1.
ISO 4217
–
The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
2.
Currency symbol
–
A currency symbol is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currencys name, especially in reference to amounts of money. The European Commission considers the global recognition of the euro sign € part of its success, in 2009, India launched a public competition to replace the ₨ ligature it shared with neighbouring countries. It finalised its new symbol, ₹ on 15 July 2010. It is a blend of the Latin letter R with the Devanagari letter र, when writing currency amounts the location of the symbol varies by currency. Many currencies in the English-speaking world and Latin America, place it before the amount, the Cape Verdean escudo places its symbol in the decimal separator position. The usage of many European countries, such as France, Germany, the decimal separator also follows local countries standards. For instance, the United Kingdom often uses an interpunct as the point on price stickers. Commas or decimal points are common separators used in other countries, see decimal separator for information on international standards. Older currency symbols have evolved slowly, often from previous currencies, the dollar and peso symbols originated from the mark employed to denote the Spanish real de a ocho, whereas the pound and lira symbols evolved from an L standing for libra, a Roman pound of silver. Newly invented currencies and currencies adopting new symbols have symbolism closer to their adopter, the added center bar in the real sign is meant to symbolize stability. The new Indian rupee symbol, ₹, is a combination of Latin. There are also considerations, such as the perception of the business community. For a new symbol to be used, software to render it needs to be promulgated, the EU was criticized for not considering how the euro symbol would need to be customized to work in different fonts. The original design was exceptionally wide. These two factors have led to most typefaces employing customized, font-specific versions, usually with reduced width, List of currencies List of circulating currencies Currency Symbols
3.
International Monetary Fund
–
The International Monetary Fund is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D. C. It now plays a role in the management of balance of payments difficulties. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. As of 2016, the fund had SDR477 billion, the rationale for this is that private international capital markets function imperfectly and many countries have limited access to financial markets. The IMF provides alternate sources of financing and this assistance was meant to prevent the spread of international economic crises. The IMF was also intended to help mend the pieces of the economy after the Great Depression. As well, to provide investments for economic growth and projects such as infrastructure. The IMFs role was altered by the floating exchange rates post-1971. It shifted to examining the economic policies of countries with IMF loan agreements to determine if a shortage of capital was due to economic fluctuations or economic policy, the IMF also researched what types of government policy would ensure economic recovery. Rather than maintaining a position of oversight of only exchange rates and their role became a lot more active because the IMF now manages economic policy rather than just exchange rates. In addition, the IMF negotiates conditions on lending and loans under their policy of conditionality, nonconcessional loans, which include interest rates, are provided mainly through Stand-By Arrangements, the Flexible Credit Line, the Precautionary and Liquidity Line, and the Extended Fund Facility. The IMF provides emergency assistance via the Rapid Financing Instrument to members facing urgent balance-of-payments needs, the IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary and financial system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its member countries. This activity is known as surveillance and facilitates international cooperation, the responsibilities changed from those of guardian to those of overseer of members’ policies. In 1995 the International Monetary Fund began work on data dissemination standards with the view of guiding IMF member countries to disseminate their economic and financial data to the public. The executive board approved the SDDS and GDDS in 1996 and 1997 respectively, the system is aimed primarily at statisticians and aims to improve many aspects of statistical systems in a country. It is also part of the World Bank Millennium Development Goals, some countries initially used the GDDS, but later upgraded to SDDS. The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in the form of policy reform, if the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld. The concept of conditionality was introduced in a 1952 Executive Board decision, conditionality is associated with economic theory as well as an enforcement mechanism for repayment
4.
Fixed exchange-rate system
–
There are benefits and risks to using a fixed exchange rate. In doing so, the rate between the currency and its peg does not change based on market conditions, the way floating currencies do. A fixed exchange-rate system can also be used as a means to control the behavior of a currency, however, in doing so, the pegged currency is then controlled by its reference value. In other words, a currency is dependent on its reference value to dictate how its current worth is defined at any given time. The central bank provides the assets and/or the foreign currency or currencies which are needed in order to any payments imbalances. In the 21st century, the associated with large economies typically do not fix or peg exchange rates to other currencies. The last large economy to use a fixed exchange system was the Peoples Republic of China which, in July 2005. The European Exchange Rate Mechanism is also used on a basis to establish a final conversion rate against the Euro from the local currencies of countries joining the Eurozone. The gold standard or gold standard of fixed exchange rates prevailed from about 1870 to 1914. The period between the two wars was transitory, with the Bretton Woods system emerging as the new fixed exchange rate regime in the aftermath of World War II. It was formed with an intent to rebuild war-ravaged nations after World War II through a series of currency stabilization programs, the early 1970s saw the breakdown of the system and its replacement by a mixture of fluctuating and fixed exchange rates. Timeline of the exchange rate system, The earliest establishment of a gold standard was in the United Kingdom in 1821 followed by Australia in 1852. Under this system, the value of all currencies was denominated in terms of gold with central banks ready to buy. Each central bank maintained gold reserves as their official reserve asset, for example, during the “classical” gold standard period, the U. S. dollar was defined as 0.048 troy oz. of pure gold. Following the Second World War, the Bretton Woods system replaced gold with the U. S. dollar as the reserve asset. The regime intended to combine binding legal obligations with multilateral decision-making through the International Monetary Fund, the rules of this system were set forth in the articles of agreement of the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. S. Dollar and to exchange rates within 1% of parity by intervening in their foreign exchange markets. In December 1971, the Smithsonian Agreement paved the way for the increase in the value of the price of gold from US$35.50 to US$38 an ounce
5.
United States dollar
–
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
6.
Euro
–
Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally,210 million people worldwide as of 2013 use currencies pegged to the euro, the euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The name euro was adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.8252 within two years, it has traded above the U. S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.6038 on 18 July 2008. In July 2012, the euro fell below US$1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spains troubled banking sector, as of 26 March 2017, the euro–dollar exchange rate stands at ~ US$1.07. The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, as an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all states. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, all nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Since 5 January 2002, the central banks and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Euro banknotes do not show which central bank issued them, Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice, the ECBs banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs and these liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The euro is divided into 100 cents, in Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a side showing the denomination or value. Due to the plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, beginning in 2007 or 2008 the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the Union like Norway
7.
