How Jamaica Became the IMF’s Favourite Economy or became even an economic miracle

Recommendable! Highly indebted Western countries like the US should take notice!

Wirtschaftswunder Guyana: Wird der Kleinstaat der neue Krösus von Lateinamerika?

Gute Nachrichten!

"Bis vor kurzem war Guyana eines der ärmsten Länder Südamerikas. Das Pro-Kopf-Einkommen des Karibikstaates war kaum höher als jenes in Bolivien oder Nicaragua. Das änderte sich 2015, als der Ölkonzern ExxonMobil vor der Küste riesige Ölvorkommen entdeckte. Vier Jahre später begann das Unternehmen mit der Ölförderung. ...
Rund 650 000 Barrel pro Tag fördert Guyana heute – fast so viel wie Venezuela, das Nachbarland mit den grössten Erdölreserven der Welt. Pro Kopf seiner nur 800 000 Einwohner verfügt Guyana heute über die höchsten Reserven der Welt. ..."

Guyanas Ölboom: Kann das Land dem Ressourcenfluch entkommen? "Guyanas Wirtschaft wächst dank neu entdeckten Erdölfunden rasant. Beim Pro-Kopf-Einkommen hat der Kleinstaat Deutschland bereits überholt. Bei den Bürgern kommt das Geld allerdings nicht an."

Why India, unlike China, won’t be an economic superpower. Really!

What a joke by a leftist professor from Princeton University! His first name is even Ashoka!

This fool rests his argument on female workforce participation and the lack of empowerment of women in India. He glorifies communist China, because Chinese women enjoy more gender equality [this is more appearance than reality].

The claims by this author are so ridiculous I don't have to bother to counter them!

"... Rather than tax cuts or economic liberalisation, the World Bank report focused on a historical fact recently emphasised by Brown University economist Oded Galor. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, every instance of economic progress—the crux of which is sustained productivity growth—has been associated with investments in human capital and higher female workforce participation. ...

To be sure, market liberalisation greatly helped Chinese and Indian growth. But China built its successful development strategy on the twin pillars of human capital and gender equality, areas in which India has lagged far behind. ..."

Why India, unlike China, won’t be an economic superpower | The Strategist

The joker is also the author of this book

Polish incomes nearly quadrupled after Poland transitioned from socialism to market democracy between 1990-2019

The economic miracles of capitalism and free markets! A success story for the Polish people!

Remember: It was the Polish Pope John Paul II and the leadership of the Polish trade union Solidarność, which to use the enduring words of President Reagan contributed to "tear down this wall" (end of the Soviet Union)!

The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939–2019 | Fraser Institute

How Guyana Could Become the Richest Country in Latin America thanks to its huge crude oil reserves

Very recommendable! Will the economy of Guyana finally take off! G. has the potential to become the next Kuwait! G. has a population consisting of large numbers of descendants from Africa and India.

Venezuela is threatening G. with takeover.

Unfortunately, the video did not say anything about its two neighboring countries Suriname and French Guiana.

How Bangladesh Has Surpassed India and Pakistan

Very recommendable! An economic miracle! A great success story made possible by India in supporting East Pakistan to become an independent state.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement

Posted: 2/2/2019  Updated/revised: 7/17/2019, 5/19/2019, 3/9/2019, 2/23/2019

Update Of 7/17/2019

The Acton Institute just published this article about the AfCFTA: Africa strikes a free trade deal: Inside the deliberations

It reminded its readers that this great agreement finally overcomes the arbitrary and artificial borders imposed by the former colonial powers! Something, I was remiss to recognize here.

Next on the agenda appear to be rules for licensing and standardization across the 54 nations. If they do not commit the same foolish mistakes of Western countries, these African countries can move ahead with dizzying speed by e.g. by adopting reciprocity or other procedures of mutual benefit.

Update Of 5/19/2019

With the signing of Gambia in April, the AfCFTA is in effect now! This is a global game changer! Stay tuned!

Just read this recommendable article: Africa Just Created a Major Free Trade Bloc That Will Add Billions in Wealth. It also describes briefly how many of the African countries, after gaining independence from their colonial powers in the 1950s and 1960s, choose Marxism and socialism. We know what a colossal failure this turned out to be leaving hundreds of millions of Africans in abject poverty!  

“So far, 22 African Union member-states have ratified the free-trade area, and more are expected to join in the coming months. … After the west African nation The Gambia ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in April, the twenty-two-nation threshold needed for the trade pact to come into effect has now been reached.” (emphasis added)

Update Of 3/9/2019

Just read The Trade Deal That Could Spark Africa’s Industrial Revolution The enactment of the AfCFTA is fantastic news for the continent (published 3/7/2019)

According to this article 19 countries have by now ratified the agreement, 22 countries need to ratify for it to come into effect. This is very exciting news!

