Download or read book Wide Interest Rate Spreads Any Hope for Small Economies A Look at Malawi written by Byson Majanga and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of this paper is to study the trend of interest rate spread in Malawi and establish if any association exists between economic growth (measured by real GDP) and the spreads. The study adds to the existing literature in that it analyses in detail the factors that cause wider interest rate spreads in Malawi and other developing countries, and provides suggestions on alternatives to adopt in order to narrow the spreads. The study further establishes a link between a country's economic growth and its real interest rate spread as provided by the commercial banks in Malawi. Using a correlation and regression analysis on data ranging from 2006 to 2014 derived from a sample of Malawian banks, the results suggest that in small economies, the banking sector's over reliance on interest income is significantly correlated with wide interest rate spreads and therefore if commercial banks come up with other revenue generation avenues, other than leaning wholly on interest revenue, the interest rate spread can be narrowed; and that the wider spreads so far recorded have a reasonable contribution to the malfunctioning economy. The study finds a strong relationship between inflation rate and interest rate spreads but fails to establish a strong and significant relationship between interest rate spread and GDP growth.
Download or read book Global Waves of Debt written by M. Ayhan Kose and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-03-03 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global economy has experienced four waves of rapid debt accumulation over the past 50 years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging market and developing economies. During the current wave, which started in 2010, the increase in debt in these economies has already been larger, faster, and broader-based than in the previous three waves. Current low interest rates mitigate some of the risks associated with high debt. However, emerging market and developing economies are also confronted by weak growth prospects, mounting vulnerabilities, and elevated global risks. A menu of policy options is available to reduce the likelihood that the current debt wave will end in crisis and, if crises do take place, will alleviate their impact.
Download or read book Expanding Access to Financial Services in Malawi written by Kiendel Burritt and published by UN. This book was released on 2006 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report assesses the achievements and challenges for microfinance service delivery in Malawi, with particular attention to rural and agricultural markets. It identifies key elements that influence the development of Malawi's financial system, and provides some recommendations and opportunities for investors, donors, government and private sector entities to support the development of an inclusive financial system.
Download or read book From Falling Behind to Catching Up written by Richard Record and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite decades of development efforts supported by significant amounts of foreign aid, Malawi has experienced weak and volatile economic growth performance over a sustained period of time. Malawi’s growth remains an outlier even compared to its geographically and demographically similar peers. Moreover, growth has been distributed unequally, with little impact on poverty. Per capita income has improved only minimally in the 50 years since independence, and Malawi now has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world. From Falling Behind to Catching Up aims to improve readers’ understanding of the puzzle of Malawi’s development performance and identify ways for the country to achieve robust growth and stay on a stable growth path that helps the poor. The book places a strong emphasis on assessing Malawi’s growth experience since independence from a comparative international perspective. It seeks to benchmark Malawian outcomes on growth, structural change, and transformation against peers and explores possible reasons for divergence from international trends. The book also puts deeper drivers of economic growth at the center of the discussion, looking in particular at the institutions and policies that may have affected Malawi’s growth outcomes and ones that could help Malawi avoid macroeconomic instability in the future. This book first begins by discussing Malawi’s macroeconomic situation and challenges in fiscal management, reviewing and drawing lessons from the instability, slippages, and shocks Malawi has experienced since independence. Second, given how critical the agricultural sector is to poverty reduction in Malawi, the overview explores the current state of agricultural markets. Third, looking at the factors that may constrain higher growth in the future, challenges in private sector development and job creation are discussed. Finally, building on the analysis of challenges, the book concludes with a summary of policy recommendations aimed at helping Malawi begin catching up with its peers.
Download or read book Global Trends 2040 written by National Intelligence Council and published by Cosimo Reports. This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.
Download or read book Financial Crises Explanations Types and Implications written by Mr.Stijn Claessens and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2013-01-30 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper reviews the literature on financial crises focusing on three specific aspects. First, what are the main factors explaining financial crises? Since many theories on the sources of financial crises highlight the importance of sharp fluctuations in asset and credit markets, the paper briefly reviews theoretical and empirical studies on developments in these markets around financial crises. Second, what are the major types of financial crises? The paper focuses on the main theoretical and empirical explanations of four types of financial crises—currency crises, sudden stops, debt crises, and banking crises—and presents a survey of the literature that attempts to identify these episodes. Third, what are the real and financial sector implications of crises? The paper briefly reviews the short- and medium-run implications of crises for the real economy and financial sector. It concludes with a summary of the main lessons from the literature and future research directions.
