the people in cases of recent large-scale retrenchments.

The Compensation Fund provided a background to the state of affairs in the Fund. They reported on the critical challenges faced by the Fund, including a diminished management structure, disciplinary action against managers and the process of constructing a new organisation under way. It was emphasised that there was a plan to get reach their objectives and that Parliament should hold them to that plan.The members appreciated the open approach of the Compensation Fund on the problems they faced. They queried the extent to which the Fund would consider tenders for outside companies to do work on their behalf. The delegation was asked about the accidents in the construction sector with a view to 2010.

The R400 million in unpaid claims was noted as a matter of particular importance. The members asked how they maintained staff morale and queried the reasons for the dismissals and the incidence of fraud in their disciplinary action cases. The members suggested that the Fund tender for a better IT system and highlighted the problem of employees working in an acting capacity, accompanied by the delays in appointing new staff. Other questions concerned the capabilities of the Fund’s employees to cultivate service delivery, the inclusion of foreign workers for compensation and the plans to employ a service provider and how this would affect the construction plans related to the 2010 deadlines.

IMF updates

2009-02-04T08:42:00.002+02:00

Working Papers

Working Paper No. 09/6: Regional Financial Interlinkages and Financial Contagion Within Europe
Author/Editor: Arvai, Zsofia ; Driessen, Karl ; Otker-Robe, Inci

Summary: This paper focuses on financial interlinkages within Europe and potential contagion channeled through these interlinkages. It discusses the increased role of external financing as a source of funding for credit growth; analyzes potential channels of contagion through financial linkages; and assesses the magnitude of cross-border exposures between emerging and western European countries. Based on the stylized facts on these exposures, the paper provides simple indices of exposure to regional contagion that could help identify the likely pressure points and capture potential spillover effects and propagation channels of a regional shock originating from a given country.

Working Paper No. 09/9: Distress in European Banks: An Analysis Based on a New Dataset
Author/Editor: Poghosyan, Tigran; Cihák, Martin

Summary: The global financial crisis has highlighted the importance of early identification of weak banks: when problems are identified late, solutions are much more costly. Until recently, Europe has seen only a small number of outright bank failures, which made the estimation of early warning models for bank supervision very difficult. This paper presents a unique database of individual bank distress across the European Union from mid-1990s to 2008. Using this data set, we analyze the causes of banking distress in Europe. We identify a set of indicators and thresholds that can help to distinguish sound banks from those vulnerable to financial distress.

Working Paper No. 09/7: Australia and New Zealand Exchange Rates: A Quantitative Assessment
Author/Editor: Edison, Hali J.; Vitek, Francis

Summary: The paper describes three empirical models commonly used to conduct exchange rate assessments and applies them to data for Australia and New Zealand. The baseline results using data and mediumterm projections available as of October 2008, suggest that the Australian and New Zealand dollars were broadly in line with fundamentals, but with a wide variation across models. A battery of sensitivity tests illustrate that altering the underlying assumptions can yield substantially different assessments. The results are particularly sensitive to the choice of assessment horizon, the set of economies included in the sample, medium-term forecasts, and the exchange rate reference period.

Working Paper No. 09/8: The Role for Counter-Cyclical Fiscal Policy in Singapore
Author/Editor: Eskesen, Leif Lybecker

Summary: Singapore's policymakers have often used fiscal policy as a counter-cyclical tool. Empirical results based on a structural autoregression framework suggest that fiscal policy can be used for demand management, although the impact may be somewhat short lived. The short-lived impact could reflect a number of factors, including the absence of credit-constrained economic agents, a high propensity to save among households, monetary focus on price stability, and leakages due to economic openness. Notwithstanding, fiscal policy should still play a key stabilizing role in the current downturn given the downside risks to growth and the vast fiscal space.

Working Paper No. 09/10: Benford's Law and Macroeconomic Data Quality
Author/Editor: Gonzalez-Garcia, Jesus; Pastor, Gonzalo C.

Summary: This paper examines the usefulness of testing the conformity of macroeconomic data with Benford's law as indicator of data quality. Most of the macroeconomic data series tested conform with Benford's law. However, questions emerge on the reliability of such tests as indicators of data quality once conformity with Benford's law is contrasted with the data quality ratings included in the data module of the Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (data ROSCs). Furthermore, the analysis shows that rejection of Benford's law may be unrelated to the quality of statistics, and instead may result from marked structural shifts in the data series. Hence, nonconformity with Benford's law should not be interpreted as a reliable indication of poor quality in macroeconomic data.

Working Paper No. 09/11: How Can Burundi Raise Its Growth Rate?The Impact of Civil Conflicts and State Intervention on Burundi's Growth Performance
Author/Editor: Basdevant, Olivier

Summary: Over the last thirty years Burundi's low economic growth has led to a significant decline in per capita GDP. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on supply-side constraints that prevented Burundi's economy from growing faster. Lack of investment, civil conflict, economic inefficiencies, state intervention in the economy, and regulatory restrictions explain a large part of the weak growth performance for the last thirty years.

* Working Paper No. 09/12: The International Diversification Puzzle when Goods Prices are Sticky: It's Really about Exchange-Rate Hedging, not Equity Portfolios
Author/Editor: Engel, Charles; Matsumoto, Akito

Summary: This paper develops a two-country monetary DSGE model in which households choose a portfolio of home and foreign equities, and a forward position in foreign exchange. Some nominal goods prices are sticky. Trade in these assets achieves the same allocations as trade in a complete set of nominal state-contingent claims in our linearized model. When there is a high degree of price stickiness, we show that not much equity diversification is required to replicate the complete-markets equilibrium when agents are able to hedge foreign exchange risk sufficiently. Moreover, temporarily sticky nominal goods prices can have large effects on equity portfolios even when dividend processes are very persistent.

