Chamber Commerce Comoros In

South Africa's GDP is expected to increase gradually during the next few years, and the government recently revised upward its 2005 estimated growth to 4.3%. Annual GDP growth between 1994 and 2004 averaged 3.0%. In 2003, real GDP growth slowed to a rate of 2.8%, but increased to 3.7% in 2004. The government estimates that the economy must achieve growth at a minimum of 6% to offset unemployment, which is estimated at 28%, although unofficial sources put it as high as 41%. In an effort to boost economic growth and spur job creation, the government has launched special investment corridors to promote development in specific regions and also is working to encourage small, medium, and microenterprise development. One of the great successes of the ANC government has been to get consumer inflation, which had been running in the double digits for over 20 years, under control. By 1998, inflation had fallen to 6.9%, and in 1999 and 2000 inflation was running at less than 6.0%. The rand's rapid ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

If Senegal ever succeeds in exporting textile products in the States under AGOA, Indosen will be a major player in this AGOA venture. Indosen is a vertically integrated textile complex made up of separate units located in three different towns in Senegal -- Kahone, Louga and Thies. The Kahone unit does spinning (3,000 tons per year), weaving (160 machines produce the drill), knitting and printing. The production is then trucked to the garment-making factory located 200 kilometers away in Louga.  Louga will employ 3,000 workers in 2004, producing 22 tons of T-shirts, polos and work clothes per day.  The two remaining units in Thies, FTT (Filatures Textiles de Thiès) and NSTS (Nouvelle Société Textile de Thiés), are yet to be re-opened.   Both are equipped with open-end spinning machines, and NSTS has additional weaving capacity. ... [Read More]

Africa

Kenya held successful multiparty general elections on December 27, 2002; election observers concluded the polling broadly reflected the popular will and was free and fair. For the first time since independence in 1963, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) lost the presidency and the majority of seats in Parliament. The National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), a grouping of opposition political parties and former KANU leaders, swept the presidential and parliamentary results. Torture continues to be a problem in Kenya. While the Constitution prohibits such acts, security forces continued during recent years to use torture and physical violence during interrogation and to punish both pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners. The Embassy provided a $1.4 million three-year grant to the U.S. International University to develop a training program and a comprehensive service-support system program for trauma and torture victims. USAID also a ... [Read More]

Country Reports: A-F

Afghanistan While Afghanistan is not a regional financial or banking center, its informal financial and credit system is extremely robust in scope and scale. Afghanistan is a major drug transit and drug producing country. Afghanistan recently passed anti-money laundering and terrorist financing legislation, and many efforts are being made to strengthen police and customs forces. However, there remain few resources and little expertise to combat financial crimes, or to produce meaningful financial intelligence. The most fundamental obstacles continue to be legal, cultural and historical factors that many times conflict with more Western-style proposed reforms to the financial sector generally. In early 2004, the Central Bank of Afghanistan, Da Afghanistan Bank ( ... [Read More]

International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports

FINANCIAL CRIMES AND MONEY LAUNDERINGMONEY LAUNDERINGOVERVIEWIn 1992, the major trends affecting money laundering policy were: (1) further sophistication of money laundering practices; (2) greater investment of drug and other illicit proceeds into established businesses, both to conceal money movements and to capitalize on illicit profits; (3) the internationalization of money laundering networks whose operations involve an ever larger number of countries and territories, regardless of their importance as financial centers or as drug producing or transit countries; and (4) the intensified involvement of the Sicilian Mafia and other criminal organizations in Europe, Asia and the Western Hemisphere who comingle proceeds from many crimes to confound investigators, and are now acting as brokers for funds unrelated to their own trafficking activities. These trends have made it more difficult to differentiate between drug-related money laundering and other forms of illegal money m ... [Read More]

International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports

US DEPARTMENT OF STATEBUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS MATTERSINTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRAGEGY REPORTAPRIL 1994FINANCIAL CRIMES AND MONEY LAUNDERING1994 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORTINTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERINGOVERVIEWIntelligence findings from North and South America, Eastern and Western Europe, South and East Asia, Africa and the Middle East confirm that another significant shift has occurred in money laundering trends and methods, requiring changes in policy and strategy for 1994.The critical aspects are the volume of non-drug related money laundering; increased investment of illegal proceeds in legitimate business, including the financial industry; and the targeting of financial systems in countries/territories (some with little or no domestic involvement in drug trading or other serious proceeds-generating crimes) to launder drug and other proceeds generated by crimes committed in other jurisdictions.In 1988, when the United Nations Convention was ... [Read More]