Here are some quotes from the above article (emphasis added):

1. “Rwandan President Paul Kagame proposed the AfCFTA last March. Since then, 52 of the 55 African Union (AU) members have endorsed the free-trade area.”
   [What a success story in such a short time!]
2. “Currently, only 18 percent of exports from African countries are traded within the continent. By comparison, intra-regional trade accounts for 69 percent and 59 percent of total exports in Europe and Asia, respectively. ”
   [Enormous potential for more intra-area trade!]

Original Post

Probably, the biggest event I have completely and regrettably missed in 2018. Has sub saharan Africa finally found a way out of widespread poverty? Some African countries are considered economic lions with significant economic growth year after year.

“The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a planned free trade area, outlined in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 49 of the 55 African Union nations. If the agreement is ratified, the free-trade area will be the largest in the world in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization.” (Source 2; emphasis added)

“The African Continental Free Trade Area does not come into effect until 22 of the signing countries ratify the agreement. As of January 2019, 18 countries had ratified the agreement.” (Source 2)

Keep in mind that the area of the African continent is larger than Canada, China, and the U.S. combined or six times larger than the entire EU.

If the African countries can pull off a successful free trade zone in Africa, then this would be an economic miracle. Wish them all the best!

Some Enablers

Perhaps, the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) of 2000 also helped to spur economic development in Africa. How about Bill & Melinda Gates?

Then, there was the unprecedented President George W. Bush global health initiative started in about 2003: $15 billion over five years to fight HIV in developing countries, primarily in Africa. This still ongoing program certainly had the ambition and enormity of the famous Marshall plan for post-war Europe. “PEPFAR has been called the biggest single disease global health initiative in history” (Source 3)

China too has become heavily involved in Africa with investments and business development.

Some Consequences

1. Population growth forecasts for Africa are seriously in need of downward revision
2. Tremendous prosperity and poverty relief through regional economic development
3. Less pressure for young Africans to migrate
4. The UK after Brexit is poised to take advantage of free trade with Africa

Sources:

1. How is AFRICA escaping POVERTY? - VisualPolitik
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Continental_Free_Trade_Area
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_Emergency_Plan_for_AIDS_Relief
4. https://www.pepfar.gov/
5. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/middle-east-and-africa/africas-overlooked-business-revolution

India Is Catching Up Fast!

Posted: 9/6/2018

Just read this amazing story: Two Years Ago, India Lacked Fast, Cheap Internet—One Billionaire Changed All That Mukesh Ambani’s national 4G network for Reliance Jio, which charges pennies for data, is bringing hundreds of millions online for the first time (hope it will not be behind a paywall; I was able to read whole story, but not a 2nd time)

India is catching up fast! Great story! Great entrepreneur! All this at a truly breathtaking speed! An economic miracle! Two thumbs up!

Some salient quotes from the article (emphasis added; risking copyright issues):

1. “India’s richest man is catapulting hundreds of millions of poor people straight into the mobile internet age.”
   [This is not an exaggeration]
2. “Mukesh Ambani, head of Reliance Industries, ... one of India’s largest conglomerates, has shelled out $35 billion of the company’s money to blanket the South Asian nation with its first all-4G network”
3. “Jio, which means “to live” in Hindi, has signed up 215 million subscribers since it went live in 2016, making it India’s No. 4 mobile provider, after Bharti Airtel Ltd. , with 345 million, Vodafone Group PLC and Idea Cellular Ltd.”
   [Competition is good!]
4. “Some rivals began rolling out 4G services in some cities, but Mr. Ambani wanted to build a network that would also cover more than 18,000 cities and towns and 200,000 villages, touching some places that didn’t have electricity yet. That required more than 200,000 cell towers and 150,000 miles of high-tech fiber-optic cable, ...”
5. “At the launch of service in September 2016, Jio made phone calls and text messages free for subscribers, and made unlimited data free for the first three months, eventually extending it to six months. After that, Jio’s data price would be a quarter the industry average.”
6. “Jio transmitted more data in the first year of its operation than any carrier ever world-wide, … . India last year surpassed the U.S. in the number of apps downloaded from the Google Play store, …. Monthly data traffic in India per user has jumped 570% in the two years since Jio launched ...”
7. “On a recent day at Jio’s sprawling tree-lined headquarters on the outskirts of Mumbai, its young staff of more than 25,000 … In one men’s bathroom, a sign on the mirror said, “You are looking at an innovator!””
   [What does the mirror in the ladies restroom say? Perhaps, you are looking at an entrepreneur?]