Working Paper No. 09/13: Why Do Central Banks Go Weak?
Author/Editor: Ize, Alain; Oulidi, Nada

Summary: Determinants of central banks' profitability are studied using a statistical analysis of their balance sheets, country characteristics, and the macroeconomic and institutional environments in which they operate. Central banks at both tails of the distribution of profits generally operate in poorer countries with more troubled macroeconomic and institutional environments. For these central banks, profitability is strongly influenced by fiscal dominance and, to a lesser extent, by how actively central banks used their balance sheet for monetary policy purposes.

Working Paper No. 09/14: Bank Efficiency in Sub-Saharan African Middle Income Countries
Author/Editor: Chen, Chuling

Summary: We use bank level data to study the efficiency of banks in Sub-Saharan African middle-income countries and provide possible explanations for the difference in the efficiency levels of banks. We find that banks, on average, could save 20-30 percent of their total costs if they were operating efficiently, and that foreign banks are more efficient than public banks and domestic private banks. Among the factors that could affect the efficiency levels are macroeconomic stability, depth of financial development, the degree of market competition, strong legal rights and contract laws, and better governance, including political stability and government effectiveness. Our findings point to the importance of policies that aim to build stronger institutions, promote more competition, and improve governance.

Working Paper No. 09/15: The Determinants of Commercial Bank Profitability in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author/Editor: Flamini, Valentina; McDonald, Calvin A.; Schumacher, Liliana

Summary: Bank profits are high in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) compared to other regions. This paper uses a sample of 389 banks in 41 SSA countries to study the determinants of bank profitability. We find that apart from credit risk, higher returns on assets are associated with larger bank size, activity diversification, and private ownership. Bank returns are affected by macroeconomic variables, suggesting that macroeconomic policies that promote low inflation and stable output growth does boost credit expansion. The results also indicate moderate persistence in profitability. Causation in the Granger sense from returns on assets to capital occurs with a considerable lag, implying that high returns are not immediately retained in the form of equity increases. Thus, the paper gives some support to a policy of imposing higher capital requirements in the region in order to strengthen financial stability.

Working Paper No. 09/18: On Impatience and Policy Effectiveness
Author/Editor: Bayoumi, Tamim; Sgherri, Silvia

Summary: An increasing body of evidence suggests that the behavior of the economy has changed in many fundamental ways over the last decades. In particular, greater financial deregulation, larger wealth accumulation, and better policies might have helped lower uncertainty about future income and lengthen private sectors' planning horizon. In an overlapping-generations model, in which individuals discount the future more rapidly than implied by the market rate of interest, we find indeed evidence of a falling degree of impatience, providing empirical support for this hypothesis. The degree of persistence of "windfall" shocks to disposable income also appears to have varied over time. Shifts of this kind are shown to have a key impact on the average marginal propensity to consume and on the size of policy multipliers.

Working Paper No. 09/17: Does Global Liquidity Matter for Monetary Policy in the Euro Area?
Author/Editor: Berger, Helge; Harjes, Thomas

Summary: Global excess liquidity is sometimes believed to limit sovereign monetary policy even in large economies, including the euro area. There is much discussion about what constitutes global excess liquidity and our approach adjusts liquidity for longer-term interest rate and output effects. We find that especially excess liquidity in the U.S. leads developments in euro area liquidity. U.S. excess liquidity also enters consistently positive as a determinant of euro area inflation. There is some evidence that this result may be related to a weakening of the effectiveness of monetary policy in the euro area during times of excessive U.S. liquidity.

Working Paper No. 09/19: An Index Number Formula Problem: The Aggregation of Broadly Comparable Items
Author/Editor: Silver, Mick

Summary: Index number theory informs us that if data on matched prices and quantities are available, a superlative index number formula is best to aggregate heterogeneous items, and a unit value index to aggregate homogeneous ones. The formulas can give very different results. Neglected is the practical case of broadly comparable items. This paper provides a formal analysis as to why such formulas differ and proposes a solution to this index number problem.

Working Paper No. 09/21: Causes, Benefits, and Risks of Business Tax Incentives
Author/Editor: Klemm, Alexander

Summary: This paper provides an updated overview of tax incentives for business investment. It begins by noting that tax competition is likely to be a major force driving countries' tax reforms, and discusses tax incentives as a possible response to this. This is complemented by other arguments for and against tax incentives, and by an illustrative analysis of different incentives using effective tax rates. Findings from the empirical literature on tax incentives are also presented. Based on the overview of theoretical and empirical findings, the paper then suggests a matrix of criteria to determine the usefulness of different tax incentives depending on a country's circumstances.

Working Paper No. 09/20: Capital Inflows and the Real Exchange Rate: Can Financial Development Cure the DutchDisease?
Author/Editor: Saborowski, Christian

Summary: This paper argues that, in improving the efficient allocation of resources, financial sector development could dampen the appreciation effect of capital inflows. Using dynamic panel data techniques, the paper finds that the exchange rate appreciation effect of FDI inflows is indeed attenuated when financial and capital markets are larger and more active. The main implication of these results is that one of the main dangers associated with large capital inflows in emerging markets-the destabilization of macroeconomic management due to a sizeable appreciation of the real exchange rate-can be mitigated partly by developing a deep financial sector.

Surveys

Global Slowdown Damages Progress in Low-Income Countries
Low-income countries, already weakened by high food and energy prices, are likely to be hit hard by effects of the financial crisis in advanced economies and the global recession, says a panel at an IMF-World Bank meeting with labor unions.

Germany Faces Extended Downturn Despite Stimulus
A combination of slowing demand for German exports because of the global recession, continued caution among German consumers, and a sharp drop in investment will result in a dramatic contraction in Europe's largest economy in 2009, according to an IMF analysis.

