growth

On November 8, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that ‘the 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight’.
This step of demonetisation was taken ostensibly for curbing black money and counterfeit currency notes.
As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) figures, the higher denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 constitute 86.4 per cent of the total currency in circulation in the economy, by value. Therefore, with the stroke of a pen, the government nullified 86 per cent of the currency in the economy.

Modern history will record November 8, 2016 as the day when the United States of America officially decided to vote for a global retreat – from the heady rhetoric of ‘Let’s make the world a better place’ to “Let’s make America great again”.
Americans have voted for building a wall to protect what they have, against the dream of global dominance. This surely marks the end of the uni-polar world as we know it.

The currencies of three BRICS economies have steadily strengthened against the US dollar in recent weeks.
Brazil’s real, Russia’s ruble and South Africa’s rand have benefited from a ‘pause’ in the momentum to raise interest rates, particularly in the US.
All three countries have battled recession in contrast to BRICS members China and India, which are forecast to grow 6.7 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively, in 2016.
The rand is up nearly 15 per cent against the dollar in 2016 after suffering a significant slump in mid-2015.

Of all the BRICS countries, India has been the stand-out economic performer in the last few years. Alexander Rost, Regional Head Indian Subcontinent & ASEAN at Commerzbank, explains the factors behind its recent success, and sets out a blueprint for sustaining the country’s economy through industry and trade.
In recent years, BRICS countries, on the whole, have faced significant political and economic challenges.

On a recent visit to Paris almost everyone I met asked me the same question: “Are you British insane? Are you really going to vote to leave the European Union?”
Based on the most recent polls, despite the deep scepticism of those same surveys after the last General Election, I could only answer: “It looks that way.”
Cue disbelieving looks, gasps and snorts of Gallic derision, often followed by the words: “You can always come and live here.”

Yellen’s remarks weren’t surprising given the volatility in global markets, but investors will be looking for further clues the Fed will raise interest rates again in July [XInhua]
US Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen’s speech at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia Monday struck an optimistic chord about the state of the domestic economy, world economic hiccups, and monetary policy in the months ahead.

It was like a scene from the film Titanic – the great and the good looked concerned and talked earnestly about impending doom over canapés while cosseted in the luxury and wealth to which they’ve become accustomed.
Elsewhere, out of sight, the poorest were locked away in the bowels of the disintegrating wreck, suffering and dying, almost forgotten as the rich searched for a lifeboat to rescue them from their responsibilities.

It was like a scene from the film Titanic – the great and the good looked concerned and talked earnestly about impending doom over canapés while cosseted in the luxury and wealth to which they’ve become accustomed.
Elsewhere, out of sight, the poorest were locked away in the bowels of the disintegrating wreck, suffering and dying, almost forgotten as the rich searched for a lifeboat to rescue them from their responsibilities.

By Jonathan Latham, PhD Pregnant goats fed with genetically engineered (GE) soybeans have offspring who grow more slowly and are shorter, according to a new Italian study (Tudisco et al., 2015). Publishing in the journal of Small Ruminant Research, the researchers were testing the results of supplementing the feed of ...