U.S. lagging in global development ranking

According to the Center for Global Development's 2008 Commitment to Development index (CDI), the United States ranks worse than nearly all of Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in promoting global prosperity. The only countries that perform worse than the U.S. are Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Japan and South Korea:

(Note: red - aid; blue - trade; orange - investment; purple - migration; green - environment; brown - security; yellow - technology). 

It will be most interesting to track how - if at all -  these figures shift in the face of America's economic slowdown.

Mobile money transfer service in Kenya

An interesting article in yesterday's FT speaks to the growing importance of telecoms as a tool for development in Africa:

The rise of the mobile phone as a bank account substitute in Africa was reinforced on Monday as Vodafone announced the launch of a cross-border mobile money transfer service between the UK and Kenya.

The service will allow remittances to be sent from selected Western Union branches in the UK to Safaricom subscribers in Kenya, who can then redeem the money or send it on to another mobile user. The maximum amount that can be transferred internationally is £200 ($296).

The service follows the success of M-PESA, amobile money transfer service in Kenya offered by Vodafone and Safaricom which has signed up over 4m customers since its launch in March 2007, and has been extended to Tanzania and Afghanistan.

M-PESA allows poor people without bank accounts to deposit, transfer and withdraw cash with their mobile phones. The service is often used by men who live and work in cities and send money to their wives and children in their home villages.

Good news on a Tuesday morning

Results of the latest malaria vaccine trials will be published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, and from the looks of it, the news is good -- fantastic, in fact. "We are closer than ever before to having a malaria vaccine for use by children in Africa," says Christian Lucq, director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

From, FP Passport

A Beijing bailout

NPR has an interesting piece on recent Chinese efforts to rescue small coastal export businesses who are hurting in light of the American slowdown in demand this holiday season: 

Official statistics show that thousands of factories in Guangdong province have gone bankrupt this year. In the latest flare-up of unrest, laid off toy factory workers protested in Dongguan on Nov. 25, flipping police cars and smashing company offices.

This has Beijing worried. It has decided to protect exports by increasing export tax rebates and halting the three-year-long appreciation of China's currency against the dollar. And local governments in the delta have used billions of dollars to bail out small and medium enterprises.

China's top economic planner, National Development and Reform Commission Director Zhang Ping, defended the bailouts at a recent press conference.

"Helping these companies get through their current difficulties is entirely necessary and appropriate," Zhang said. "Otherwise, if too many factories go bankrupt, it will lead to many workers losing their jobs, and could increase social tensions and unrest."

[HT: FP Passport]