Don't Forget the Role Automatic Stabilizers Can Play
When recession hits a market economy, trends such as lower tax takes and higher unemployment benefit payouts effectively ease fiscal policy. These "automatic stabilizers" have a prominent role in European economies, writes Horst Siebert of the Kiel Institut.

Are 'Temporary' Fiscal Boost Measures Really Reversible?
Fiscal measures to stimulate sluggish economies should be reversible, the IMF recommends, and governments should precommit to unwinding once economies recover. But the bulk of Europe's public expenditures are entitlements and for political reasons they are not reversible, writes Jean-Pierre Dumas.

Country Reports

Qatar: 2008 Article IV Consultation - Staff Report; Staff Statement; and Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion;

Barbados: Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes - FATF Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism

Republic of Armenia: 2008 Article IV Consultation and Request for a Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility - Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Staff Statement; Public Information Notice and Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Republic of Armenia.

Bolivia: 2008 Article IV Consultation - Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Bolivia

Greece: Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes - FATF Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism

Republic of Belarus: Financial System Stability Assessment - Update, including Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes on Banking Supervision

Qatar: Statistical Appendix

Côte d'Ivoire: Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative - Preliminary Document

Malawi: Request for a One-Year Exogenous Shocks Facility Arrangement - Staf fReport; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by theExecutive Director for Malawi

Germany: 2008 Article IV Consultation - Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Germany

Ukraine - Stand-By Arrangement - Review Under the Emergency Financing Mechanism

Kenya: Third Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility Arrangement and Request for Waivers of Nonobservance of Performance Criteria - Staff Report; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Kenya

Republic of Serbia: Request for Stand-By Arrangement - Staff Report; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Republic of Serbia
Hungary - Stand-By Arrangement - Interim Review Under the Emergency Financing Mechanism

Call for papers for ERSA Workshop on Financial Instability

2009-02-04T07:22:00.002+02:00

ERSA Workshop
Financial Instability: an Emerging Market Perspective
26 & 27 March 2009

ERSA in collaboration with the Wits Business School is pleased to announce a 1.5 day workshop on ‘Financial Instability: an Emerging Market Perspectives’ to take place at The Spier Hotel, Stellenbosch on 26 and 27 March 2009. The workshop will serve as a forum to discuss the implications of current international financial instability on emerging market economies and to present ongoing research on the issue. The programme will include the presentation of 8-10 academic papers, a policy panel discussion and a special session with Professor Barry Eichengreen of the University of Berkley

ERSA in collaboration with the Wits Business School is pleased to announce a 1.5
day workshop on ‘Financial Instability: an Emerging Market Perspectives’ to take
place at The Spier Hotel, Stellenbosch.

The workshop will serve as a forum to discuss the implications of current
international financial instability on emerging market economies and to present
ongoing research on the issue. The programme will include the presentation of 8-
10 academic papers, a policy panel discussion and a special session with
Professor Barry Eichengreen of the University of Berkley.

The organizers are looking for both theoretical and empirical studies and would
welcome any work in progress that present interesting preliminary results on the
issue.
Submission:
Please submit papers or extended abstracts (2-3 pages) as pdf-file together with
full contact details by 13 February 2009 to: Tania Jacobs

University World News fom West

2009-02-03T14:31:00.004+02:00

FRANCE: Academics strike over job status
Jane Marshall
Universities throughout France are set to close tomorrow, Monday 2 February, with lecturers starting an unlimited strike unless the government withdraws proposals to change their statute of employment. President Nicolas Sarkozy enraged researchers further by describing the national system of research as "disastrous".

CANADA: $2 billion puts new coat of paint on universities
Philip Fine
Canadian universities and their aging infrastructure have received a promised injection of C$2 billion (US$1.65 billion), part of a five-year $85 billion stimulus package announced by the federal government last week. Universities in Canada are not alone in calling for more government spending to improve their buildings and facilities; their counterparts elsewhere have made the same demand, asking their governments to spend their way out of the economic crisis, most notably in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

UK: Lessons from the Antipodes
Diane Spencer
Britain should emulate Australia by adopting a coordinated approach to international education says a new report by million, a think-tank set up by 28 universities that are mostly former polytechnics. Pam Tatlow, the organisation's chief executive, said that compared with Australia the UK still lacked a comprehensive approach to international higher education.

GREECE: Government seeks consensus on education
Makki Marseilles
Unlike his predecessor, Greece's new Education Secretary Aris Spiliotopoulos appears extremely conciliatory and is striving to give the impression a real change of policy has been brought about in his ministry after a government reshuffle. Spiliotopoulos has indicated he is even prepared to make significant concessions during a forthcoming dialogue on education.

FINLAND: Bridging the gender divide?
Ian R Dobson*
Finland's university sector is preparing for its biggest shake up in decades, including a number of university mergers that could alter the gender divide. A merger between Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), Helsinki School of Economics and the University of Art and Design is to be Finland's tilt at establishing a 'world class university'. The new institution will receive more state funding than other Finnish universities and have a different governance structure.

GERMANY: Science boost for development
Michael Gardner
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has launched two new programmes focusing on development cooperation. Universities identified as having the best concepts to address problems in developing countries will receive special funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. And, via the Foreign Office's Aktion Afrika programme, Centres of excellence for teaching and research are being established to train future leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa.

UK: New funds for sector
Diane Spencer
Universities and colleges in England have been invited to participate in a £50 million ($71 million) scheme to help individuals and businesses through the recession. The Higher Education Funding Council for England launched the Economic Challenge Investment Fund (ECIF) to enable the sector to respond rapidly to the needs of employers and individuals during the economic downturn.

Professor Accused of Genocide
Goucher suspends faculty member in French who is being sought by Interpol for charges that he was directly involved in the 1994 massacres in Rwanda -- charges that some experts doubt.