Renminbi
–
The renminbi /ˌrɛnmɪnˈbiː/ is the official currency of the Peoples Republic of China. The yuan is the unit of the renminbi, but is also used to refer to the Chinese currency in general. The distinction between the terms renminbi and yuan is similar to that between sterling and pound, which refer to the British currency and its primary unit. One yuan is subdivided into 10 jiao, and a jiao in turn is subdivided into 10 fen, the ISO code for renminbi is CNY, or also CNH when traded in off-shore markets such as Hong Kong. The currency is often abbreviated RMB, or indicated by the yuan sign ¥, in Chinese texts the currency may also be indicated with the Chinese character for the yuan, 圆. The renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau, renminbi is sometimes accepted in Hong Kong and Macau, and are easily exchanged in the two territories, with banks in Hong Kong allowing people to maintain accounts in RMB. The currency is issued by the Peoples Bank of China, the authority of China. Until 2005, the value of the renminbi was pegged to the US dollar and it has previously been claimed that the renminbis official exchange rate was undervalued by as much as 37. 5% against its purchasing power parity. Since 2006, the exchange rate has been allowed to float in a narrow margin around a fixed base rate determined with reference to a basket of world currencies. The Chinese government has announced that it gradually increase the flexibility of the exchange rate. As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it became the worlds 8th most traded currency in 2013, and 5th in 2015. On 1 October 2016, the RMB became the first emerging market currency to be included in the IMFs special drawing rights basket, a variety of currencies circulated in China during the Republic of China era, most of which were denominated in the unit yuán. Each was distinguished by a name, such as the fabi, the gold yuan. During the era of the economy, the value of the renminbi was set to unrealistic values in exchange with western currency. The unrealistic levels at which exchange rates were pegged led to a black market in currency transactions. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, China worked to make the RMB more convertible, through the use of swap centres, the exchange rate was brought to realistic levels and the dual track currency system was abolished. As of 2013, the renminbi is convertible on current accounts, the ultimate goal has been to make the RMB fully convertible. From 1949 until the late 1970s, the state fixed Chinas exchange rate at a highly overvalued level as part of the countrys import -substitution strategy
8.
Japanese yen
–
The yen is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the exchange market after the United States dollar. It is also used as a reserve currency after the U. S. dollar, the euro. Before the Meiji Restoration, Japans feudal fiefs all issued their own money, hansatsu, in an array of incompatible denominations. The New Currency Act of 1871 did away with these and established the yen, the former han became prefectures and their mints private chartered banks, which initially retained the right to print money. To bring an end to this situation the Bank of Japan was founded in 1882, following World War II the yen lost much of its prewar value. To stabilize the Japanese economy the exchange rate of the yen was fixed at ¥360 per $1 as part of the Bretton Woods system, when that system was abandoned in 1971, the yen became undervalued and was allowed to float. The yen had appreciated to a peak of ¥271 per $1 in 1973, then underwent periods of depreciation and appreciation due to the 1973 oil crisis, arriving at a value of ¥227 per $1 by 1980. Since 1973, the Japanese government has maintained a policy of intervention. The Japanese government focuses on an export market, and tries to ensure a low yen value through a trade surplus. Since that time, however, the yen has greatly decreased in value, the Bank of Japan maintains a policy of zero to near-zero interest rates and the Japanese government has an extreme anti-inflation policy. Yen derives from the Japanese word 圓, which is cognate with the Chinese yuan, originally, the Chinese had traded silver in mass called sycees and when Spanish and Mexican silver coins arrived, the Chinese called them silver rounds for their circular shapes. The coins and the name appeared in Japan. While the Chinese eventually replaced 圓 with 元, the Japanese continued to use the same word, the spelling and pronunciation yen is standard in English. This is because mainly English speakers who visited Japan at the end of the Edo period to the early Meiji period spelled words this way, ゑん /wen/ in historical kana orthography. In the 16th century, Japanese /e/ and /we/ both had been pronounced and Portuguese missionaries had spelled them ye, some time thereafter, by the middle of the 18th century, /e/ and /we/ came to be pronounced as in modern Japanese, although some regions retain the pronunciation. In the early Meiji era, James Curtis Hepburn, following Medhurst, spelled all es as ye in his A Japanese and that was the first full-scale Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionary, which had a strong influence on Westerners in Japan and probably prompted the spelling yen. Hepburn revised most of yes to e in the 3rd edition in order to mirror the contemporary pronunciation and this was probably already fixed and has remained so ever since
9.
Pound sterling
–
It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
10.
Foreign-exchange reserves
–
Reserves are held in one or more reserve currency, mostly the United States dollar and to a lesser extent the Japanese yen. In a strict sense, foreign-exchange reserves should only include foreign banknotes, foreign bank deposits, foreign treasury bills, however, the term in popular usage commonly also adds gold reserves, special drawing rights, and International Monetary Fund reserve positions. This broader figure is readily available, but it is more accurately termed official international reserves or international reserves. Foreign-exchange reserves are called reserve assets in the balance of payments and are located in the capital account, hence, they are usually an important part of the international investment position of a country. The reserves are labeled as reserve assets under assets by functional category, there is no counterpart for reserve assets in liabilities of the International Investment Position. Usually, when the authority of a country has some kind of liability. In the Central Bank’s Balance Sheet, foreign reserves are assets. Official international reserves assets allow a bank to purchase the domestic currency. This is known as Trilemma or Impossible trinity, hence, in a world of perfect capital mobility, a country with fixed exchange rate would not be able to execute an independent monetary policy. Under perfect capital mobility, the change in reserves is a temporary measure, hence, in the long term, the monetary policy has to be adjusted in order to be compatible with that of the country of the base currency. Without that, the country will experience outflows or inflows of capital, fixed pegs were usually used as a form of monetary policy, since attaching the domestic currency to a currency of a country with lower levels of inflation should usually assure convergence of prices. In a pure flexible exchange rate regime or floating exchange rate regime, theoretically, in this case reserves are not necessary. Other instruments of policy are generally used, such as interest rates in the context of an inflation targeting regime. Also, he valued the role of exchange rate as a price, mixed exchange rate regimes may require the use of foreign exchange operations to maintain the targeted exchange rate within the prescribed limits, such as fixed exchange rate regimes. As seen above, there is a relation between exchange rate policy and monetary policy. Foreign exchange operations can be sterilized or unsterilized, non-sterilization will cause an expansion or contraction in the amount of domestic currency in circulation, and hence directly affect inflation and monetary policy. Since the domestic money supply is increasing, this may provoke domestic inflation, also, some central banks may let the exchange rate appreciate to control inflation, usually by the channel of cheapening tradable goods. Since the amount of reserves available to defend a weak currency is limited
11.
