El Salvador bitcoin experiment comes with risks

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crime ◽  
It Infrastructure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sovereign Bonds ◽  
Transition Costs ◽  
State Investment ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Ict Infrastructure ◽  
The Government ◽  
International Transactions

Significance The government hopes to encourage the cryptocurrency’s use for domestic and international transactions, with the aim of boosting financial inclusion. However, it has been criticised because there are low levels of access to digital finance among the population, and sceptics dismiss it as a gimmick. Further criticism centres on concerns around financial crime. Impacts Businesses accepting bitcoin will need to upgrade their IT infrastructure and security, imposing transition costs. State investment in ICT infrastructure will also be required to enable broad uptake of digital finance options. The government is set to launch new sovereign bonds, which it hopes will supplement IMF funding.

Malaysia's Najib will be stronger in 2016

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Investment Fund ◽  
Political Contributions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Pressure ◽  
The Face ◽  
State Investment ◽  
The Government ◽  
National Organisation

Subject Political outlook for Malaysia's prime minister. Significance This year's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) general assembly, which concluded on December 12, emphasised unity in the face of some party fragmentation. Party leader and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak used the meeting again to reject criticisms surrounding his government over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund and political contributions. Despite infighting, the party assembly and some recent parliamentary victories imply Najib is consolidating his political position. Impacts Some UMNO critics of Najib may defect, but with a weak opposition coalition, defectors' influence would be limited. New security council legislation will alienate parts of Malaysian civil society. The government will face international pressure not to 'abuse' this legislation.

Weak consumption may thwart Slovak growth plans

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Infrastructure Investment ◽  
Gdp Growth ◽  
Industrial Output ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Fiscal Deficits ◽  
Consumption Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Eu

Subject The government's latest GDP expectations for 2016-19. Significance On September 19, days before surviving a parliamentary no-confidence vote, the government announced GDP projections for 2016-19, based on improvements in consumption growth and the labour market, where registered unemployment hovers at historically low levels. Despite its weakened position following the recent departure of junior coalition partner Siet, Smer-Social Democracy (SD) is upbeat about the prospects for robust GDP growth in 2016, revising its forecast upwards to 3.6% from 3.2%. Impacts Industrial output, GDP and inflationary pressures may pick up post-2018, as consumers spend more and auto industry investments create jobs. The government may miss its targets in the short term, but fiscal deficits should remain below the EU limit of 3% of GDP in 2016-18. More public-private partnerships, modelled on the Bratislava ring-road, plus EU funding, may support infrastructure investment after 2017.

Sri Lanka will struggle to escape its debt trap

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Foreign Exchange ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Investor Confidence ◽  
Debt Problem ◽  
Sovereign Bonds ◽  
Outstanding Debt ◽  
The Government

Subject Sri Lanka's debt problem. Significance Sri Lanka late last month said it was planning to issue international sovereign bonds (ISBs) worth some 1.5 billion dollars, helping to repay loans soon to mature. The country’s gross outstanding debt stock rose to nearly 70% of GDP in 2018 from just under 40% in 2008. Impacts Debates around the presidential election due later this year will likely be dominated by security concerns rather than the economy. Political instability caused by rifts within the government will damage investor confidence in the country. Sri Lanka will step up efforts to attract tourists, hoping to sustain a key source of foreign exchange earnings.

Amalsad cooperative ltd: total cost of ownership for digital services

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Harekrishna Misra
Keyword(s):  
Social Enterprise ◽  
It Infrastructure ◽  
Total Cost Of Ownership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Digital Infrastructure ◽  
Cost Of Ownership ◽  
Digital Services ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