Managing Aid, and Rethinking How Families Pay
Many worry about the financial crisis's effect on private college enrollments, and the demand for aid. At meeting of Catholic colleges, advice on bracing for this fall, and beyond.

It's Culture, Not Morality
What if academics have been fighting the wrong war against plagiarism? What if it's not even a war? In new book, anthropologist doesn't argue for you to drop standards, but she challenges longstanding strategies.

Using Foucault to Deconstruct Rankings
Law school officials reveal to sociologists how U.S. News influences their decision making -- not necessarily for the better.

New Initiatives for Disabled Vets
Rochester Institute of Technology announces program for those with hearing loss, while Michigan State starts new financial aid program for disabled veterans.

Funding for universities and colleges in 2009-10
Thursday, January 29, 2009, 11:50:00 AM
HEFCE has set out a summary of the Board's decisions relating to the recent grant letter from the Secretary of State.

HEFCE welcomes new campaign to promote science
HEFCE is supporting a new government campaign launched today to highlight the vital role science plays in the wellbeing and prosperity of Britain.

Universities to respond rapidly to recession
The new Economic Challenge Investment Fund will enable higher education to respond quickly to the fallout from the economic downturn.

Progress in reducing accountability burden on universities
The costs of accountability for universities and colleges have continued to fall according to a report published today.

Grant announcement for higher education 2009-10
The Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills has set out the funding for higher education in 2009-10 in the annual grant letter to HEFCE.

Well, what do you know?
As the academy looks beyond the traditional roles played in assessment by essays and timed exams, new techniques are helping to turn students into active partners in their own learning. Rebecca Attwood reports

Pulling all the bits together
Academic computing has come a long way from the first lumbering leviathans. Now, says John Gilbey, we need to work on making everything accessible everywhere, every time

IAS Latest News

2009-02-03T14:16:00.002+02:00

IASB and FASB announce membership of Financial Crisis Advisory Group
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today announced the membership of the Financial Crisis Advisory Group (FCAG). The FCAG is the high-level advisory group set up by the boards to consider financial reporting issues arising from the global financial crisis.

Web presentation introducing the exposure draft on Consolidation
Alan Teixeira, Director of Technical Activities, along with Patrina Buchanan and Michael Buschhueter, Project Managers, will be introducing the exposure draft on Consolidation in a live Web presentation on 8 January 2009, followed by a question and answer session.

Postponed - Live web presentation introducing the Discussion Paper on Revenue Recognition
Due to unforeseeable circumstances the web presentation introducing the Discussion Paper on Revenue Recognition had to be postponed. The two web presentations on 3 February 2009 have been cancelled and will now take place on 10 February 2009 at 9am and 3pm London time.

If you have already registered for the web presentation on 3 February 2009 either at 9am or 3pm London time, you do not need to register again. You have automatically been registered for the respective presentation on 10 February. To access the presentation on the 10 of February you can use the link that was sent to you in the email confirming your registration. You will also receive an email reminder on the day of the presentation.
If you have not previously registered but now want to participate you will need to register.

10 February 2009 at 9am (GMT, London time)
Web registration - Register here
If you want to listen to the presentation over the telephone - Register here
10 February 2009 at 3pm (GMT, London time)
Web registration - Register here
If you want to listen to the presentation over the telephone - Register here

IASB proposes amendments to IFRIC Interpretations
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published today for public comment proposals to amend IFRIC 9 Reassessment of Embedded Derivatives and IFRIC 16 Hedges of a Net Investment in a Foreign Operation.

Trustees enhance public accountability through new Monitoring Board, complete first part of Constitution Review
The Trustees of the IASC Foundation, the oversight body of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), today announced important amendments to the organisation’s Constitution, as well as a summary of other agreements reached at the Trustees’ meeting in New Delhi, India, on 15 and 16 January 2009.

IASB proposes amendments to clarify the accounting for embedded derivatives
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today published for public comment proposals to clarify the accounting treatment for embedded derivatives.

IASB January 2009
We are pleased to announce that IASB Update for January is now available:

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

2009-02-03T14:11:00.001+02:00

Personal Income and Outlays: December 2008
Personal income decreased $25.3 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $25.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, in December, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $102.4 billion, or 1.0 percent. In November, personal income decreased $44.0 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI decreased $33.9 billion, or 0.3 percent, and PCE decreased $77.8 billion, or 0.8 percent, based on revised estimates.

Gross Domestic Product: Fourth Quarter 2008 (Advance)
Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5 percent.

New OECD releases

2009-02-03T12:53:00.004+02:00

REALISING SOUTH AFRICA'S EMPLOYMENT POTENTIAL
ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT WORKING PAPER No. 662
By Geoff Barnard

Unemployment in South Africa is extremely high and unevenly distributed, being concentrated among young less skilled blacks. The legacies of apartheid can explain part of the increase in labour supply and inability of the economy to absorb it which produced the extreme levels of unemployment, but more could have been done to unwind those legacies and other policies and institutions have contributed to the dysfunction of the labour market.

This Working Paper relates to the 2008 OECD Economic Assessment of South Africa

Making the most of Norwegian schools

ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT WORKING PAPER No. 661
By Romina Boarini

Traditionally, the Norwegian compulsory education system has focused strongly on the linked goals of equal opportunities to learn, comprehensive and inclusive education. While some of these objectives have been met successfully, a number of educational outcomes, notably measures of pupil performance at the end of compulsory schooling, are unsatisfactory.