Gold as an investment
–
Of all the precious metals, gold is the most popular as an investment. Investors generally buy gold as a way of diversifying risk, especially through the use of futures contracts, the gold market is subject to speculation and volatility as are other markets. Compared to other metals used for investment, gold has the most effective safe haven. Gold has been used throughout history as money and has been a standard for currency equivalents specific to economic regions or countries. Many European countries implemented gold standards in the part of the 19th century until these were temporarily suspended in the financial crises involving World War I. After World War II, the Bretton Woods system pegged the United States dollar to gold at a rate of US$35 per troy ounce. The system existed until the 1971 Nixon Shock, when the US unilaterally suspended the convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. The last currency to be divorced from gold was the Swiss Franc in 2000, furthermore, gold is traded continuously throughout the world based on the intra-day spot price, derived from over-the-counter gold-trading markets around the world. However unlike most other commodities, saving and disposal plays a role in affecting its price than its consumption. At the end of 2006, it was estimated that all the gold ever mined totalled 158,000 tonnes, the investor Warren Buffett has said that the total amount of gold in the world that is above-ground, could fit into a cube with sides of just 20 metres. However estimates for the amount of gold that exists today vary significantly, given the huge quantity of gold stored above-ground compared to the annual production, the price of gold is mainly affected by changes in sentiment, rather than changes in annual production. According to the World Gold Council, annual production of gold over the last few years has been close to 2,500 tonnes. About 2,000 tonnes goes into jewelry or industrial/dental production, Central banks and the International Monetary Fund play an important role in the gold price. At the end of 2004 central banks and official organizations held 19 percent of all above-ground gold as gold reserves. The ten-year Washington Agreement on Gold, which dates from September 1999, European central banks, such as the Bank of England and Swiss National Bank, were key sellers of gold over this period. In 2009, this agreement was extended for a five years. Although central banks do not generally announce gold purchases in advance, some, in early 2006, China, which only holds 1. 3% of its reserves in gold, announced that it was looking for ways to improve the returns on its official reserves. Some bulls hope that this signals that China might reposition more of its holdings into gold in line with other Central Banks, chinese investors began pursuing investment in gold as an alternative to investment in the Euro after the beginning of the Eurozone crisis in 2011
12.
Currency
–
A currency in the most specific use of the word refers to money in any form when in actual use or circulation as a medium of exchange, especially circulating banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use, under this definition, US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, and European euros are examples of currency. These various currencies are recognized stores of value and are traded between nations in exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are defined by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance, other definitions of the term currency are discussed in their respective synonymous articles banknote, coin, and money. The latter definition, pertaining to the systems of nations, is the topic of this article. Currencies can be classified into two systems, fiat money and commodity money, depending on what guarantees the value. Some currencies are legal tender in certain jurisdictions, which means they cannot be refused as payment for debt. Others are simply traded for their economic value, digital currency has arisen with the popularity of computers and the Internet. Currency evolved from two basic innovations, both of which had occurred by 2000 BC, originally money was a form of receipt, representing grain stored in temple granaries in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia, then Ancient Egypt. In this first stage of currency, metals were used as symbols to represent value stored in the form of commodities and this formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years. Trade could only reach as far as the credibility of that military and it is not known what was used as a currency for these exchanges, but it is thought that ox-hide shaped ingots of copper, produced in Cyprus, may have functioned as a currency. It is thought that the increase in piracy and raiding associated with the Bronze Age collapse, possibly produced by the Peoples of the Sea, brought the trading system of oxhide ingots to an end. In Africa, many forms of value store have been used, including beads, ingots, ivory, various forms of weapons, livestock, the manilla currency, the manilla rings of West Africa were one of the currencies used from the 15th century onwards to sell slaves. African currency is still notable for its variety, and in many various forms of barter still apply. These factors led to the metal itself being the store of value, first silver, now we have copper coins and other non-precious metals as coins. Metals were mined, weighed, and stamped into coins and this was to assure the individual taking the coin that he was getting a certain known weight of precious metal. Coins could be counterfeited, but they created a new unit of account. Most major economies using coinage had several tiers of coins, using a mix of copper, silver, gold coins were used for large purchases, payment of the military and backing of state activities, they were more often used as measures of account than physical coins
13.
Yuan (currency)
–
The yuan is the base unit of a number of former and present-day Chinese currencies, and usually refers to the primary unit of account of the renminbi, the currency of the Peoples Republic of China. It is also used as a synonym of that currency, especially in international contexts – the ISO4217 standard code for renminbi is CNY, a yuan is also known colloquially as a kuai. One yuan is divided into 10 jiao or colloquially mao, one jiao is divided into 10 fen. When used in English in the context of the foreign exchange market, the Chinese yuan refers to the renminbi. Having been in use for at least 2000 years, the yuan was probably the first decimal currency system and it is also considered the first to use metal coins and bank notes. In Standard Chinese, yuán literally means an object or round coin. During the Qing Dynasty, the yuan was a coin made of silver. In informal contexts, the word is written with the simplified Chinese character 元, in formal contexts it is written with the simplified character 圆 or with the traditional version 圓, both meaning round, after the shape of the coins. These are all pronounced yuán in modern Standard Chinese, but were originally pronounced differently, in the Peoples Republic of China, ￥ or RMB is often prefixed to the amount to indicate that the currency is the renminbi. In many parts of China, the unit of renminbi is sometimes colloquially called kuài rather than yuán, in Cantonese, widely spoken in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macau, the yuan, jiao, and fen are called mān, hòuh, and sīn, respectively. Sīn is a word from the English cent. The traditional character 圓 is also used to denote the Hong Kong dollar, the Macanese pataca, however, they do not share the same names for the subdivisions. The New Taiwan dollar is referred to in Standard Chinese as yuán. The names of the Korean and Japanese currency units, won and yen respectively, are cognates of Mandarin yuán, also meaning round in the Korean and Japanese languages. The Japanese yen was also written with the kanji character 圓. The Korean won used to be written with the hanja character 圜 from 1902 to 1910 and it is now written as 원 in Hangul exclusively, in both North and South Korea. It was subdivided into 1000 cash,100 cents or fen and it replaced copper cash and various silver ingots called sycees. The sycees were denominated in tael, the yuan was valued at 0.72 tael
14.