Download or read book Interest Rate Liberalization written by Mr.Bart Turtelboom and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1991-12-01 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper undertakes a survey of theoretical considerations and an analysis of the experience of five African countries with interest rate liberalization. Despite substantial progress in monetary policy reforms, liberalization has only partially affected the level and variability of interest rates. Several factors—macroeconomic instability, oligopolistic financial markets, the absence of developed capital markets, as well as the sequencing of the liberalization programs and the asymmetric availability of information—explain the increase in the spread between lending and deposit rates as well as the rather inflexible pattern of interest rates during the transition to a market-based financial system.
Download or read book Making It Big written by Andrea Ciani and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2020-10-08 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic and social progress requires a diverse ecosystem of firms that play complementary roles. Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms constitutes one of the most up-to-date assessments of how large firms are created in low- and middle-income countries and their role in development. It argues that large firms advance a range of development objectives in ways that other firms do not: large firms are more likely to innovate, export, and offer training and are more likely to adopt international standards of quality, among other contributions. Their particularities are closely associated with productivity advantages and translate into improved outcomes not only for their owners but also for their workers and for smaller enterprises in their value chains. The challenge for economic development, however, is that production does not reach economic scale in low- and middle-income countries. Why are large firms scarcer in developing countries? Drawing on a rare set of data from public and private sources, as well as proprietary data from the International Finance Corporation and case studies, this book shows that large firms are often born large—or with the attributes of largeness. In other words, what is distinct about them is often in place from day one of their operations. To fill the “missing top†? of the firm-size distribution with additional large firms, governments should support the creation of such firms by opening markets to greater competition. In low-income countries, this objective can be achieved through simple policy reorientation, such as breaking oligopolies, removing unnecessary restrictions to international trade and investment, and establishing strong rules to prevent the abuse of market power. Governments should also strive to ensure that private actors have the skills, technology, intelligence, infrastructure, and finance they need to create large ventures. Additionally, they should actively work to spread the benefits from production at scale across the largest possible number of market participants. This book seeks to bring frontier thinking and evidence on the role and origins of large firms to a wide range of readers, including academics, development practitioners and policy makers.
Download or read book Ill Gotten Money and the Economy written by Stuart Yikona and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011-10-11 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many developing countries have introduced policies to tackle ill-gotten money over the past years. Perception remains that such moves were more a result of international pressure being exercised than genuine ownership of such an agenda. There is not enough analysis and literature of how an anti-financial crime framework does (or does not) contribute to the development path of developing countries or how best to use these tools in a developing country environment. This study was aimed at initially exploring the effects of ill-gotten money or proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering policies on economic development. The study focused on two developing countries: Malawi, (a low-income country) and Namibia (an upper-middle-income country). The starting point of this analysis is that anti-money laundering is essentially a tool to address criminal activities and that, as a result, understanding criminal activities and how proceeds of crime impact development. The purpose of this study was: (i) to provide an initial answer to the question if and how measures to address proceeds of crime contributes to economic development; and (ii) to develop a framework that enable governments in developing countries to analyze the main sources of ill-gotten money and its effects on the economy.
Download or read book The Growth Report written by Commission on Growth and Development and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2008-07-23 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The result of two years work by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists, 'The Growth Report' is the most complete analysis to date of the ingredients which, if used in the right country-specific recipe, can deliver growth and help lift populations out of poverty.