New Releases from African Development Bank

2009-02-03T12:43:00.005+02:00

Zoellick Calls for ‘Vulnerability Fund’ Ahead of Davos Forum

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick has a message for the world as heads of state, CEOs, policy-makers and economists gather in Davos, Switzerland, for perhaps the gloomiest World Economic Forum in the meeting’s 39-year history. Don’t leave developing countries “out in the cold.” Zoellick wants developed countries to dedicate 0.7 percent of their economic stimulus packages to a “Vulnerability Fund” for developing countries suffering in the global downturn.
Such a fund could speed resources to existing World Bank, United Nations and regional development bank safety-net programs that give the poor access to health, education and nutrition services; build infrastructure such as roads, bridges and low-carbon technology projects; and support small and medium-size businesses and microfinance institutions that lend to the poor, says Zoellick.

World Bank to Launch Development Marketplace for the African Diaspora in North America (DMADA)

The Africa Region of the World Bank on February 27, 2009 will launch the “Development Marketplace for the African Diaspora in North America” (DMADA), as part of its ongoing “Mobilizing the African Diaspora for Development” initiative.
DMADA will be implemented with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and will seek proposals from members of the African Diaspora living in the United States and Canada, who wish to implement projects related to Youth and Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

Mauritius - Economic Transition TA

The following project was approved today by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors:

IBRD Loan: US$18 million
TERMS: Maturity = 15 years; Grace= 5 years
Project Description: The project will strengthen the investment climate of Mauritius and advance public enterprise reform in order to encourage supply-side investment.

For project documents, please click here.

Burundi Reaches Decision Point under the Enhanced HIPC Debt Relief Initiative

The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have agreed that Burundi has made sufficient progress and taken the necessary steps to reach its completion point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Because of this agreement, Burundi becomes the 24th country to reach the completion point under the Initiative.

Debt relief under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative from all of Burundi’s creditors has been revised upward to US$832 million in net present value (NPV) terms[i] from US$825 million estimated at the time of the decision point document. HIPC debt relief committed by IDA and the IMF amounts to US$425 million and SDR 19 million (US$27 million) in NPV terms, respectively.

In reaching the HIPC completion point, Burundi also becomes eligible for further debt relief from the IMF, IDA, and the African Development Fund (AfDF) under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). MDRI relief net of HIPC assistance would lead to a nominal[ii] reduction of debt owed to IDA and the IMF by US$90 million and SDR 9 million (US$13 million) respectively.

New Project to Strengthen HIV/AIDS Prevention Efforts in Botswana

Botswana’s efforts in combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic received a welcome boost, thanks to an innovative US$50 million project that includes a “buy-down” design being implemented for the first time in Africa.

Botswana, one of the countries in the region most afflicted by HIV/AIDS, is facing an uphill challenge in combating the epidemic. An estimated 283,000 Botswana adults, many in their prime are suffering from the debilitating disease. The national adult prevalence rate is nearly 24 percent.

“The Government of Botswana is committed to intensifying the battle against HIV/AIDS,” said Hon. Baledzi Gaolathe, Botswana’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning, at a project signing ceremony held in Gaborone today. “The funds will help us to increase the coverage, efficiency and sustainability of our interventions.”

Mapping decline and recovery across sectors

2009-01-28T08:59:00.003+02:00

Different sectors enter and emerge from downturns at different times. A look at past recessions suggests how some industries may fare.
Bin Jiang, Timothy M. Koller, and Zane D. Williams

In an ideal world, every company would enter a recession led by a team of grizzled executives who could draw on their experiences of past downturns to guide it through the current one. Many companies don’t, however, and even for those that do, it can be difficult to rise above the crisis to ponder the lessons of history. Yet in a recession, developing accurate strategic plans is usually a high-stakes effort. False assumptions about the pace, scale, and timing of growth may slow progress in good times but could be fatal now.

Read More

Business ethics and OECD principles

2009-01-28T08:54:00.001+02:00

What can be done to avoid another crisis?
The global economic crisis was partly caused by a failure of business ethics. In response, the OECD is developing a framework to help countries enhance transparency in areas like finance, competition, corporate governance, taxation and pensions, building on instruments such as its Principles of Corporate Governance and Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

IASB & FASB propose joint approach for revenue recognition

2009-01-28T08:49:00.002+02:00

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) published for public comment a discussion paper setting out a joint approach for the recognition of revenue.

Revenue is an important number to users of financial statements in assessing a company’s performance and prospects. However, revenue recognition requirements in US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) differ from those in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) and both are considered in need of improvement. The requirements in US GAAP comprise numerous standards—many are industry‑specific and some can produce conflicting results for economically similar transactions. Although IFRSs contain fewer standards on revenue recognition, its two main standards have different principles and can be difficult to understand and apply beyond simple transactions.

The discussion paper is open for comment until 19 June 2009.

Preliminary Views on Revenue Recognition in Contracts with Customers is available on the ‘Open for Comment’ section on http://www.iasb.org/from today

New releases from the OECD

2009-01-26T11:26:00.000+02:00

Financial crises: Past lessons and policy implications
This overview paper examines the financial crisis in light of past country experience and economic theory and draws preliminary policy recommendations. A number of facets of the crisis are detailed, including its origins and spreading factors as well as crisis resolution polices and their associated gross and net fiscal costs.

The challenge of the financial crisis and faith in multilateralism
The crisis has shown the vulnerability of a global economy based on the idea that ever increasing production and consumption were the key to success, says OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. But this crisis is “a big opportunity for change, a colossal opportunity to bring about a greener economic growth and a more inclusive and reliable globalisation.”

University news from Africa

2009-01-26T11:16:00.005+02:00

EGYPT: Corpse shortage affects medical students
Ashraf Khaled
When he applied to attend the medical school of Cairo University, Egypt's biggest public institution, Ahmed Masoud never dreamed he and fellow students with limited economic resources would face the problem of a shortage of corpses for autopsy training. "This badly affects our medical skills," says Masoud. "And, with examinations nearing, we are left with two options: either to buy corpses ourselves or attend private tuition classes in anatomy. Most of us cannot afford either."