Security (finance)
–
A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of instrument. In some jurisdictions the term specifically excludes financial instruments other than equities, in some jurisdictions it includes some instruments that are close to equities and fixed income, e. g. equity warrants. In the United States, a security is a financial asset of any kind. Securities are broadly categorized into, debt securities equity securities derivatives, the company or other entity issuing the security is called the issuer. A countrys regulatory structure determines what qualifies as a security, for example, private investment pools may have some features of securities, but they may not be registered or regulated as such if they meet various restrictions. Securities may be represented by a certificate or, more typically, non-certificated, region or country Market capitalization State Securities are the traditional way that commercial enterprises raise new capital. These may be an alternative to bank loans depending on their pricing. Another disadvantage of bank loans as a source of financing is that the bank may seek a measure of protection against default by the borrower via extensive financial covenants, through securities, capital is provided by investors who purchase the securities upon their initial issuance. In a similar way, a government may issue securities too when it needs to increase government debt, investors in securities may be retail, i. e. members of the public investing other than by way of business. The greatest part of investment, in terms of volume, is wholesale, i. e. by financial institutions acting on their own account, important institutional investors include investment banks, insurance companies, pension funds and other managed funds. The traditional economic function of the purchase of securities is investment, debt securities generally offer a higher rate of interest than bank deposits, and equities may offer the prospect of capital growth. Equity investment may also control of the business of the issuer. Debt holdings may also offer some measure of control to the if the company is a fledgling start-up or an old giant undergoing restructuring. In these cases, if interest payments are missed, the creditors may take control of the company, the last decade has seen an enormous growth in the use of securities as collateral. Purchasing securities with borrowed money secured by other securities or cash itself is called buying on margin, where A is owed a debt or other obligation by B, A may require B to deliver property rights in securities to A, either at inception or only in default. Collateral arrangements are divided into two categories, namely security interests and outright collateral transfers. Commonly, commercial banks, investment banks, government agencies and other investors such as mutual funds are significant collateral takers as well as providers
15.
Bretton Woods system
–
The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent nation-states. Also, there was a need to address the lack of cooperation among other countries, the delegates deliberated during 1–22 July 1944, and signed the Bretton Woods agreement on its final day. The United States, which controlled two thirds of the gold, insisted that the Bretton Woods system rest on both gold and the US dollar. Soviet representatives attended the conference but later declined to ratify the final agreements and these organizations became operational in 1945 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified the agreement. On 15 August 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively bringing the Bretton Woods system to an end and rendering the dollar a fiat currency. This action, referred to as the Nixon shock, created the situation in which the US dollar became a currency used by many states. At the same time, many fixed currencies also became free-floating, there was a high level of agreement among the powerful nations that failure to coordinate exchange rates during the interwar period had exacerbated political tensions. This facilitated the decisions reached by the Bretton Woods Conference, furthermore, all the participating governments at Bretton Woods agreed that the monetary chaos of the interwar period had yielded several valuable lessons. The experience of World War II was fresh in the minds of public officials, the planners at Bretton Woods hoped to avoid a repeat of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, which had created enough economic and political tension to lead to WWII. The solution at Versailles for the French, British, and Americans seemed to be make Germany pay for it all, if the demands on Germany were unrealistic, then it was unrealistic for France to pay back Britain, and for Britain to pay back the US. Thus, many assets on bank balance sheets internationally were actually unrecoverable loans, in the 1920s, international flows of speculative financial capital increased, leading to extremes in balance of payments situations in various European countries and the US. In the 1930s, world markets never broke through the barriers and restrictions on trade and investment volume – barriers haphazardly constructed. The lesson was that simply having responsible, hard-working central bankers was not enough, Britain in the 1930s had an exclusionary trading bloc with nations of the British Empire known as the Sterling Area. If Britain imported more than it exported to, say, South Africa and this meant that though Britain was running a trade deficit, it had a financial account surplus, and payments balanced. Increasingly, Britains positive balance of payments required keeping the wealth of Empire nations in British banks, one incentive for, say, South African holders of rand to park their wealth in London and to keep the money in Sterling, was a strongly valued pound sterling. Unfortunately, as Britain deindustrialized in the 1920s, the way out of the deficit was to devalue the currency. But Britain couldnt devalue, or the Empire surplus would leave its banking system, nazi Germany also worked with a bloc of controlled nations by 1940. Germany forced trading partners with a surplus to spend that surplus importing products from Germany, thus, Britain survived by keeping Sterling nation surpluses in its banking system, and Germany survived by forcing trading partners to purchase its own products
16.
Gold
–
Gold is a chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79. In its purest form, it is a bright, slightly yellow, dense, soft, malleable. Chemically, gold is a metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions, Gold often occurs in free elemental form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins, and in alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the element silver and also naturally alloyed with copper. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium, golds atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher numbered, naturally occurring elements. It is thought to have produced in supernova nucleosynthesis, from the collision of neutron stars. Because the Earth was molten when it was formed, almost all of the present in the early Earth probably sank into the planetary core. Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of acid and hydrochloric acid. Gold also dissolves in solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but this is not a chemical reaction, as a precious metal, gold has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. A total of 186,700 tonnes of gold is in existence above ground, the world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. Gold is also used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine. As of 2014, the worlds largest gold producer by far was China with 450 tonnes, Gold is cognate with similar words in many Germanic languages, deriving via Proto-Germanic *gulþą from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. The symbol Au is from the Latin, aurum, the Latin word for gold, the Proto-Indo-European ancestor of aurum was *h₂é-h₂us-o-, meaning glow. This word is derived from the root as *h₂éu̯sōs, the ancestor of the Latin word Aurora. This etymological relationship is presumably behind the frequent claim in scientific publications that aurum meant shining dawn, Gold is the most malleable of all metals, a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, and an avoirdupois ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be thin enough to become semi-transparent
17.
