Hundreds killed in Central African Republic violence

At least 300 people have been killed in two days of violence in the capital city of the Central African Republic, the Red Cross has said.

The Red Cross said its staff stopped collecting bodies in capital city of Bangui as night fell but would resume over the weekend, and expected the toll to rise, a BBC report said late Friday.

Violence in the CAR has raised fears of mass killings along sectarian lines.

Meanwhile, hundreds of French troops are arriving here, as part of a UN effort to restore law and order.

France was hoping to have around 1,000 troops - doubling its current force - in the CAR by Friday evening.

It followed a UN Security Council vote to allow French troops to join an African peacekeeping force in the CAR.

Thursday's violence is thought to have begun when Christian militias, loyal to the CAR's ousted President Francois Bozize, launched multiple attacks from the north - sparking retaliatory attacks from mainly Muslim armed fighters loyal to the new leadership.

More: http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/hundreds-killed-in-central-african-republic-violence_894980.html

Africa must self-police, says Hollande as he sends in troops

Africa must take charge of its own security, President Francois Hollande told African leaders in Paris on Friday, as French troops were sent to the Central African Republic to quell sectarian killings.

Speaking at a two-day Africa-France peace and security summit at the Elysee Palace, Mr Hollande promised that France would be prepared to help establish a special African rapid-reaction force and would train up to 20,000 soldiers each year.

His pledge came as French forces killed several fighters near the airport of Bangui, the capital, on the first day of their UN-backed mission to restore order to the Central African Republic.

The clashes took place as France started deploying an additional 600 troops, doubling the force it already has in and around the capital.

Britain dispatched a C17 transport plane to support the French operation, with two more flights planned later this month. Germany also offered to send transport planes.

As the French soldiers entered Bangui, Mr Hollande told African leaders that the continent must ''ensure its own security''. ''A new era is opening,'' he said. ''Africa must take its destiny fully in hand, and to do so must take care of its security itself.'' France's military involvement in two former colonies this year – the Central African Republic and Mali – has raised questions over whether it is returning to the interventionist days of Francafrique, as France's opaque dealings in its former African colonies became known.

Given France's involvement in the Central African Republic, Mr Hollande, said, his call might sound ''surprising'', but he insisted: ''Times have changed. Relations can no longer be what they were in the past.''

Calling for a new military partnership between Africa and France in ''consulting, training, equipment and intelligence'', Mr Hollande said: ''France is ready to lend its full support to this force'', while insisting that only a ''holistic'' approach to security and economic development would succeed.

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa's foreign minister, said that Mr Hollande's call would have been welcomed by the late Nelson Mandela.

''Africa is not free until it is totally free from insecurity, from wars, from underdevelopment, from poverty and inequality. This is the befitting tribute to Madiba, to ... continue on this journey of discussing how we should continue working together to find African solutions to African problems.''

The Central African Republic has descended into chaos since rebels known as Seleka overthrew the government in March and installed Michel Djotodia as president – the first Muslim leader of the majority Christian country.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/africa-must-selfpolice-says-hollande-as-he-sends-in-troops-20131207-hv4r9.html#ixzz2ml8diGY4

IMF sees India growing slower than sub-Saharan Africa

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast economic growth for India to dip to 4.25% in the year to 31 March in its World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday, saying the economy would continue to underperform because of regulatory, infrastructural, and financing issues.

IMF also cut its estimate for global economic growth for the year to 31 December to 2.9% from the 3.1% it projected in July, largely because of deterioration of the economic prospects of emerging markets such as India and, to a lesser extent, China.

The two sets of numbers aren’t comparable because the Indian numbers are for gross domestic product at factor cost, which is what India’s government and economists prefer. The global numbers are at market price, which is what the Fund uses.

The multilateral agency expects the country’s growth to improve somewhat to 5% in the next fiscal year if exports strengthen and supply bottlenecks ease.
The 4.25% growth rate will be the lowest the Indian economy has grown at since 2002-03, when it expanded by 4%. Between 2004-05 and 2011-12, the economy expanded at an average of 8.3% every year.

The latest projection is less than the government’s estimate of GDP growth of 5-5.5%. IMF said robust farm production will be offset by an anaemic performance by the manufacturing and services sectors, and that the current monetary tightening will crimp domestic demand.

The finance ministry, in a quarterly review of the economy for the April-June period posted on its website, said current macroeconomic trends indicate that a combination of global and domestic developments is likely to result in a “shallow U” shaped recovery in 2013-14.
“Further, various high frequency indicators from the industrial sector such as industrial production, manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) and auto sales suggest that the sluggish trend in the industrial sector is likely to continue for some more time. IIP (Index of Industrial Production) based in-house forecast shows moderation in industrial output till October 2013 and modest recovery thereafter,” it added.

India’s economy grew by 4.4% in the three months ended 30 June, its slowest quarterly pace in four years. In 2012-13, economic growth at 5% was the slowest in a decade.

At market price, India’s economy will expand slower than that of sub-Saharan Africa. IMF shaved its 2013 GDP growth projection for India to 3.8% in terms of market price from 5.6% estimated in July.
The Asian Development Bank on 2 October slashed its growth forecast for India to 4.7% for 2013-14 from 6%. It expects economic growth in India to pick up in 2014-15 to 5.7%, down from the 6.5% projected earlier.

IMF said emerging market and developing economy growth rates are now down some three percentage points from 2010, with Brazil, China and India accounting for about two-thirds of the decline.

“Together with recent forecast disappointments, this growth decline has prompted further downgrades to medium-term output projections for emerging market economies,” IMF said.

The Fund said these reductions in potential growth point to some serious structural impediments.

“For example, India’s potential has been undermined by supply bottlenecks arising from problems in the regulatory framework for mining, energy, telecommunications and other sectors; a consequent slowdown in permits and project approvals; and overstretched corporate balance sheets,” it said. The current pressure on the economy has “put further premium” on fiscal consolidation and implementing structural reforms, the Fund added.

However, IMF reasoned that the current slowdown in India’s growth is a result of unwinding of earlier positive cyclical factors and should not be construed as permanent fall in the longer-term, steady-state growth rate.

India’s growth in 2018-19 will bounce back to 6.7%, which is the average of the past 15 years’ growth (1998-2013), it said.

IMF’s projection of growth of 6.7% by 2018-19 also means India’s potential growth rate is not 8-9%, according to D.K. Joshi, chief economist at Crisil Ltd, the credit rating agency.
“It is a pessimistic forecast,” Joshi said. “It also means the phase of high growth rate from 2003-04 to 2007-08 was a blip.”

However, if the government takes the right policy actions, growth could surprise on the upper side in the medium term, Joshi said.

The outlook in emerging Asia, including India, remains robust over the medium term, anchored by the steady rise in domestic demand, according to an economic forecast for southeast Asia, China and India released on Tuesday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a grouping of rich nations.

Although emerging Asia has made remarkable economic progress over the past four decades, some of the middle-income developing economies face difficult challenges to sustain their long-term growth and move beyond the middle-income trap, Mario Pezzini, director of the OECD Development Centre, said in a statement. “In the best scenario, if fundamental changes are applied, China and Thailand could become high-income countries within 20 years,” Pezzini said. “On the other hand, Vietnam and India will need more than 40 years to reach the high-income group.”

IMF said that in a number of economies, including Brazil, India and Indonesia, more monetary tightening may well be needed to address continued inflationary pressure from capacity constraints, which will likely be reinforced by recent currency depreciation. Since January, the rupee has weakened about 11% against the dollar and has lost the second most after Indonesian rupiah in Asia.

Credits: livemint