ZIMBABWE: Universities demand US dollars
Clemence Manyukwe
Universities and their lecturers are demanding payment in foreign currency, with the institutions charging dollar tuition fees of US$700 and $1,500 per semester, as inflation in the crisis-torn southern African country plays havoc with the local currency and the education and health sectors collapse. Students are not sure whether they will get their results after lecturers declined to mark examination scripts, citing poor salaries and working conditions.

NIGERIA: Government in court over ruling councils
Tunde Fatunde
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, the ASUU, has dragged the N igerian government before the Federal High Court, challenging as illegal President Shehu Musa Yar'Adua's failure to reconstitute the governing councils of federal universities. All councils were dissolved in 2007 and the lack of the decision-making bodies has hampered university operations. The court action has jolted the presidency which claims to champion the rule of law.

UGANDA: Students protest 'discriminatory' fees
Kayiira Kizito
Late last year, Kenyan students enrolled at Makerere University, Uganda's most famous institution, protested against 'discriminatory' foreign student fees and other charges. As with many other universities around the world, Makerere charges differential rates for domestic and international students with those from East Africa pay around 1.5 times the local rate.

TUNISIA: Conference discusses Averroès project
Mobility of university students and teachers, and joint studies and diplomas, were on the agenda at the University of Sousse during a three-day conference to discuss the Euro-Mediterranean Averroès programme, reported La Presse of Tunisia

SENEGAL: Alumni demand dismissal of UCAD rector
The alumni association of the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) of Dakar, Senegal's biggest university, last week demanded the immediate departure of rector Abdou Salam Sall, claiming he was the "principal obstacle to a calm academic year". If he did not leave, they said, they would "paralyse the university".

CAMEROON: Forgers of Slovakia university papers bust
A network of forgers who extorted large sums of money from parents hoping to enrol their children as students in Slovakia has been uncovered in Yaoundé and Douala, say newspaper reports.

MALAWI: Plans for a Muslim university
Malawi's former President, Bakili Muluzi, is planning to open a Muslim university. The institution will join other church-run universities - the Catholic University and Livingstone University (which is run by the Presbyterian Church) - to outnumber Malawi's two public institutions, the University of Malawi and Mzuzu University.

ZAMBIA: University to charge 'economic' fees
The University of Zambia will begin charging 'economic' fees this year after submitting proposals to the government. Vice-chancellor Professor Steven Simukanga said that although the government wanted affordable student fees, this was not possible because government grants were inadequate said.

University News from the West

2009-01-26T10:50:00.002+02:00

GLOBAL: Ban sex between lecturers and students?
Paul Rigg
When Professor Istvan Pogany, 57, began a consensual relationship with one of his students at Britain's University of Warwick, he did what many would consider 'good practice' and informed his line manager. But the student, who is in her 30s, then fell pregnant and her subsequent anguished decision to have an abortion led to lurid headlines that raised the question again whether intimate relationships between academics and students should be more strongly discouraged, or even prohibited.

US-INDIA: Boosting private-public partnerships
Geoff Maslen
A high-powered taskforce set up by the US Asia Society to expand interactions between India and the new Obama administration has called for the creation of education partnerships between the two nations to cope with India's burgeoning higher education and secondary school populations. In a new report*, the taskforce says the training requirements for India's large population exceed current capacity, "a challenge uniquely suited for linkages with US institutions".

INDONESIA: Students swindled and stranded
David Jardine
A scandal involving 49 Indonesian students who sought places in Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar University has been revealed. Instead of enrolling in the Cairo university, the students ended up in Malaysia where 15 were discovered doing odd jobs to support themselves.

BANGLADESH: Private universities meet demand
Mahdin Mahboob
The system of private universities is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh. Because of the ever-growing demand for education at the university level, and the fact that existing public universities could not meet the need, the government passed a Private Universities Act in 1992. Starting with a handful, the number of private universities has grown rapidly and stands at 54 to date, compared with 21 public universities.

UK: Reskilling and upskilling
Diane Spencer
The higher education sector should play a greater part in the government's agenda of improving skills of the workforce, says a new report* by a parliamentary select committee. MPs looked at the review of leading businessman Lord Leitch, published in 2006, which was based on depressing statistics revealing the level of skills among the UK working population.

GLOBAL: New African research resource
A new online search portal called the HERANA Gateway provides access to the latest research on African higher education. Using Google technology, the Gateway returns focused search results from more than 15 sites worldwide - including University World News and the Centre for Higher Education Transformation in South Africa - making it one of the most specialised resources of its kind.

PHILIPPINES: Trikes spread telecommunications
Five young Filipino graduates are building the country's first self-contained and wireless-enabled mobile telecentres using the national mode of transport - the three-wheeled motorcycle called a Trike.

FRANCE: Inter-university information service
Jane Marshall
Nearly 150 librarians from 14 Parisian university libraries have banded together to open Rue des facs, an online documentary information service for students and academics. They can send in questions - in French - and should receive a reply by email within three days.

Here Comes the Flood
How to handle the constant pileup of scholarly publications? Scott McLemee takes a look at two alternatives.

Half Empty or Half Full
New report attempts to gather key data on women in higher education -- students, faculty, administrators -- and to analyze key issues. In just about every category, study finds progress and disappointments.

Assessing Assessment
New center with backing from key education groups will compile data and case studies on evaluation of student learning. And new coalition plans to speak on higher ed's response to demands for accountability.

'I Am Less Patient and Dress Better'
Research project outlines the changes -- positive and negative -- experienced by faculty members who become administrators.