Developed country
–
Which criteria are to be used and which countries can be classified as being developed are subjects of debate. Developed countries have post-industrial economies, meaning the sector provides more wealth than the industrial sector. They are contrasted with developing countries, which are in the process of industrialization, or undeveloped countries, which are pre-industrial and almost entirely agrarian. As of 2015, advanced economies comprise 60. 8% of global GDP based on values and 42. 9% of global GDP based on purchasing-power parity according to the International Monetary Fund. In 2015, the ten largest advanced economies by GDP in both nominal and PPP terms were Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The term industrialized country may be ambiguous, as industrialization is an ongoing process that is hard to define. The first industrialized country was the United Kingdom, followed by Belgium, later it spread further to Germany, United States, France and other Western European countries. According to some such as Jeffrey Sachs, however, the current divide between the developed and developing world is largely a phenomenon of the 20th century. Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions, one such criterion is income per capita, countries with high gross domestic product per capita would thus be described as developed countries. Another economic criterion is industrialization, countries in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors of industry dominate would thus be described as developed. More recently another measure, the Human Development Index, which combines an economic measure, national income, with other measures, indices for life expectancy and this criterion would define developed countries as those with a very high rating. According to the United Nations Statistics Division, There is no established convention for the designation of developed, the UN HDI is a statistical measure that gauges a countrys level of human development. While there is a correlation between having a high HDI score and a prosperous economy, the UN points out that the HDI accounts for more than income or productivity. Unlike GDP per capita or per capita income, the HDI takes into account how income is turned into education and health opportunities, since 1990, Norway, Japan, Canada and Iceland have had the highest HDI score. The top 47 countries have scores ranging from 0.793 in Barbados to 0.955 in Norway, many countries listed by IMF or CIA as advanced, possess an HDI over 0.788. Many countries possessing an HDI of 0.788 and over are also listed by IMF or CIA as advanced, thus, many advanced economies are characterized by an HDI score of 0.9 or higher. Since April 2016, the IMF classifies Macau as an advanced economy, the latest index was released on 14 December 2015 and covers the period up to 2014. The following are the 49 countries in the top quartile - having an HDI above 0.8, = Increase = No increase or decrease = Decrease The number in parentheses represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in 2014 report
18.
Developing country
–
Also, the general term less-developed country should not be confused with the specific least developed country. The term developing describes a currently observed situation and not a dynamic or expected direction of progress, since the late 1990s developing countries tended to demonstrate higher growth rates than the developed ones. There is criticism of the use of the developing country. The term implies inferiority of a country or undeveloped country compared with a developed country. It assumes a desire to develop along the traditional Western model of development which a few countries, such as Cuba and Bhutan. An alternative measurement that has suggested is that of gross national happiness. Countries on the boundary between developed and developing are often categorized under the newly industrialized countries. In the 2016 edition of its World Development Indicators, the World Bank made a decision to no longer distinguish between “developed” and “developing” countries in the presentation of its data, nobody has ever agreed on a definition for these terms in the first place. Various terms are used for whatever is not a developed country, terms used include less developed country or less economically developed country, and for the more extreme, least developed country or least economically developed country. But according to the United Nations Statistics Division, There is no established convention for the designation of developed, the World Bank classifies countries into four income groups. These are set each year on July 1, economies were divided according to 2016 GNI per capita using the following ranges of income, Low income countries had GNI per capita of US$1,025 or less. Lower middle income countries had GNI per capita between US$1,026 and US$4,035, upper middle income countries had GNI per capita between US$4,036 and US$12,475. High income countries had GNI per capita above US$12,476 and this may be by absolute numbers or country ranking. The UN has developed the Human Development Index, an indicator of the above statistics. The UN sets Millennium Development Goals from a blueprint developed by all of the countries and leading development institutions. There is an association between low income and high population growth. The terms utilized when discussing developing countries refer to the intent, other terms sometimes used are less developed countries, least economically developed countries, underdeveloped nations or Third World nations, and non-industrialized nations. Conversely, developed countries, most economically developed countries, First World nations and that is, LEDCs are the poorest subset of LDCs
19.
Market liquidity
–
In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is a markets ability to purchase or sell an asset without causing drastic change in the assets price. Equivalently, a market liquidity describes the assets ability to sell quickly without having to reduce its price to a significant degree. Liquidity is about how big the trade-off is between the speed of the sale and the price it can be sold for, in a liquid market, the trade-off is mild, selling quickly will not reduce the price much. In a relatively illiquid market, selling it quickly will require cutting its price by some amount, money, or cash, is the most liquid asset, because it can be sold for goods and services instantly with no loss of value. There is no wait for a buyer of the cash. There is no trade-off between speed and value and it can be used immediately to perform economic actions like buying, selling, or paying debt, meeting immediate wants and needs. If an asset is moderately liquid, it has moderate liquidity, in an alternative definition, liquidity can mean the amount of cash and cash equivalents. If a business has moderate liquidity, it has an amount of very liquid assets. If a business has sufficient liquidity, it has a sufficient amount of liquid assets. An act of exchanging a less liquid asset for a liquid asset is called liquidation. Often liquidation is trading the less liquid asset for cash, also known as selling it, for the same asset, its liquidity can change through time or between different markets, such as in different countries. The change in the liquidity is just based on the market liquidity for the asset at the particular time or in the particular country. The liquidity of a product can be measured as how often it is bought, Liquidity is defined formally in many accounting regimes and has in recent years been more strictly defined. For instance, the US Federal Reserve intends to apply quantitative liquidity requirements based on Basel III liquidity rules as of fiscal 2012, bank directors will also be required to know of, and approve, major liquidity risks personally. A liquid asset has some or all of the features, It can be sold rapidly, with minimal loss of value. The essential characteristic of a market is that there are always ready. A market may be considered both deep and liquid if there are ready and willing buyers and sellers in large quantities, an illiquid asset is an asset which is not readily salable due to uncertainty about its value or the lack of a market in which it is regularly traded. The mortgage-related assets which resulted in the mortgage crisis are examples of illiquid assets
20.
