Africa

BRICS

BRICS countries have resolved to forge stronger economic ties with Africa and avail much needed financing for infrastructure development on the continent. Anil Sooklal, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, made the statement at a BRICS presentation in Gaborone, capital of Botswana on March 12. Sooklal said that the BRICS countries have resolved to form a New Development Bank (NDB) and they have agreed to individually contribute initial capital, which will be substantial and sufficient enough for the bank to be effective in financing infrastructure. He added that the NDB is aimed at supplementing existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development. This is in view of the fact that developing countries face challenges of infrastructure development due to insufficient long-term financing and foreign direct investment. The NDB is expected to have an initial investment capital of $50 billion from BRICS countries.

Senegal

Sino-Senegal

The country is seeking more cooperation with China's private sector, according to Macky Sall, President of Senegal, during a three-day visit to China late February. "When energy costs are very high, it affects the competitiveness of Senegal's economy. We therefore need financial support from our traditional Western partners, as well as from China, and from both public and private sectors, to create more jobs and to develop the infrastructure," said Sall, the first African leader invited to China by President Xi Jinping this year. Senegal is looking for an annual growth rate of 7 to 8 percent to establish itself as an emerging country by 2017, said the president.

Mauritius

Ranked

Mauritius was ranked first in the African Index on Economic Transformation and Depth, ahead of 20 other African countries including South Africa, Cote d'lvoire, Uganda, Kenya and Gabon, the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) showed in its latest report released earlier this March. Among the criteria considered by the ACET in country assessment were the diversification of production and exports, the export competitiveness and profits, increases in productivity, technological enhancement and "economic improvements in human well-being, particularly in expanding formal productive employment" as cited in the report. Mauritius ranked top in all indices except in productivity, where the resort island took second place and technologies, where came in 14th.

AfDB

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved $930 million to support Kenya's infrastructure development and to enhance the nation's job creation over the next five years. Gabriel Negatu, Regional Director for the AfDB's Eastern Africa Resource Center, said the Country Strategy Paper (CSP), approved by the board, articulated the Bank's priority areas of support to Kenya from 2014 to 2018. "To achieve our main objective, we have designed the CSP around two main pillars. We will continue to support the government's effort to enhance physical infrastructure to unleash inclusive growth and secondly, develop skills for the emerging labor market for Kenya's transforming economy," Negatu said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

Bladerunner Trial

Mozambique will retain its strong economic performance in 2014, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on March 14. The IMF has predicted an 8-percent

China

Urbanization

China unveiled an urbanization plan for the 2014-20 period in an effort to steer the country's urbanization onto a human-centered and environmentally friendly path. Urbanization is the road that China must take in its modernization drive, and it serves as a strong engine for sustainable and healthy economic growth, according to the plan released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, the country's cabinet, on March 16. Domestic demand is the fundamental impetus for China's development, and the greatest potential for expanding domestic demand lies in urbanization, according to the plan.

China

Wind

The Central Government called for more attention, investment and policy support to push the development of the nation's vocational education, according to the State Council's executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang in late February. The statement emphasized that local governments and authorities should lure more private investors and social entities to join in establishing tertiary and secondary vocational schools with favorable policies to "open more career opportunities for the youth." To better meet the labor market's demands, vocational schools should optimize their curriculum and training programs based on the skill requirements and work procedures of industry, the statement said. The opportunities for vocational students with technical certificates to obtain bachelor's and master's degrees at normal universities should also be increased, it added.

Unified

The State Council said the country will build a fair, unified and standardized pension system for its rural and urban population before 2020. The scheme, together with other social assistance and benefits, will better safeguard basic lives of the elderly, according to a cabinet document that seeks to unify the current basic pension systems. Under the new urban-rural resident pension scheme, residents' annually paid pension insurance, government subsidies and other contributions together form the fund pool, which will start paying pensions to residents after they reach the age of 60. Meanwhile, residents will be required to make insurance payments for 15 years before they receive monthly pensions. The higher the annual insurance payment, the more monthly pension a resident will receive.