The language of competition
Continental business schools are spearheading the attempt to access the lucrative market for higher education in English. Matthew Reisz reports

Get wise to the product
'Knowledge for its own sake' is as narrowly utilitarian a remit for universities as the business-facing alternative, argues Gary Day

When it comes to the crunch...
The economic downturn is affecting most sectors in the UK, including higher education. But, writes Hannah Fearn, it is not necessarily all bad news

The support troops are getting flak
Social scientists deployed in war zones to engage with civilians and advise US military commanders are under fire from their peers, writes Jon Marcus

The queue's the thing
National Theatre-going regular Rivka Isaacson finds compelling drama in the early morning cast of characters waiting to buy day tickets

Happy to be here
Times Higher Education's annual Student Experience Survey highlights a host of institutions bent on making the university experience first rate in every way. Rebecca Attwood reports

Key Findings released

2009-01-23T10:45:00.000+02:00

P6343.2 - Motor trade sales, November 2008

Motor trade sales for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 0,2% compared with the three months ended November 2007, while the corresponding growth for the same period in 2007 was 6,0%. This decrease was mainly the result of the general decrease in new vehicle sales (contributing -6,2 percentage points). However, the negative growth was counteracted by the positive growth experienced in the form of sales of fuel and sales of accessories (contributing 3,8 and 3,1 percentage points respectively).

P6141.2 - Wholesale trade sales, November 2008

Wholesale trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the three months ended November 2008 increased by 2,7% compared with the three months ended November 2007. The annual growth rate for the corresponding period in 2007 was 6,0%. Seasonally adjusted wholesale trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the three months ended November 2008 increased by 0,3% compared with the three months ended August 2008.

Africa World Bank releases

2009-01-23T09:53:00.002+02:00

Benin- Fifth Poverty Reduction Support Grant (PRSC-5)
WASHINGTON, January 22, 2009 - The following project was approved today by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors:

IDA Grant: US$30 million
Project Description: This grant aims to support implementation of Benin’s poverty reduction strategy. Specifically, it would support: (i) modernizing the regulatory framework and policy environment for private investment and infrastructure; (ii) increasing progress toward the MDGs by raising the quality, efficiency and access for basic social services; and (iii) promoting better governance through public financial management reforms.

Improving Access to Basic Services and Enhancing the Investment Climate in Benin
The World Bank Group Board of Executive Directors today approved the Fifth Poverty Reduction Support Grant for the Republic of Benin. The $30 million equivalent grant resources will support the implementation o f the Government’s reform agenda in the following areas: (i) improving the regulatory framework and policy environment for private investment and infrastructure; (ii) pursuing progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by improving access to basic services and ensuring greater efficiency o f public expenditures on human capital formation; and (iii) promoting better governance, notably through public financial management reforms.

Botswana-Botswana - Morupule B Generation and Transmission Project

World Bank appoints new Country Director for Kenya
The World Bank is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Johannes Zutt as Country Director for Kenya, Comoros, Eritrea, Rwanda, Seychelles and Somalia.
Mr. Zutt, a Dutch national, joined the World Bank in August 2000, where he has held various positions in the Africa department, the East Asia department, the office of the Managing Director, and most recently the Integrity department. Mr. Zutt has wide-ranging experience in Africa, having served as the country program coordinator for Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. He has also been the Bank’s country program coordinator for China and Mongolia.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Zutt was involved in program planning, monitoring and evaluation in various countries in eastern and southern Africa. He has also served as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He holds a law degree from Harvard University and a doctoral degree from Oxford University.
Mr. Zutt’s top priority in the countries under his responsibility will be to strengthen the Bank’s cooperation, with a view to accelerating and sustaining poverty reduction.
His appointment became effective on January 12th, 2009, and he will be based in Nairobi.
Mr. Zutt replaces Mr. Colin Bruce, who served as Country Director until June 2008.

What your clasroom will look like in future

2009-01-23T09:22:00.006+02:00

The 2009 Horizon Report describes the continuing work of the NMC’s Horizon Project, a long-running qualitative research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within Higher Education.

You can also view the reports for 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 if you'd like to check how accurate their predictions were.

So expect more of the following in your classrooms in the next:

One year or less:

Mobiles

Mobiles are already in use as tools for education on many campuses. New interfaces, the ability to connect to wifi and GPS in addition to a variety of cellular networks, and the availability of third-party applications have created a device with nearly infinite possibilities for education, networking, and personal productivity on the go; almost every student carries a mobile device, making it a natural choice for content delivery and even field work and data capture.

Cloud Computing

The emergence of cloud-based applications is causing a shift in the way we think about how we use software and store our files.
Educational institutions are beginning to take advantage of ready-made applications hosted on a dynamic, ever-expanding cloud that enable end users to perform tasks that have traditionally required site licensing, installation, and maintenance of individual software packages. Email, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, collaboration, media editing, and more can all be done inside a web browser, while the software and files are housed in the cloud.

Already, cloud-based applications are being used in the K-12 sector to provide virtual computers to students and staff without requiring each person to own the latest laptop or desktop machine; a handful of basic machines, provided they can access the Internet and support a web browser, are all that is needed for access to virtually unlimited data storage and programs of all kinds.

Two to Three years:

Geo-Everything

Everything on the Earth’s surface has a location that can be expressed with just two coordinates. Using the new classes of geolocation tools, it is very easy to determine and capture the exact location of physical objects — as well as capturing the location where digital media such as photographs and video are taken. The other side of this coin is that it is also becoming easier to work with the geolocative data thus captured: it can be plotted on maps; combined with data about other events, objects, or people; graphed; charted; or manipulated in myriad ways.

A sampling of location-aware applications across disciplines includes the following:
Literature.