Emerging markets
–
An emerging market is a country that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not meet standards to be a developed market. This includes countries that may become developed markets in the future or were in the past, the term frontier market is used for developing countries with slower economies than emerging. The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest, according to The Economist, many people find the term outdated, but no new term has gained traction. Emerging market hedge fund capital reached a new level in the first quarter of 2011 of $121 billion. The four largest emerging and developing economies by either nominal or PPP-adjusted GDP are the BRIC countries, the next five largest markets are South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Iran is also considered an emerging market, in the 1970s, less developed countries was the common term for markets that were less developed than the developed countries such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. These markets were supposed to provide potential for profit. This term was thought by some to be politically incorrect so the emerging market label was created, emphasizing the fluid nature of the category, political scientist Ian Bremmer defines an emerging market as a country where politics matters at least as much as economics to the markets. The research on emerging markets is diffused within management literature, more critical scholars have also studied key emerging markets like Mexico and Turkey. Julien Vercueil recently proposed a definition of the emerging economies. Catching-up growth, during at least the last decade, it has experienced an economic growth that has narrowed the income gap with advanced economies. Hence, emerging economies appears to be a by-product of the current globalization, at the beginning of the 2010s, more than 50 countries, representing 60% of the worlds population and 45% of its GDP, matched these criteria. The term rapidly developing economies is being used to denote emerging markets such as The United Arab Emirates, Chile and these countries do not share any common agenda, but some experts believe that they are enjoying an increasing role in the world economy and on political platforms. It is difficult to make an exact list of emerging markets, the best guides tend to be investment information sources like EMIS and these sources are well-informed, but the nature of investment information sources leads to two potential problems. One is an element of historicity, markets may be maintained in an index for continuity, possible examples of this are South Korea and Taiwan. In an Opalesque. TV video, hedge fund manager Jonathan Binder discusses the current, Binder says that in the future investors will not necessarily think of the traditional classifications of G10 versus emerging markets. Instead, people should look at the world as countries that are fiscally responsible, whether that country is in Europe or in South America should make no difference, making the traditional blocs of categorization irrelevant. Guégan et al. also discuss the relevance of the emerging country comparing the credit worthiness of so-called emerging countries to so-called developed countries
21.
Zhou Xiaochuan
–
Zhou Xiaochuan is a Chinese economist, banker, reformist and bureaucrat. As governor of the Peoples Bank of China since December 2002 and he was reappointed to the same position in March 2013, making him the longest-serving central bank chief since the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China. Zhou is associated with Jiang Zeming and the Shanghai clique of politicians, Zhou is one of the most influential economic figures in the world and was ranked 4th by Foreign Policy in the Top 100 Global Thinkers report of December 2010. In both 2011 and 2012, he was included in the 50 Most Influential ranking of Bloomberg Markets Magazine, born in Yixing, Jiangsu province, he was the son of Zhou Jiannan and Yang Weizhe. The elder Zhou was the head of Electric and Industrial Bureau of the North East district in 1949 and he later became Vice Minister of First Department of Machinery Development in 1961. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhou Xiaochuan joined a Production and Construction Corps in Hei Long Jiang province while his father was persecuted, the familys fate changed when the elder Zhou returned to power, in 1973. Zhou Xiaochuan graduated from Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology in 1975 and received a PhD degree in Automation and he was the second son of Zhou Jiannan, an early member of Chinese Communist Party and its secret service. The elder Zhou was the head of Electric and Industrial Bureau of the North East district in 1949, Zhous father was also one of the promoters of Jiang Zemin in his early career was and said to be one of Jiangs mentors. During the early days of the Cultural Revolution, he worked at a Production and Construction Corps in Heilongjiang province from 1968 to 1972 and he was sent to the Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology as a Gong Nong Bing Student in 1972. After graduating from college in 1976, he was assigned to Beijing Research Center of Automation as an engineer studying large automation systems. He served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Trade from 1986 to 1989, before the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Zhou was an associate and protégé of Zhao Ziyang. Between 1991 and 1995, he was director and vice president of Bank of China. From 1995, he assumed the position of Administrator of State Administration of Foreign Exchange, from 1996 to 1998, he served both as Deputy Governor of the Peoples Bank of China and Administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. During 1998 to 2000, he served as president of the China Construction Bank and he also played a part in managing Chinas vast foreign exchange reserves. From 2000 to 2002, Zhou was the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, whilst there, he earned the nickname Zhou Bapi, Zhou the flayer. He targeted corruption in listed companies, angering many small shareholders, in July 2001, Zhou declared his intention to reduce state ownership in the stock market. The stockmarket quickly went into freefall, forcing him to abandon his plans that October and he emphasized the role of market mechanisms, worked to reduce red tape and aimed to protect retail investors. In 2010, he was serving his second five-year term, as leading banking authority, Zhou is in charge of clearing up some $865 billion of bad loans in the Chinese banking system
22.
Current account
–
In economics, a countrys current account is one of the two components of its balance of payments, the other being the capital account. The current account consists of the balance of trade, net income or factor income and net cash transfers. The current account balance is one of two measures of a countrys foreign trade. A current account surplus indicates that the value of a countrys net foreign assets grew over the period in question, both government and private payments are included in the calculation. It is called the current account because goods and services are consumed in the current period. The current account is an important indicator about an economys health and it is defined as the sum of the balance of trade, net income from abroad and net current transfers. A current account surplus increases a nations net foreign assets by the amount of the surplus, a country is said to have a trade surplus if its exports exceed its imports, and a trade deficit if its imports exceed its exports. Positive net sales abroad generally contributes to a current account surplus, in the net factor income or income account, income payments are outflows, and income receipts are inflows. Income are receipts from investments made abroad and money sent by individuals working abroad, known as remittances, if the income account is negative, the country is paying more than it is taking in interest, dividends, etc. From the capital account, economists and central banks determine implied rates of return on the different types of capital, the United States, for example, gleans a substantially larger rate of return from foreign capital than foreigners do from owning United States capital. In the traditional accounting of balance of payments, the current account equals the change in net foreign assets, a current account deficit implies a paralleled reduction of the net foreign assets. Current account = changes in net foreign assets, if an economy is running a current account deficit, it is absorbing more than that it is producing. This can only happen if some other economies are lending their savings to it or the economy is running down its foreign assets such as foreign currency reserve. On the other hand, if an economy is running a current account surplus it is absorbing less than that it is producing, as the economy is open, this saving is being invested abroad and thus foreign assets are being created. Normally, the current account is calculated by adding up the 4 components of current account, goods, services, income, goods Being movable and physical in nature, goods are often traded by countries all over the world. When a transaction of certain goods ownership from a country to a foreign country takes place. The other way around, when a goods owner changes to an inhabitant from a foreigner, is defined to be an import. In calculating current account, exports are marked as credit and imports as debit, services When an intangible service is used by a foreigner in a local land and the local resident receives the money from a foreigner, this is also counted as an export, thus a credit
23.