Structured abstract Rendering digital services have taken centerstage in the current ICT for development discourse. E-Government services are mostly under this discourse with the aim to provide citizen centric services in the public domain. Business and development organizations alike are also investing in developing their own digital infrastructure for rendering services to its stakeholders. This case describes scenario in which a cooperative organization wishes to use digital infrastructure and provide digital services to its farmer members. The cooperative continued investing in ICT since the last couple of decades and constantly upgraded it to ease the transaction and bring efficiency and reduce information asymmetry. This had greatly benefitted the members. However, the cooperative is aware that its communication network built on the wireless medium has its own limitations in introducing new services and integrating its databases and applications. The cooperative took note of “Digital India (DI)” initiatives to provide digital services to rural areas and build an ecosystem to empower the citizens in its governance set up. This DI policy has implicit provisions of better networking protocols with improved bandwidth. The organization has a dilemma to continue with investing its own resources or explore possibility of piggybacking on the DI initiative. The cooperative wished to examine the total cost of ownership in either case and assess the feasibility of converging with the infrastructure created by the government. Case synopsis The Government Information Technology Policies are increasingly favouring citizens and in favour of shared infrastructure and services. It is worth the examination to evaluate strategies to deploy IT infrastructure and services with optimized cost and better returns in an enterprise. This is far more important for a social enterprise like AMALSAD cooperative (user-owned firm) that has deployed its own IT infrastructure and ITeS. AMALSAD cooperative deployed its IT assets long back and in the meanwhile, the Government policy is in favour of providing services over the internet. Leaning objectives The case serves to help students to understand the theoretical concept of Enterprise information systems infrastructure and services. It brings to the students understanding: the drivers of IT infrastructure to provide digital services; challenges that would make the social enterprise (in this case user-owned firm) to understand the opportunities and challenges of deploying the right digital infrastructure and get services on demand. The case presents the scenarios for the students to deliberate and find answers to the right approach for estimating the total cost of ownership (TCO). Social implications The case situation presents a scenario for digital government services. Most of the customer-facing enterprises including social enterprises are also providing digital services. It is important that such services converge at an optimized TCO. Complexity academic level Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Systems. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 7: Management Science.

Excess volatility pursuit in autoregressive GARCH model based panel data analysis at country level: BRICS context

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wajid Shakeel Ahmed ◽  
Muhammad Shoaib Khan ◽  
Muhammad Jibran Sheikh ◽  
Inzamam Khan
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Discrete Wavelet ◽  
Bond Markets ◽  
Bond Price ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sovereign Bonds ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Brics Countries ◽  
Excess Volatility ◽  
The Government

PurposeThis particular study examined the government bond price variations in order to determine the presence of excess volatility both at country and panel group level of BRICS countries context.Design/methodology/approachThe study applied the autoregressive GARCH panel model approach proposed by Fakhry and Richter (2015) to evaluate the presence of excess volatility and then examined the diversification benefits. Further, the use of discrete wavelet transformation (DWT) has added the advantage to observe volatility across bonds along with potential diversification benefits by retaining information from the time and frequency domain perspective for both the maturities.FindingsThe main finding indicates that the excess volatility is present in BRICS countries at individual level i.e. in the case of Russia, India and China. However, the 10-year bond showing a less volatility compared to 5-year bond with the possibility of reaping out the benefits of diversification with international portfolio of sovereign bonds.Practical implicationsThe main implication of the research is related to the non-perseverance of EMH as far sovereign bonds of BRICS countries are concerned as the results indicate presence of excess volatility in the 5-year and 10-year bond markets. However, the implicit behavior of 5-year bond could benefit the active fund managers and investors by taking an advantage of a reducing systemic risk through short-medium term investments.Originality/valueThis study contributes not only to the existing studies of similar nature by examining the excess volatility in bond markets but also taking account of co-moment of distinct maturities to confirm possible international diversification benefits for BRICS countries context.

Slow productivity will weigh on UK economy

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Economic Significance ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Training

Significance This is the result of low levels of private and public investment, deficiencies in skills and training, and contractionary fiscal policy. The government is intent on addressing the productivity problem, but its chances of success are reduced by Brexit and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Impacts The furlough scheme may have kept unproductive businesses afloat, potentially prolonging their economic significance. The expansion of the digital economy seen over the past year and a half could slow down after all COVID-19 restrictions end. Tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol in the autumn could undermine EU-UK trade relations further.

Czech monetary policy will shift in 2017

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Fiscal Stimulus ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
East European ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Government ◽  
Growth Deceleration

Subject The outlook for Czech monetary policy. Significance With second-quarter GDP growth slowing to 2.5% year-on-year, the Czech Republic is no longer the fastest-growing Central-East European (CEE) economy. The cyclical upswing that characterised the Czech economy from early 2014 has come to an end. Growth is foreseen to decelerate further in the quarters ahead, owing to unfavourable base effects and a larger-than-expected drop in EU-funded investment and manufacturing inventories. The government is thus expected to introduce short-term fiscal stimulus measures to support consumption. Impacts CEE central banks are expected to hold their rates at current historically low levels for the next quarter at least. Without room for further cuts, few will consider rate tightening before Q1 2017, when the ECB will start winding down quantitative easing. Growth deceleration in the second half of 2016 will necessitate fiscal stimulus by the government ahead of the 2017 general election. Further rises in nominal wages and a firmer labour market will bolster purchasing power, with private consumption the main driver of growth.