Download or read book Global Economic Prospects 2010 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2010-02-12 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The crisis has deeply impacted virtually every economy in the world, and although growth has returned, much progress in the fight against poverty has been lost. More difficult international conditions in the years to come will mean that developing countries will have to place even more emphasis on improving domestic economic conditions to achieve the kind of growth that can durably eradicate poverty.� —Justin Yifu Lin, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President The World Bank 'Global Economic Prospects 2010: Crisis, Finance, and Growth' explores both the short- and medium-term impacts of the financial crisis on developing countries. Although global growth has resumed, the recovery is fragile, and unless business and consumer demand strengthen, the world economy could slow down again. Even if, as appears likely, a double-dip recession is avoided, the recovery is expected to be slow. High unemployment and widespread restructuring will continue to characterize the global economy for the next several years. Already, the crisis has provoked large-scale human suffering. Some 64 million more people around the world are expected to be living on less than a $1.25 per day by the end of 2010, and between 30,000 and 50,000 more infants may have died of malnutrition in 2009 in Sub-Saharan Africa, than would have been the case if the crisis had not occurred. Over the medium term, economic growth is expected to recover. But increased risk aversion, a necessary and desirable tightening of financial regulations in high-income countries, and measures to reduce the exposure of developing economies to external shocks are likely to make finance scarcer and more costly than it was during the boom period. As a result, just as the ample liquidity of the early 2000s prompted an investment boom and an acceleration in developing-country potential output, higher costs will likely yield a slowing in developing-country potential growth rates of between 0.2 and 0.7 percentage points, and as much as an 8 percent decline in potential output over the medium term. In the longer term, however, developing countries can more than offset the implications of more expensive international finance by reducing the cost of capital channeled through their domestic financial markets. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org/gep2010. To access Prospects for the Global Economy, an online companion publication, please visit www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook.
Download or read book Monetary Policy Implementation Operational Issues for Countries with Evolving Monetary Policy Frameworks written by Nils Mæhle and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2020-02-07 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper discusses operational issues for countries that want to reform their monetary policy frameworks. It argues that stabilizing short-term interest rates on a day-to-day basis has significant advantages, and thus that short-term interest rates, not reserve money, in most cases should be the daily operating target, including for countries relying on a money targeting policy strategy. The paper discusses how a policy formulation framework based on monetary aggregates can be combined with an operational framework that ensures more stable and predictable short-term rates to enhance policy transmission. It also discusses how to best configure an interest-rate-based operational framework when markets are underdeveloped and liqudity management capacity is weak.
Download or read book World Development Report 2009 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2008-11-04 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rising densities of human settlements, migration and transport to reduce distances to market, and specialization and trade facilitated by fewer international divisions are central to economic development. The transformations along these three dimensions density, distance, and division are most noticeable in North America, Western Europe, and Japan, but countries in Asia and Eastern Europe are changing in ways similar in scope and speed. 'World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography' concludes that these spatial transformations are essential, and should be encouraged. The conclusion is not without controversy. Slum-dwellers now number a billion, but the rush to cities continues. Globalization is believed to benefit many, but not the billion people living in lagging areas of developing nations. High poverty and mortality persist among the world's 'bottom billion', while others grow wealthier and live longer lives. Concern for these three billion often comes with the prescription that growth must be made spatially balanced. The WDR has a different message: economic growth is seldom balanced, and efforts to spread it out prematurely will jeopardize progress. The Report: documents how production becomes more concentrated spatially as economies grow. proposes economic integration as the principle for promoting successful spatial transformations. revisits the debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration and shows how today's developers can reshape economic geography.
Download or read book Doing Business 2020 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-11-21 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventeen in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2020 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity.
Download or read book World Development Report 2019 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2018-10-31 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. New ways of production are adopted, markets expand, and societies evolve. But some changes provoke more attention than others, in part due to the vast uncertainty involved in making predictions about the future. The 2019 World Development Report will study how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Technological progress disrupts existing systems. A new social contract is needed to smooth the transition and guard against rising inequality. Significant investments in human capital throughout a person’s lifecycle are vital to this effort. If workers are to stay competitive against machines they need to train or retool existing skills. A social protection system that includes a minimum basic level of protection for workers and citizens can complement new forms of employment. Improved private sector policies to encourage startup activity and competition can help countries compete in the digital age. Governments also need to ensure that firms pay their fair share of taxes, in part to fund this new social contract. The 2019 World Development Report presents an analysis of these issues based upon the available evidence.
Download or read book Our Common Future written by and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Malawi written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2012-08-03 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (MGDS-II) is a poverty reduction strategy for the period 2006–11, which is aimed at fulfilling Malawi’s future developmental aspiration—Vision 2020. The strategy identifies broad thematic areas and key priority areas to bring about sustained economic growth. A striking feature of this strategy is that the various governmental organizations, private sector, and general public are equal stakeholders. However, successful implementation of MGDS-II will largely depend on sound macroeconomic management and a stable political environment.
