Turkey's election will be plebiscite on Erdogan

Subject Early campaigning for the June 7 general election. Significance The election is turning into a plebiscite on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's highly personal style of government. At particular issue is whether he should be enabled to set up an executive presidency by winning the two-thirds majority in the next National Assembly that would allow constitutional changes. With no serious rivals inside or outside the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan's attempts to impose his political will regardless of consequences have triggered a slide in the value of the lira and a confrontation with the head of the country's intelligence service. Impacts Relations between Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are uneasy, but Davutoglu is unlikely to be changed before the elections. Erdogan seems to have called a truce with the Central Bank, but this appears not to extend to allowing it to raise interest rates. This reflects a certain underlying pragmatism to the president's outlook, provided he has advisers around him who dare warn him of dangers. Ocalan is now a pivotal political figure in Turkey as the government has made some sort of settlement with the Kurds a key goal.

Subject Ukraine's reshuffle. Significance A new cabinet was unveiled on March 4 after the resignation of Prime Minister Olexiy Honcharuk. The reshuffle was carried out in a hurry with no obvious reason for such haste. Honcharuk's team is being blamed for some problems that long pre-date its five-month tenure. President Volodymyr Zelensky may be seeking to shore up his formerly sky-high popularity ratings, which fell below 50% in early February. Impacts The dismissal of Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshabka will add to concerns about the commitment to fight corruption. The government reshuffle has more implications for the economy than for the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Zelensky has tried to get a land reform passed; he may be less keen if it is liable to reduce his popularity. The reshuffle may be a sacrifice made to maintain disparate loyalties in Zelensky's Servant of the People party. A further fall in inflation would let the central bank keep cutting interest rates.


Subject Constitutional reform in Singapore. Significance Parliament is expected in August to receive recommendations on electoral and constitutional changes that will affect opposition politics and executive powers. The government raised the initiatives in parliament in January; Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said they would be beneficial to Singapore and its government. However, the measures are also likely to benefit the People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965. Impacts Presidential elections are unlikely to become more competitive. Opposition parties would gain parliamentary exposure if the reform recommendations are enacted. Government scrutiny of corporations' activities in the community and local politics will intensify.


Significance Assembly members are elected indirectly. Last July, Sher Bahadur Deuba was appointed prime minister in line with a Supreme Court order. Deuba’s multi-party coalition has a sizeable majority in the House of Representatives, parliament’s lower house, and a comfortable one in the National Assembly. Impacts If local elections take place in May as currently planned, they will serve as a barometer of public sentiment towards the leading parties. KP Sharma Oli, whom Deuba replaced as premier, will be eyeing a return to power. Politicking risks distracting the government from pursuing important policy goals.


Humanomics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Issa Salim Moh’d ◽  
Mustafa Omar Mohammed ◽  
Buerhan Saiti

Purpose This paper aims to identify the appropriate model to address the financial challenges in agricultural sector in Zanzibar. Since the middle of 1960, clove production has continually and significantly decreased because of some problems and challenges that include financial ones. The financial intermediaries such as banks, cooperatives and micro-enterprises provide micro-financing to the farmers with high interest rates along with collateral requirements. The numerous programmes, measures and policies adopted by the relevant parties to find out the solutions to the dwindling clove production have failed. Design/methodology/approach The authors will review and examine several existing financial models, identify the issues and challenges of the current financial models and propose an appropriate Islamic financing model. Findings The numerous programmes, measures and policies adopted by the relevant parties to find out the solutions to the dwindling clove production have failed. This study, therefore, proposed a Waqf-Muzara’ah-supply chain model to address the financial challenge. Partnership arrangement is also suggested in the model to mitigate the issues of high interest rates and collateral that constrains the financial ability of the farmers and their agricultural output. Originality/value The contribution of the agricultural sector to the economic development of Zanzibar Islands is considerable. As one of the important agricultural sectors, the clove industry was the economic backbone of the government of Zanzibar. This study is believed to be a pioneering work; hence, it is the first study that investigates empirically the challenges facing the clove industry in Zanzibar.