COVID-19 crisis will interrupt Dominican GDP growth

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Target Range ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Gdp Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financing Gap ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Government

Subject The Dominican Republic and COVID-19. Significance Unlike much of the Latin America/Caribbean region, the Dominican Republic faces the COVID-19 pandemic from a position of macroeconomic strength and stability. Growth lost pace in 2019 but was still robust at 5.1%, while inflation stayed within the Central Bank target range, at 3.7%. The banking sector remains well capitalised with non-performing loans at low levels (1.6%) at the end of last year. Impacts If the financing gap persists, the government will seek further credit in the markets, despite having to bear increasing yields. The general election will probably be postponed beyond July, with opposition candidate Luis Abinader likely to remain the frontrunner. An ongoing exodus of Haitians will continue, with unscreened incomers increasing contagion risks in Haiti.

A benchmarking study of Indian seaports

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-102
Author(s):  
Sajeev Abraham George ◽  
Anurag C. Tumma
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Operational Parameters ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Port Authorities ◽  
Financial Performance Measures ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to benchmark the operational and financial performances of the major Indian seaports to help derive useful insights to improve their performance. Design/methodology/approach A two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology has been used with the help of data collected on the 13 major seaports of India. The first stage of the DEA captured the operational efficiencies, while the second stage the financial performance. Findings A window analysis over a period of three years revealed that no port was able to score an overall average efficiency of 100 per cent. The study identified the better performing units among their peers in both the stages. The contrasting results of the study with the traditional operational and financial performance measures used by the ports helped to derive useful insights. Research limitations/implications The data used in the study were majorly limited to the available sources in the public domain. Also, the study was limited to the major seaports which are under the Government of India and no comparisons were carried out with other local or international ports. Practical implications There is a need to prioritize investments and improvement efforts where they are most needed, instead of following a generalized approach. Once the benchmark ports are identified, the port authorities and other relevant stakeholders should work in detail on the factors causing inefficiencies, for possible improvements in performance. Originality/value This paper carried out a two-stage DEA that helped to derive useful insights on operational efficiency and financial performance of the India seaports. A combination of the financial and operational parameters, along with a comparison of the DEA results with the traditional measures, provided a different perspective on the Indian seaport performance. Considering the scarcity of research papers reported in the literature on DEA-based benchmarking studies of seaports in the Indian context, it has the potential to attract future research in this field.

The cost-effectiveness of insulin analogs and regular insulin for diabetes control: a case study in Iran

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 323-331
Author(s):  
Mohsen pakdaman ◽  
Raheleh akbari ◽  
Hamid reza Dehghan ◽  
Asra Asgharzadeh ◽  
Mahdieh Namayandeh
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Regular Insulin ◽  
Diabetes Control ◽  
Diabetic Patients ◽  
Insulin Analogs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Patients With Diabetes ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cost

PurposeFor years, traditional techniques have been used for diabetes treatment. There are two major types of insulin: insulin analogs and regular insulin. Insulin analogs are similar to regular insulin and lead to changes in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The purpose of the present research was to determine the cost-effectiveness of insulin analogs versus regular insulin for diabetes control in Yazd Diabetes Center in 2017.Design/methodology/approachIn this descriptive–analytical research, the cost-effectiveness index was used to compare insulin analogs and regular insulin (pen/vial) for treatment of diabetes. Data were analyzed in the TreeAge Software and a decision tree was constructed. A 10% discount rate was used for ICER sensitivity analysis. Cost-effectiveness was examined from a provider's perspective.FindingsQALY was calculated to be 0.2 for diabetic patients using insulin analogs and 0.05 for those using regular insulin. The average cost was $3.228 for analog users and $1.826 for regular insulin users. An ICER of $0.093506/QALY was obtained. The present findings suggest that insulin analogs are more cost-effective than regular insulin.Originality/valueThis study was conducted using a cost-effectiveness analysis to evaluate insulin analogs versus regular insulin in controlling diabetes. The results of study are helpful to the government to allocate more resources to apply the cost-effective method of the treatment and to protect patients with diabetes from the high cost of treatment.

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