Mining takes on renewed importance in Ecuador

Subject The mining outlook in Ecuador. Significance The collapse of world oil prices has forced the government of President Rafael Correa to search for new sources of public revenue and foreign investment. The mining sector, which remains underdeveloped, has the potential to make significant contributions on both of these fronts. Reflecting the growing importance of the sector, the government has a created a Mining Ministry and appointed a mining minister. While numerous challenges continue to face the industry, it has shown signs of increased activity in the opening six months of the year. Impacts Opponents of mining development will attempt to impede medium and large-scale projects, through the courts and on the streets. Changes to water laws and policies will face opposition due to fears they may facilitate mine development and threaten water supplies. While investment in the mining sector will boost economic activity, the economy will expand more slowly than expected in 2015.

Subject Outlook for the mining sector. Significance Encouraged by this year’s price increases for most of Peru’s mineral exports, the government is seeking to push ahead with plans to attract much-needed foreign investment into the mining industry. This will involve politically contentious moves to deregulate some of the cumbersome procedures that affect investors. Impacts Next year’s growth target of 4% is probably over-optimistic. Social and environmental protests will add to the costs of mining investment in Peru. Once opposition has emerged to projects, it will prove difficult to reverse. Climate change will accentuate problems of water shortage for mining operations.


Subject The outlook for mining reform. Significance In June, the government of Panama announced the completion of the environmental impact assessment for the Cerro Quema gold mining project. This means that it may go ahead by the end of the year, despite uncertainty surrounding legislation in the mining sector and ongoing discussions regarding a number of potential framework reforms. Impacts New legislation could lead to renewed protests, particularly in areas with major deposits. Greater certainty in the mining sector could encourage renewed foreign investment. Mining could help diversify Panama's economy and stimulate economic growth over the medium term.


Significance The country's nascent mining sector is encountering both challenges and new opportunities as large-scale mining operations come in. Last month, four companies were granted licences to mine for minerals and precious metals in parts of Kampot, Mondulkiri, Kampong Thom and Kratie provinces. The national government considers that minerals, along with oil and natural gas, are critical for Cambodia's development. Impacts Mining concessions could be challenged by local communities when encroachment on community lands is suspected. The environment for foreign investment is likely to improve as the government reforms commercial law. A growing mining sector will need new transportation and electricity infrastructure. Corruption and state administrative capacity constraints could undermine mining sector development. Cambodia could lose out to more established ASEAN mining competitors such as Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines.


Significance Although President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly committed to increase funding to combat what he calls South Africa’s “second pandemic”, there is a lack of transparency in how the government disburses funds linked to its National Strategic Plan (NSP) on Gender-based Violence and Femicide. Impacts Civil society groups will increase pressure on the government to make expenditure on GBV programmes more transparent. A new private-sector fund to contribute to the NSP has received strong early support, but its management structure is opaque. High levels of GBV will not only have significant humanitarian and social costs but may deter much-needed foreign investment.


Significance The government hopes greater domestic and foreign investment can help turn around the pandemic-hit economy. The governor of Bank Indonesia (BI), the central bank, last week said GDP should grow by 4.6% in 2021, compared with last year’s 2.1% contraction. Impacts Indonesia will count on private vaccination, whereby companies buy state-procured jabs for their staff, to help speed up its roll-out. The Indonesia Investment Authority, a new sovereign wealth fund, will prioritise attracting more investment into the infrastructure sector. Singapore will continue to be Indonesia’s largest source of FDI in the short term.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Roziqin ◽  
Syasya Y.F. Mas’udi ◽  
Iradhad T. Sihidi

PurposeCOVID-19 cases in Indonesia continue to increase and spread. This article aims to analyse the Indonesian government policies as a response in dealing with COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThis article is a narrative analysis with the approach of a systematic literature review.FindingsThis article found that the Indonesian government responded slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of its spread in March 2020. The government then issued some policies such as physical distancing, large-scale social restriction (PSBB - Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar) and social safety net. These policies will only work if the society follows them. The society could be the key to success of those policies, either as the support or the obstacles.Practical implicationsThis policy analysis with literature review, conducted from March to July 2020 in Indonesia, provides experiences and knowledge in how to respond to the dynamic problems of public policy in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, especially in the context of a developing country.Originality/valueThe novelty of the article lies in the unique policy response in a diverse society. It suggests that the policymakers should pay more attention to the society’s characteristics as well as the mitigation system as a preventive measure and risk management to make clear policy in the society.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-95
Author(s):  
Ning Ma ◽  
Can Li ◽  
Yang Zuo