Significance The RBA has cut its growth forecasts amid rising job losses, weakening demand and increasing signs that the latest COVID-19 lockdowns will continue to slow the economy until the pace of the vaccine roll-out programme can be increased. Impacts Although the RBA is independent, the government will hope it keeps rates low ahead of the elections due next year. Commercial lenders could raise interest rates independently of the RBA if inflation remains high. Wage pressures will re-emerge as labour markets tighten but may be mitigated by the extent of underemployment. Economic growth will be uneven across the country in coming months as pandemic-related restrictions vary by location.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1069-1076
Author(s):  
Ashish Singhal, Et. al.

The extenuation of non-conventional global energy demands and changing environments is one of the most important ingredients in recent days. A case is about the study of sun energy acquired as clean energy by the government of India (GOI). GOI announced the various schemes for solar energy (SE) in the last decades because of the tremendous growth of solar energy aspects for the non-conventional sources with the support of central and state government. This article covered the progress of solar energy in India with major achievements. In this review article, the authors are trying to show the targets of the government of India (GOI) by 2022 and his vintage battle to set up a plant of solar or clean energy in India. This paper also emphasizes the different policies of GOI to schooling the people for creating the jobs in different projects like “Make in India”. This paper projected the work of the dynamic Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi and his bravura performance to increase the targets 100 GW solar energy by 2022.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 330-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ainur Zaireen Zainudin ◽  
Khadijah Hussin

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover the operational character of gated communities in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on a small case study conducted in Iskandar Malaysia, an economic development region located in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia. In the case study, 12 housing developers were interviewed, involving 32 gated communities altogether. The investigation covered the identification of the governing document used in operating a gated community, the operational purposes and scopes, the arrangement for collection of maintenance fee, and the internal governance within the gated communities. Findings – From the analysis, it was found that two types of gated communities exist in the case study areas, namely the strata gated community scheme, and the gated community scheme (GACOS). The operational mechanism for the former is through a set of rules enforced by the government. Meanwhile, the latter is based on the arrangement set up either by the developer, where legal agreement is applicable, or through the consensus among homeowners. However, despite these differences, both mechanisms share the same intention, that is to operate the gated community based on cooperative-collective sharing arrangement. Research limitations/implications – Despite the vulnerability of GACOS enclosure components, the case study revealed that the number of GACOS is still bigger than the strata gated community scheme. Since this perspective is lacking in this paper, it is suggested that more studies are conducted to explain the reasons behind the indicated phenomenon. Originality/value – The most important contribution of the paper is to highlight the importance of gating experience that is heavily influenced by the local policy setting to determine the survival of a gated community; thus, demonstrating how different they are from each other.


Significance The government vows that freeports will represent “hubs of enterprise which will allow places to carry out business inside a country’s land border but where different customs rules apply”. The creation of freeports are a central component of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government to facilitate global trade and promote regional regeneration in the post-Brexit era. Impacts With Brexit, London will have more flexibility regarding the concessions it can offer businesses operating in freeports. The government vows to create freeports in the devolved regions but faces the difficult task of cooperating with the devolved governments. Some poorer regions will miss out on freeports, which could leave them even more deprived and stoke local resentment against London.


Significance The five-party coalition enters office at a time of intense economic and social uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, rising debt and soaring energy prices. Prime Minister Petr Fiala's greatest challenges involve negotiating between the five coalition partners and restoring respectability to Czech politics. Impacts The new government will be less sceptical about closer EU integration, given the upcoming Czech EU presidency from mid-2022. The government will try to reopen EU Green Deal chapters to renegotiate compensation for highly industrialised member states. Former Prime Minister Andrej Babis may run for president in 2023. Babis will strive to avoid losing parliamentary immunity from prosecution relating to the Stork’s Nest affair and alleged EU subsidy fraud.


Significance The government led by the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) is under mounting pressure as Slovenia prepares to take over the European Council presidency. This is due mainly to hostility in parliament and society to Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who promotes a popular but divisive form of national conservatism. Impacts A successful no-confidence vote in the government followed by early elections would complicate Slovenia’s handling of its EU presidency. The fall of the current government and its replacement by the centre-left would improve Slovenia’s relations with the EU and United States. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban would lose an ally at EU level if Jansa lost office.


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