Exchange rate
–
In finance, an exchange rate between two currencies is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another. It is also regarded as the value of one currency in relation to another currency. For example, an exchange rate of 119 Japanese yen to the United States dollar means that ¥119 will be exchanged for each US$1 or that US$1 will be exchanged for each ¥119. In this case it is said that the price of a dollar in relation to yen is ¥119, trading from 20,15 GMT on Sunday until 22,00 GMT Friday. The spot exchange rate refers to the current exchange rate, the forward exchange rate refers to an exchange rate that is quoted and traded today but for delivery and payment on a specific future date. In the retail currency exchange market, different buying and selling rates will be quoted by money dealers, most trades are to or from the local currency. The buying rate is the rate at which money dealers will buy foreign currency, the quoted rates will incorporate an allowance for a dealers margin in trading, or else the margin may be recovered in the form of a commission or in some other way. Different rates may also be quoted for cash, a form or electronically. The higher rate on documentary transactions has been justified as compensating for the additional time, on the other hand, cash is available for resale immediately, but brings security, storage, and transportation costs, and the cost of tying up capital in a stock of banknotes. Currency for international travel and cross-border payments is predominantly purchased from banks, foreign exchange brokerages and these retail outlets source currency from the inter-bank markets, which are valued by the Bank for International Settlements at 5.3 trillion US dollars per day. The purchase is made at the contract rate. Retail customers will be charged, in the form of commission or otherwise, to cover the providers costs, one form of charge is the use of an exchange rate that is less favourable than the wholesale spot rate. The difference between retail buying and selling prices is referred to as the bid-ask spread, in the foreign exchange market, a currency pair is the quotation of the relative value of a currency unit against the unit of another currency. The quotation EUR/USD1.3225 means that 1 Euro will buy 1.3225 US dollars, in other words, this is the price of a unit of Euro in US dollars. Here, EUR is called the Fixed currency, while USD is called the Variable currency, there is a market convention that determines which is the fixed currency and which is the variable currency. In most parts of the world, the order is, EUR – GBP – AUD – NZD – USD – others. Accordingly, in a conversion from EUR to AUD, EUR is the currency, AUD is the variable currency. Cyprus and Malta, which were quoted as the base to the USD, in some areas of Europe and in the retail market in the United Kingdom, EUR and GBP are reversed so that GBP is quoted as the fixed currency to the euro
24.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
25.
Germany
–
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
26.
Deutsche Mark
–
The Deutsche Mark, abbreviated DM or D-Mark, was the official currency of West Germany and unified Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, but not in German, it is called the Deutschmark. Mark coins and banknotes continued to be accepted as valid forms of payment in Germany until 28 February 2002. However, in 2012, it was estimated that as many as 13.2 billion marks were in circulation, with polls showing a narrow majority of Germans favouring the currencys restoration. The Deutsche Bundesbank has guaranteed that all German marks in form may be changed into euros indefinitely. Banknotes and coins can even be sent to the Bundesbank by mail, on 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM1.95583 = €1. One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 Pfennig, a mark had been the currency of Germany since its original unification in 1871. Before that time, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16 2⁄3 grams of pure silver. Although the mark was based on rather than silver, a fixed exchange rate between the Vereinsthaler and the mark of 3 marks =1 Vereinsthaler was used for the conversion. The first mark, known as the Goldmark, was introduced in 1873, with the outbreak of World War I, the mark was taken off the gold standard. The currency thus became known as the Papiermark, especially as inflation, then hyperinflation occurred. The Papiermark was replaced by the Rentenmark from November 15,1923, due to the strains between the Allies each zone was governed independently as regards monetary matters. The US occupation policy was governed by the directive JCS1067, as a consequence a separate monetary reform in the U. S. zone was not possible. Each of the Allies printed its own occupation currency, the Deutsche Mark was officially introduced on Sunday, June 20,1948 by Ludwig Erhard. Large amounts were exchanged for RM10 to 65 Pfennig, in addition, each person received a per capita allowance of DM60 in two parts, the first being DM40 and the second DM20. A few weeks later Erhard, acting against orders, issued an edict abolishing many economic controls which had been implemented by the Nazis. He did this, as he confessed, on Sunday because the offices of the American, British. He was sure if he had done it when they were open
27.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
28.
French franc
–
The franc, also commonly distinguished as the French franc, was a currency of France. Between 1450 and 1999, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it was revalued in 1960, with each new franc being worth 100 old francs. The French franc was a commonly held reserve currency of reference in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first franc was a gold coin introduced in 1360 to pay the Ransom of King John II of France and this coin secured the kings freedom and showed him on a richly decorated horse earning it the name franc à cheval. The obverse legend, like other French coins, gives the title as Francorum Rex. Its value was set as one livre tournois, john’s son, Charles V, continued this type. It was copied exactly at Brabant and Cambrai and, with the arms on the horse cloth changed, conquests led by Joan of Arc allowed Charles VII to return to sound coinage and he revived the franc à cheval. John II, however, was not able to strike enough francs to pay his ransom, John II died as a prisoner in England and his son, Charles V was left to pick up the pieces. Charles V pursued a policy of reform, including stable coinage, an edict dated 20 April 1365 established the centerpiece of this policy, a gold coin officially called the denier d’or aux fleurs de lis which had a standing figure of the king on its obverse. Its value in money of account was one livre tournois, just like the franc à cheval, in accordance with the theories of the mathematician, economist and royal advisor Nicolas Oresme, Charles struck fewer coins of better gold than his predecessors. In the accompanying deflation both prices and wages fell, but wages fell faster and debtors had to settle up in better money than they had borrowed, the Mayor of Paris, Etienne Marcel, exploited their discontent to lead a revolt which forced Charles V out of the city. The States General which met at Blois in 1577 added to the pressure to stop currency manipulation. Henry III agreed to do this and he revived the franc and this coin and its fractions circulated until 1641 when Louis XIII of France replaced it with the silver Écu. Nevertheless, the franc continued in accounting as a synonym for the livre tournois. The decimal franc was established as the currency by the French Revolutionary Convention in 1795 as a decimal unit of 4.5 g of fine silver. This was slightly less than the livre of 4.505 g, silver coins now had their denomination clearly marked as “5 FRANCS” and it was made obligatory to quote prices in francs. e. Coinage with explicit denominations in decimal fractions of the franc also began in 1795, decimalization of the franc was mandated by an act of 7 April 1795, which also dealt with of weights and measures. France’s first decimal coinage used allegorical figures symbolizing revolutionary principles, like the designs the United States had adopted in 1793
29.
Japan
–
Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
30.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
31.
European Union
–
The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
32.
China
–
China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
33.