Geotagging and virtual geocaching can be used to create annotated maps and real-world locations related to works of literature, enhancing the experience of reading the story. For instance, out of personal interest, one reader created a map of the course described in The
Travels of Marco Polo, including passages from the text, photographs of the places mentioned (historical and contemporary), annotations and links, and other information

Medicine.

The University of Florida has used a 2-dimensional web-based Transparent Reality Simulation Engine to teach students how to operate medical machinery for several years. Recently, the addition of a GPS-enabled tablet device has allowed learners who are spatially challenged to experience the transparent reality visualization overlaid directly onto the real machine, enabling them to use the machine’s controls rather than a mouse as input to the simulation. Geolocation is used to track the tablet and align the physical machine with the visualization on the tablet.

Games-based Learning.

The Local Games Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is developing "local games," learning experiences set in real-life neighborhoods and ecological habitats. Combining geolocation and alternate reality games, local games immerse the learner in a physical space as they explore the unique characteristics of the location and its inhabitants.

The Personal Web

Armed with tools for tagging, aggregating, updating, and keeping track of content, today’s learners create and navigate a web that is increasingly tailored to their own needs and interests: this is the personal web.

The tools that enable the personal web are also ideal toolsets for research and learning. The ability to tag, categorize, and publish work online, instantly, without the need to understand or even touch the underlying technologies provides a host of opportunities for faculty and students. By organizing online information with tags and web feeds, it is a simple matter to create richly personal resource collections that are easily searchable, annotated, and that support any interest.

Four to Five Years:

Semantic-Aware Applications

The idea behind the semantic web is that although online data is available for searching, its meaning is not: computers are very good at returning keywords, but very bad at understanding the context in which keywords are used.

The capability of semantic-aware applications to aid in searching and finding has implications for research, especially in light of the rate at which web content is being created. As semantic search tools continue to develop, it will be more common to see highly relevant results that display desired information in the hit list summary itself, saving time that is now spent clicking through to each page in turn. Semantic search also promises to reduce the number of unrelated or irrelevant results for a given search and to facilitate natural-language queries, both potentially useful features for researchers.

Smart Objects

Smart objects are the link between the virtual world and the real. A smart object "knows" about itself — where and how it was made, what it is for, who owns it and how they use it, what other objects in the world are like it — and about its environment. Smart objects can report on their exact location and current state (full or empty, new or depleted, recently used or not).

There are very few examples of smart objects in use in academia, although significant research is being done into how to create and track smart objects and how they might eventually be used.
A sampling of applications for smart objects across disciplines includes the following:
Archaeology.

The way that a single smart object connects to a network of information is useful for many disciplines. Consider a student or researcher examining a group of objects from an archaeological dig. A tag attached to the label of each object, when scanned with a mobile device like a camera-enabled phone, would instantly bring up photographs of other objects from the dig, video of the dig site, maps, and any other media or information associated with the area.

Health Care.

Researchers and students at the University of Arkansas have created a simulated hospital environment in the virtual world of Second Life to test the practical and social implications of tagging and tracking patients, hospital staff, supplies, and locations.

Oncology

At Purdue University, researchers have developed a tiny smart object designed to be injected into a tumor. Once placed there, the device can report on the doses of radiation received at the site where it is implanted and indicate the exact location of the tumor during treatment.

New releases from StatsSA

2009-01-22T10:48:00.002+02:00

StatsSA released their newest statistics:

P6242.1 - Retail trade sales, November 2008
Retail trade sales decrease in real terms
Retail trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 4,0% compared with the three months ended November 2007. Retail trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the same period in 2007 increased by 1,1%.

Retail trade sales at constant (2000) prices for November 2008 also decreased by 4,0% compared with November 2007. Retail trade sales at constant (2000) prices for the first eleven months of 2008 reflected a decrease of 2,4% compared with the first eleven months of 2007, while growth for the same period in 2007 was 5,8%.

Retail trade sales at current prices, for the three months ended November 2008, increased by 11,4% compared with the three months ended November 2007. The major contributors to this increase were general dealers (+5,7 percentage points), retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (+2,1 percentage points), retail trade in specialised food, beverages and tobacco stores (+1,8 percentage points), and all other retailers (+1,2 percentage points).

Retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment contributed negatively (-0,6 of a percentage point) to the change in retail trade sales.

Retail trade sales at current prices for November 2008 increased by 10,7% compared with November 2007, while sales for the corresponding period in 2007 increased by 8,7%.

P0041 - Civil cases for debt, November 2008
The total number of civil summonses issued for debt for the three months ended November 2008 increased by 5,2% compared with the three months ended November 2007. However, there was a decrease of 4,2% between November 2007 and November 2008. The total number of civil judgements recorded for debt for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 12,9% compared with the three months ended November 2007. There was also a decrease of 16,4% between November 2007 and November 2008. The total value of civil judgements recorded for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 3,4% compared with the three months ended November 2007. However, there was a 13,3% y/y increase in the value of civil judgements recorded for debt in November 2008.

P5041.1 - Selected building statistics of the private sector as reported by local government institutions, November 2008
The value of recorded building plans passed by larger municipalities (at current prices) during January to November 2008 decreased by 4,8% (-R3 649,1 million) compared with January to November 2007. This was due to a decrease of 15,1% (-R6 290,7 million) reported for residential buildings. However, the decrease in residential buildings was partially counteracted by increases reported for non-residential buildings (17,0% or R2 475,7 million) and additions and alterations (0,8% or R165,8 million).

The preliminary estimates indicate that the value of buildings reported as completed to larger municipalities (at current prices) during the above-mentioned period increased by 9,3% (R4 000,9 million). Increases were reported for additions and alterations (25,2% or R1 912,9 million and non-residential buildings (24,4% or R2 100,0 million). Residential buildings decreased marginally by R12,0 million.