Leveraging Blockchain in Medical Tourism Value Chain

There are significant challenges facing the medical tourism industry: privacy and transparency concerns, lack of access to centralized medical records, fraudulent practices, opportunistic behavior of intermediaries, foreign currency risks, and contractual/legal issues. While blockchain technology has immense potential to address the industry’s inherent challenges and inefficiencies, the current understanding of blockchain application in medical tourism is fragmented. Through a pragmatic review of the literature, this study explores the blockchain applications and benefits for medical tourists across the stages of the medical tourism value chain, and in the process, proposes a meaningful and managerially relevant blockchain framework for medical tourism. The findings and the proposed novel framework to guide policy interventions and support mechanisms to take advantage of the full opportunities of blockchain in medical tourism.

Liberalization of foreign exchange regulation and control in the Russian Federation: status and trends

. At present, due to the changing economic situation, in particular, against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of the need for further liberalization of foreign exchange regulation and control in order to encourage real investment in Russia remains relevant. The liberalization process is the removal of restrictions on foreign exchange transactions between Russian currency residents and non-residents. When carrying out liberalization, the interests of society and the state should be taken into account in terms of national security and welfare.Since the adoption of the legislation on currency regulation and currency control, currency restrictions have been weakened (in particular, the obligation to reserve currency and issue passports of transactions in cross-border transactions has been canceled). Liberalization of foreign exchange legislation continues systematically at the present time. At the same time, against the background of liberalization, more and more noticeable is the increasing attention of the state to the property and income of foreign currency residents abroad in order to “whitewash” the economy.

Impact of Foreign Reserves and Economic Growth on Money Supply: Evidence from the WAMZ Countries

This paper analyzes the impact of foreign currency reserve and economic growth on money supply using panel data from five West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) member states from 2001-2019. The study employed the dynamic technique, fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares (FMOLS and DOLS), and the static method (fixed effect model) for the robustness check. The long run results showed that foreign currency reserves (FCR) have a positive impact on money supply, implying that a one percent increase in FCR augments money supply (M2) by 2.87%, 0.44% and 0.08%, respectively, in the long run. Similarly, economic growth is associated with an increase in money supply in both models. Furthermore, the Dumitrescu & Hurlin (2012) estimation revealed a feedback association between foreign currency reserve and money supply. This means that foreign reserves and money supply are complementary. Conversely, a unidirectional causality moving from economic growth to M2 is observed, demonstrating that economic growth causes M2. This outcome is explained by the quantity theory of money (QTM) in which the velocity of money is a positive function of total money supply. As money circulates in the economy as a result of a surge in investments, this consequently increases money stock. Similarly, investment opportunities that are being exploited day-by-day explains the growing money stock (WAMI, 2018). Central banks should endeavor to monitor the expansionary influence of net foreign assets (NFA) on money supply growth in the WAMZ by establishing suitable methods to sterilize foreign exchange infusions into the economy.

The Actual Independence of the Governors of the Central Bank of Iraq and its Effects on Inflation for the Period 2003-2017

This research presents indicators that were used In estimating the independence of the Central Bank of Iraq, which distinguish between the law independence (de jure autonomy) and the actual independence (de facto autonomy) for the three central bank governors for the period 2003-2017, through the turnover rate index of governors (TOR). The research also provides a new indicator of the turnover rate of members in the executive authority in Iraq for the same period, and the effects on inflation. The study also outlines a set of behavioral indicators ​​for governors that highlight the effects of actual independence on inflation. The main findings of the research were that the actual independence, in terms of the turnover rate index, gradually decreased for the research period, but the behavioral indicators of the governors showed that they maintain price stability. Therefore, the study presents evidence on the effect of the actual independence on inflation, because of the control of the exchange rate through the foreign currency auction and the decline of foreign reserves.

Changing of Currency Exchange and Its Harmony with Accounting Iraq’s Rules and International Accounting

The aim of the study was how the harmony between the Iraqi accounting rules and international standards and is there a difference between rule and the standard, which has been the International Standard No. (21) the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates and conduct a comparative analysis with the Iraqi accounting rules rule number (4) the effects of changing prices in foreign currencies have reached your search several conclusions the most important of the existence of a gap between the accounting Qaeda applicable between the international standard requirements represented by failure to disclose the change in the classification of foreign operations and export rules Iraqi accounting without cause by sufficient explanations and cases of practical application of some processors contained therein leading to interpretations and opinions of personality.