Purpose Forest insurance is a popular way to reduce the loss of forest disasters, so it is necessary to actively involve stakeholders. In the multi-agent simulation model, the government, insurance companies and forest farmers participate as three main stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to mainly simulate the behavior of forest farmers under different environmental variables in order to find the important factors affecting the coverage of forest insurance, so as to improve the ability of forest farmers to resist risks in the face of disasters. Design/methodology/approach In the simulation process, the decision-making rule of a forest farmer’s purchasing behavior is a binary selection chain, which is created at random. Forest farmer agents who adapt to the environment will remain; on the contrary, those will be eliminated. The eliminated agents will renew their behavior selection chains through learning others’ successful behavior based on genetic algorithm. The multi-agent mode is set up on the Eclipse platform by using Java language. Findings The adjustment simulation experiments of insurance premium, insurance subsidy and forest area were carried out. According to the result, conclusions and suggestions are as follows: at present, government subsidies are necessary for the implementation of forest insurance; in the future, with the expansion of the insured forest area and the upgrading and large-scale operation of forest farms, forest farmers will be more willing to join forest insurance program, and, then, the implementation of forest insurance no longer requires government subsidies for forest insurance premiums. Originality/value This paper explores the impact of three important factors on the implementation of forest insurance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 111-128
Author(s):  
Sushmita Singh ◽  
S.K. Singh ◽  
Shashi Srivastava

Purpose This study is an effort to explore a relationship between benefits of schemes (BoS) on the job satisfaction among handloom weavers. The weavers who are engaged in this work however face lot of challenges in terms of remuneration and working conditions. The government has been immense with various schemes that cater to the work-related problems. This paper aims to understand whether work-related support can be a predictor for job satisfaction in this context. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey design was used where 335 handloom weavers randomly participated in the study. Questionnaire was administered and scale was developed and validated for the measurement of BoS by using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The effect of the benefits on the job satisfaction was investigated by using structural equation modelling on AMOS 21 platform. Findings The outcome suggested that the BoS significantly affects the job satisfaction and a possible predictor. This which was indicated by the value of r^2, i.e.0.38 at significance level p < 0.001. Research limitations/implications The study suggests a method for analyzing the schemes/policies in the light of the benefits that schemes intend to deliver. This would help in making suitable modifications in the schemes order to have wider outreach and large-scale inclusion of the beneficiaries. Practical implications The study can be useful for the policymakers to further strengthen the features of the schemes. They might work in direction of inclusion of more handloom weavers in the framework of the schemes. Originality/value The effects of the work-related policies on job satisfaction is still in nascent stage, so this work is all about exploration in that area.


Subject Political outlook in Zimbabwe. Significance On February 17, former Vice President Joice Mujuru formally launched a new party -- Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) -- to contest the 2018 election. Usually, such announcements are met with scepticism, given the failure of past attempts to unseat President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. However, unprecedented divisions within the ruling party mean ZPF may pose a real electoral challenge. Impacts The government's wholesale takeover of the Marange diamond fields could provide fresh opportunities for political patronage. New rules imposing taxes on around 40 imported basic foods means that the government could benefit financially from emergency food aid. Several G40 members could benefit from Zhuwao's stricter indigenisation rules, which bans foreign investment in 'protected' sectors. Such regulation, together with the drought and weak commodity prices, means GDP growth could fail to reach the World Bank's 1.5% forecast. Mugabe's lavish birthday celebrations will fuel public anger -- given the current food crisis -- possibly boosting opposition support.


Subject The fall in foreign investment last year. Significance The government has launched a new Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (APIE) to buck a sharp drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) last year. Breaking with the country's long-standing sector-agnostic approach, the agency will seek to attract investment to specific sectors, including energy, public infrastructure and the food industry. Impacts A more business-friendly administration in Argentina could potentially divert FDI from Chile. Critics of the new FDI regulation maintain that it will dampen inflows. Efforts to attract investment in food and mining services represent a bid to diversify from mineral exports.


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