26, July 2017
IMF may move headquarters to China 0
IMF chief Christine Lagarde says the International Monetary Fund may move its headquarters to Beijing in a decade if China and other big emerging markets continue to grow. In 10 years’ time, “we might not be sitting in Washington, DC. We’ll do it in our Beijing head office,” Lagarde said at a Center for Global Development event in the US capital. The IMF’s bylaws, she said, call for the institution’s head office to be located in the largest member economy.
China is estimated to overtake US as the world’s biggest economy over the next decade if the country maintains its growth rates of above 6 percent. The IMF and some of its members have argued that China already contributes more to global growth on a purchasing power parity basis.
The Fund is about to launch another review of its voting structure next year. The United States, with a 16.5 percent share of its board votes, has used an effective veto over IMF decisions since the body was launched in 1945.
According to the professional services giant PWC, China could be the largest economy in the world, accounting for around 20% of world GDP in 2050. By the time, the seven emerging economies (E7) could have increased their share of world GDP from around 35% to almost 50%, the report said.
The E7 economies of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey are expected to grow at an annual average rate of 3.5% over the next 34 years, compared to an average of just 1.6% for the advanced G7 nations of the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Japan, it added. In December 2015, the International Monetary Fund admitted the yuan into its select basket of reserve currencies, giving a major boost to China’s position as a global economic power.
The yuan, also called the renminbi, joined the dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket used as standard in dealings with the financial reserves of world countries. Lagarde then described the inclusion “an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system.” China is the world’s second largest economy. The addition was a victory for the country’s push to make the yuan a freely usable currency.
Washington is wary of China’s growing financial clout and the serious challenge which the dollar faces as more emerging economies are switching to their local currencies in trade. Meanwhile, the IMF is already on a collision course with US Congress and other influential institutions of the country. US lawmakers have repeatedly refused to ratify a 2010 IMF reform to give greater weight to the BRICS group of emerging market powers, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Source: Presstv
The beautiful hotels and bazaars of Buea used to be bustling with Anglophone Cameroon Diaspora community enjoying the great Fako constituency and the South West sun. But after more than seven months of political turmoil that has rocked Southern Cameroons including the rapes, extra judicial killings and numerous arrests orchestrated by Mayor Ekema Patrick, Southern Cameroonians are staying away and travelling to other African countries for their holidays. Even the sea resorts in Limbe have all been affected by the actions taken by the Biya Francophone regime to combat the ghost town operation instituted by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.
The numbers of Southern Cameroonians traveling home to Cameroon from Europe and the US are down by almost three quarters, leaving restaurants abandoned, hotels closed and businesses struggling. Fako Division attracted thousands of Southern Cameroonian tourists when compared to other Southern Cameroon counties. The average number of nights West Cameroonians from abroad are spending in the country in the last seven months also went down by 67.2 per cent according Cameroon Concord News Group findings.
30, July 2017
“Cameroon among African countries that have improved the quality of their policies” 0
The review is the annual World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) Africa analysis, which scores the progress Sub-Saharan African countries are making on strengthening the quality of their policies and institutions. CPIA ratings have been used to determine the allocation of zero-interest financing and grants for countries that are eligible for support from the International Development Association (IDA), the concessional financing arm of the World Bank Group.
CPIA scores are based on 16 development indicators in four areas: economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, and public sector management and institutions. Countries are rated on a scale of 1 (low) to 6 (high) for each indicator. The overall CPIA score reflects the average of the four areas of the CPIA. Cameroon is one of the countries in sub-saharan Africa that have improved the quality of policies and institutions (CPIA) in 2016, according to the World Bank report published this month of July 2017.
On the upside, Côte d’Ivoire, the Comoros, Cameroon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mauritania, and Sudan have experienced a modest gain in the CPIA score, with most of these countries showing a stronger performance in the quality of governance. In a few countries, the quality of policies for social inclusion and equity also improved, reflecting a strengthening of safety net programs.
In the company of Côte d’ivoire, the Comoros, Guinea, Madagascar, Mauritania and Sudan, Cameroon scored 0.1 points in comparison with the previous year, which made the country obtain a score of 3.2 out of a total of six points available. The required average of 3.1 points, Cameroon by its performance, remains an eligible country in support of the International Development Association (IDA), the concessional financing window of the World Bank Group.
Published each year, the CPIA report assigns a note to each of the countries eligible for IDA support. The notes of the CPIA, which reflect the quality of a country’s political and institutional framework, consist of 16 criteria in four groups, namely economic management (Group a), structural policies (Group B), policies to combat social exclusion and the promotion of equity (Group C) and the management of public sector institutions (Group D).
In these different categories, Cameroon obtained the following notes: 3.5 points, 3.2 points, 3.1 points and 3.0 points respectively. With a score of 4, Rwanda is once again at the top of the ranking. It is closely followed by the Senegal and Kenya both get 3.8.
Source: Cameroon Info.Net