Food crisis in fast-growing Turkmenistan

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Turkmenistan’s economy has been growing very fast, which has been primarily generated through the extractive sector and construction industry. After the energy price collapse in mid-2014, the country has recorded a shortage of foreign currency. The authoritarian regime passed currency and economic problems onto the society. As a result, the country has experienced the most severe food crisis in its history. The main aim of the paper is to identify the reasons behind the food crisis in Turkmenistan. The paper tries to answer the following question: how did it happen that people in one of the fastest-growing countries in the 21st century have been suffering from food shortages? The study is based on data retrieved from the World Bank Open Data, ILOSTAT, and Observatory of Economic Complexity, as well as a critical review of independent news websites. The food crisis in Turkmenistan was primarily caused by hyperinflation and rationing basic groceries at preferential prices, wage arrears, cutting salaries of state employees to fund construction projects in progress, group layoffs of state employees, growing difficulties in running a private business, and depriving people of the possibility to exchange the currency at the official rate. The end of a free provision of Turkmenistan’s population with electricity, gas, and drinking water has further deepened the crisis.

ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL SSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL SECURITY LEVEL OF UKRAINE

Introduction. In the context of the development of globalization processes and the integration of the national economy into the global financial space, the issue of forming the financial security of Ukraine becomes increasingly important. It affects and links together all sectors of the national economy, business entities, society, politics, finance, etc.Problem Statement. At the present stage of Ukraine's economic development, one of the primary task of government policy is to ensure the financial security of the state, after all, its ensuring aims at overcoming the economic crisis and improving the well-being of Ukrainian citizens.Purpose. The assessment of the financial, monetary, and banking systems of Ukraine as well as the development of practically significant proposals are necessary for ensuring the financial security of Ukraine.Materials and Methods. The analytical material is the data of the National Bank of Ukraine, which have been studied by economic and mathematical methods, statistical and indicative analysis.Results. It has been determined that the state budget imbalance is the main destabilizing factor of the crisis in public finance. The dynamics of the number of banks in Ukraine have been studied: despite a decrease in the number of banks with foreign capital, their share in recent years has increased significantly, which hinders theeffective development of the banking system of Ukraine. A significant underestimation of the domestic currency and large-scale devaluations in the previous years created unfavorable conditions for Ukrainian exporters, which resulted in a foreign trade balance deficit, an outflow of foreign currency and, accordingly, a decrease in theforeign exchange reserves.Conclusions. The financial security strategy should determine the prospects for ensuring the stability of the financial, monetary, and banking systems and the development of the national economy. The implementation of financial, currency, credit measures, the adoption of amendments to the legislative framework, and the development of a financial security strategy for Ukraine become increasingly important, given the problems that exacerbate the financial security of Ukraine.

Renewable Energy Procurement in Ethiopia: Overcoming Obstacles in Procurement from Independent Power Producers

Developing countries are increasingly using auctions for the procurement of utility-scale renewable electricity, due to the potential for attracting private investment. However, auction design and implementation can face serious obstacles due to complex context-specific factors. In 2017, Ethiopia launched its Public–Private Partnership (PPP) policy and procurement framework to promote infrastructure development, including electricity generation. Since 2018, it has organised renewable energy auctions to procure new capacity from independent power producers (IPPs). However, the new framework faces numerous challenges. Using a literature review and primary data from more than 70 interviews and from stakeholder consultations, this study explores the political economy challenges and opportunities facing IPP project preparation, decision-making, coordination and implementation, and risks to investors. To date, Ethiopia has held two rounds of tenders to procure 1,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity from eight projects; the first tender for two solar photovoltaic (PV) projects led to the signing of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and was hailed as one of the cheapest tariff rates in sub-Saharan Africa, at US$2.526 cents/kilowatt hour (kWh) over 25 years. However, none of the projects have yet become operational. This study also finds fault lines impeding the implementation of IPP projects, including the risk of foreign currency availability and convertibility of Ethiopian birr to expatriate profits. It proposes measures to overcome these obstacles and mitigate risks, to put Ethiopia on course to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030.