To what extent does inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) alleviate Dissertation

To what extent does inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) alleviate poverty in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) - Findings and Analysis - Dissertation Example The countries with maximum GDP growth have been identified from the literature review. I have picked out six countries that have the highest GDP growth from among the fifty-two countries in the Sub-Saharan region. Existing literature shows that these six countries have made consistent level of economic activities since the 1960s. This has been validated later on in this research with the help of quantitative analysis made on the data collected. GDP growth rates for Angola, Ethiopia and Uganda cannot be evaluated for the years before 1980s due to lack of availability of data. A significant similarity between Angola, Algeria and Cameroon is that GDP growth for these countries has been very low (Algeria) or negative (Angola and Cameroon) in 1992. HDI for Cameroon has been studied only for the years 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 since data for other years are not available. However, for Egypt, Ethiopia and Uganda the GDP growth in 1992 has been positive. Among these countries, Cameroon shows the lowest level of GDP growth. Figure: GDP growth of Cameroon and its level of Human Development Index Yet, to one’s surprise, it is found that the HDI for the country shot up after 2000 and has remained high since then. In fact the HDI has improved for all these countries in the beginning of the twenty first century. ... These factors also help in correlating the drivers of human development, and thus poverty alleviation in these countries. The data shows that the GDP of Egypt shows declining trend after 1998 and that of Uganda falls consistently after 2006. Although, in Egypt, GDP growth reached a local high in 2007, it has been decreasing consistently since then. Figure: GDP growth of Egypt and Uganda This shows that there are certain factors that have affected the overall productivity in these countries. However, surprisingly level of HDI growth has improved in both countries after 2003. Sufficient information for HDI for both Egypt and Uganda has not been available for the years before 1999. Therefore, HDI in the countries during these years could not be compared. Figure: HDI growth of Egypt and Uganda This is a sharp increase and HDI has remained high since then without fluctuating. This reveals that although GDP is commonly considered the measure of growth, for many developing countries it does not reflect the true level of development of the economy. Hence, human development index should be considered while studying the level of economic development for these countries. In the analysis section, I have studied the level of openness to trade of the countries that display the most contrasting features. The contrasting characteristics of the two countries, Uganda and Cameroon, make it important to make an in depth study of the factors affecting the economic activities of these countries. According to the data, level of economic growth in Algeria, as depicted by the GDP growth of the country, has been high since the beginning of the 1960s. Data for HDI is not available for all consecutive years; information regarding HDI

Strategic Banking Issues Regulations and Profitability Essay

Strategic Banking Issues Regulations and Profitability - Essay Example There is a host of ideas about the probable cause of the financial crisis. The classical explanation is very clear. Financial crisis are the result of monetary excesses. Monetary excesses first create boom and then there is a bust. In the crisis of 2008, we had a housing boom and bust, and these in turn led to financial turmoil in the United States and rest of the world.The monetary policy was strategically loose. The interest rate setting based on macroeconomic variables had shifted significantly from the rates prescribed by the policy makers. The Federal Reserve said that the interest rates would be low for a considerable period and then would rise at a measured pace. These actions were irregular government interventions to reduce the fear of deflation that Japan had faced in the 1990s.There are a few competing explanations for the crisis. One of the arguments is called ‘Global Savings Glut.’ Proponents of this concept argue that the low interest rates in 2002-2004 wer e caused by global factors and thus monetary authorities have nothing to do. This alternative explanation focuses on global saving. It argues that there was an excess of world saving or a ‘global saving glut’ as they say and it pushed interest rates down in the United States and other countries. But the numbers from the International Monetary Fund says a different story. The numbers tells that the global savings rate as a percentage of world’s GDP in 2002-04 was very low compared to the 1970s and 1980s.... The Federal Reserve said that the interest rates would be low for a considerable period and then would rise at a measured pace. These actions were irregular government interventions to reduce the fear of deflation that Japan had faced in the 1990s (Taylor, 2009, pp. 3-4). There are a few competing explanations for the crisis. One of the arguments is called ‘Global Savings Glut.’ Proponents of this concept argue that the low interest rates in 2002-2004 were caused by global factors and thus monetary authorities have nothing to do. This alternative explanation focuses on global saving. It argues that there was an excess of world saving or a ‘global saving glut’ as they say and it pushed interest rates down in the United States and other countries. But the numbers from the International Monetary Fund says a different story. The numbers tells that the global savings rate as a percentage of world’s GDP in 2002-04 was very low compared to the 1970s and 1980 s (Taylor, 2009, pp. 5-6). The crisis started as the fall of subprime lending market. Here the monetary interaction with the subprime mortgage problem needs to be understood. In the summer of 2007, the United States first experienced a striking contraction in wealth. The risk spread increased, and the credit market deteriorated. The 2007 United States sub-prime crisis has its roots in falling housing prices and this led to higher default levels particularly among less credit-worthy borrowers. The impact of these defaults on the financial sector has been largely exaggerated due to the complex bundling of obligations that was thought to spread risk efficiently. Unfortunately, the ensuing tools were extremely