IN 2002, Solomon Islands’ economy was on its knees. Since then, gross national income per person in real dollar terms has nearly doubled. While part of this increase is due to the recovery of the economy from the upheaval that ended in 2003, a significant portion can be attributed to the Government of Solomon Islands’…
LATE last week, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement rejecting the Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s comments on the issue of West Papua and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). In his statement, Manasseh Sogavare proposes that the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) be given full membership to the MSG. He asserts…
ON the 27th April 2016, an EX PARTE INTERIM ORDER was executed by His Lordship Foukona Judge (HCC 176 of 2016) Restraining Richfield Timber Company Limited and Vungasilo Investment Limited (licensee) owned by Joseph Tausuli, a member of the Guadalcanal Provincial Executive from landing logging machinery and equipment on Vungasilo concession license area. The Order…
When anything goes wrong, there are always two explanations: blame it on bad luck or poor judgment. When an economy does badly in terms of poor rates of growth or inflation, economists put the blame on shocks: external or internal. When an economy does well in terms of high rates of growth or low inflation,…
ACCORDING to the WHO estimate released on April 21, 2014, a total of 774 lives were claimed in the SARS outbreak in 2003. Far beyond the nations where it claimed the most victims, SARS traumatized the world with vast economic disruptions, deeply impacting international trade and travel that year and in the nervous months that…
IN 2013, just three years ago, the majority of an estimated 289,000 women and about three million newborn babies died globally from preventable complications and illnesses. They could have been saved with proper antenatal, delivery and post-natal care – services provided by trained midwives. The world has seen a steady decline in maternal and newborn…
STAYING in touch with people now through the mediums of smart gadgets and new age technology has been fixed into our way of life here in the islands with an important role to our communities. Local people have been swept into the hype and need of owning a smart gadget, to be trendy, up to…
LAST week, the European Union (EU) observed 9 May as Europe Day. Sixty six years ago on 9 May 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, pleaded to fellow nations in the continent to unite and open a new chapter of peace and tranquility. The statement, known as Schuman Declaration , is considered a milestone…
The Chinese Renminbi Yet another advanced country is in the grip of fear of falling price level. On Tuesday, May 3, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) reduced its benchmark interest rate to 1.75 percent from 2.0 percent: the lowest rate ever. Interest rates charged by Australian banks for loans to consumers and businesses…
IMF loan for Saudi Arabia? Would you believe that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of oil needs temporary accommodation to meet dollar shortages and might go to IMF? The culprit is the tumbling oil price: a steep fall from US$115 a barrel in 2014 to US$43 a barrel now. Export earnings of oil exporting…