From: purwinto@rodan.acs.syr.edu ()
Subject: Development News [12/18/92] - a forwarded msg
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 23:39:00 EST


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Message-Id:       <01GSGUUBHYN899ER12@mr.worldbank.org>     
Date: Fri,  18 Dec 1992 21:22:00 -0500 
Reply-To: Indonesian Development Studies  <PBDLIST@SUVM.SYR.EDU>  
From:  Iskandarsyah  Bakri 36345
Subject:      Development News 
To: Multiple recipients of  list PBDLIST <PBDLIST@SUVM.SYR.EDU>

Development  News               
Updated  On:Friday, December 18, 1992

      NAFTA SIGNED.  The North American Free Trade Accord,  which
creates  the  largest free trade zone in the world, was signed by
the leaders of the  United  States,  Mexico  and  Canada,  Agence
France-Presse reports.  NAFTA is supposed to eliminate all tariff
barriers among the three countries within 15 years  to  create  a
market  of  360  million  people with a Gross National Product of
about $6 trillion a year.  All major newspapers carry stories  of
the signing.

      TOP INDIAN OFFICIAL SAYS TURMOIL WON'T HURT REFORMS.  India
will  push  ahead  with bold economic reforms and introduce major
changes to labor policies next year despite recent political tur-
moil,  a  top  government  official  said  according  to Reuters.
"There is no  compromise  on  the  government's  position,"  said
Pranab  Mukherjee, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission who
has cabinet rank.  "Our system has  the  resilience  to  overcome
crises  like this and restore normality as early as possible," he
said.  "The impact of the disturbances on the economy is minimal.

      EBRD, ALBANIA SIGN LOAN AGREEMENT.  The European  Bank  for
Reconstruction and Development and the government of Albania have
signed a $10 million loan agreement for a telecommunications pro-
ject, FT (p.2) reports.  The loan will help finance that moderni-
zation and expansion of the telecommunications system in Albania.

      UNICEF CALLS FOR $25 BILLION FOR CHILDREN.  The United  Na-
tions  Children's  Fund (UNICEF) called for a popular movement to
raise $25 billion a year to meet children's needs for food, clean
water  and  basic  health  care, FT (p.5) reports.  Reaching this
target would lower birth rates, and save the lives of  more  than
four million children a year, UNICEF said in its annual "State of
the World's Children" report.  UNICEF calls for two thirds of the
$25  billion  to come from developing countries themselves.  This
could be achieved if governments spend 20 percent of their  budg-
ets  on  basics  such as food, water, sanitation, health care and
family planning, the report says.  It complains that at  present,
more  is  spent  on  the  military, and on debt servicing than on
health and education.  The report points out that in Africa,  the
toll on that continent's children is so great that it is imperil-
ling Africa's capacity to manage its development in  the  decades
to come.

      PAKISTAN FREEZES DEFENSE BUDGET.  The  Pakistan  government
has  decided to freeze its defense budget at its current level of
$3.2 billion, AFP reports.  The decision "is  in  line  with  our
desire to promote a climate of peace in South Asia as well as our
desire to allocate maximum resources for economic development," a
foreign ministry spokesman said.  The report says that Pakistan
 has been under pressure from international donor agencies, main-
ly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to cut its
budget deficit, estimated at $2.6 billion for the 1992-93  finan-
cial year ending June 30.

--Boundary (ID CwUz6rI7akSVUMwNiVwCcA)--

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-wien <purwinto@mailbox.syr.edu>