Universal Postal Union
–
The Universal Postal Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration, the Postal Operations Council and it also oversees the Telematics and EMS cooperatives. Each member agrees to the terms for conducting international postal duties. The UPUs headquarters are located in Bern, Switzerland, french is the official language of the UPU. English was added as a language in 1994. The majority of the UPUs documents and publications – including its flagship magazine, prior to the establishment of the UPU, each country had to prepare a separate postal treaty with other nations it wished to carry international mail to or from. In some cases, senders would have to calculate postage for each leg of a journey, to simplify the complexity of this system, the United States called for an International Postal Congress in 1863. This led Heinrich von Stephan, Royal Prussian and later German Minister for Posts and it is currently the third oldest international organization after the Rhine Commission and the ITU. The UPU was created in 1874, initially under the name General Postal Union, four years later, the name was changed to Universal Postal Union. The UPU provides that stamps of nations are accepted for the entire international route. Toward the end of the century, the UPU issued rules concerning stamp design. After the foundation of the United Nations, the UPU became an agency of the UN in 1948. In 1969, the UPU introduced a new system of payment where fees were payable between countries according to the difference in the weight of mail between them. These fees were called terminal dues, ultimately, this new system was fairer when traffic was heavier in one direction than the other. As a matter of example, in 2012, terminal dues for transit from China to the USA was 0.635 SDR/kg, as this affected the cost of the delivery of periodicals, the UPU devised a new threshold system, which it later implemented in 1991. The system sets separate letter and periodical rates for countries which receive at least 150 tonnes of mail annually, for countries with less mail, the original flat rate is still maintained. The United States has negotiated a separate terminal dues formula with thirteen European countries that includes a rate per piece plus a rate per kilogram, the UPU also operates the system of International Reply Coupons and addresses concerns with ETOEs. Standards are important prerequisites for effective operations and for interconnecting the global network
34.
African Development Bank
–
The African Development Bank Group is a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries. The AfDB was founded in 1964 and comprises three entities, The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund, the AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries. While it was headquartered in Abidjan, Côte dIvoire, the banks headquarters moved to Tunis, Tunisia in 2003, due to the Ivorian civil war. The agreement came into force on 10 September 1964, although established officially in under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Africa, the AfDB began operation in 1966. Although originally only African countries were able to join the bank, during its forty years of operations, AfDB has financed 2,885 operations, for a total of $47.5 billion. In 2003, it received an AAA rating from the financial rating agencies and had a capital of $32.043 billion. The African Development Bank Group has two entities, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund. Established in 1972, the African Development Fund started operations in 1974, in harmony with its lending strategy, poverty reduction is the main aim of ADF activities. Twenty-four non-African countries along with the AfDB constitute its current membership, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was designated as the depositor bank for the fund according to telegraphs sent from the U. S. Embassy in Abidjan in 1976. The ADF’s sources are mainly contributions and periodic replacements by non-African member states, the fund is usually replenished every three years, unless member states decide otherwise. The total donations, at the end of 1996, amounted to $12.58 billion. The ADF lends at no interest rate, with a service charge of 0. 75%, a commitment fee of 0. 5%. The tenth United Kingdom replenishment of the ADF was in 2006, the Nigeria Trust Fund was established in 1976 by the Nigerian government with an initial capital of $80 million. The NTF is aimed at assisting in the development efforts of the poorest AfDB members, in 1996, the NTF had a total resource base of $432 million. It lends at a 4% interest rate with a 25-year repayment period, the AfDB is controlled by a Board of Executive Directors, made up of representatives of its member countries. The voting power on the Board is split according to the size of each members share, the largest African Development Bank shareholder is Nigeria with nearly 9 percent of the vote. All member countries of the AfDB are represented on the AfDB Board of Executive Directors, dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina is the 8th elected President of the African Development Bank Group], having taken the oath of office on September 1,2015. He chairs the Boards of both the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund, dr. Adesina served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015
35.
Arab Monetary Fund
–
The Arab Monetary Fund is a regional Arab organization, founded 1976, and operational from 1977. It is a working sub-organization of the Arab League, the AMFs headquarters are in the city of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The Board of Governors are the highest authority responsible for formulating policies on Arab economic integration and liberalization of trade amongst residing member states, in the Board of Governors, each member state is represented by an appointed Governor and Deputy Governor whom serve five year terms. The Board of Executive Directors is composed of eight non-resident directors elected by the Board of Governors on renewable three-year terms that is chaired by the Director-General, the Director-General is also appointed to the board but hold five-year term limits. The Director-General holds the position of Managing Director of the AMF, the organization distributes its work through various offices, departments, committees, and divisions. In addition this person is responsible for conducting and submitting an Annual Report to the Board of Governors, Arab League Arab World Council of Arab Economic Unity List of Arab organizations Arab Monetary Fund
36.
Asian Development Bank
–
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The company also maintains 31 field offices around the world to promote social, the bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries. From 31 members at its establishment, ADB now has 67 members, of which 48 are from within Asia, the ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with members capital subscriptions. ADB releases a report that summarizes its operations, budget. At the end of 2014, Japan holds the largest proportion of shares at 15. 7%, the United States holds 15. 6%, China holds 6. 5%, India holds 6. 4%, and Australia holds 5. 8%. The highest policy-making body of the bank is the Board of Governors, the Board of Governors, in turn, elect among themselves the twelve members of the Board of Directors and their deputies. Eight of the members come from regional members while the others come from non-regional members. The Board of Governors also elect the president, who is the chairperson of the Board of Directors. The president has a term of office lasting five years, traditionally, and because Japan is one of the largest shareholders of the bank, the president has always been Japanese. The current president was Takehiko Nakao, who succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda in 2013, the bank employs about 3,000 people, representing 60 of its 67 members. The United States was initially opposed to the creation of regional development bank following the establishment of the Inter-American Development Bank in 1959. President Johnson pressed retired World Bank President Eugene R. Black, in the process, U. S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk urged that Japan play an important role in the ADB. He argued that the biggest danger to American foreign policy in Asia was Japans inability to integrate into the Asian society of nations following the animosities of World War II, indeed, there was sharp Asian opposition to Japans participation in the institution. After considerable diplomatic effort, Japan was eventually accepted into the organization by the majority of the participating nations, the Presidency was to rotate between the various countries of Asia. He threatened to travel to every Asian capital and scuttle the project. Eugene Black, with the assistance of President Johnson, was able to mollify President Marcos with the promise to locate the ADB in Manila. As a concession to the Japanese, they were given the inaugural Presidency of the institution - a position they have held onto ever since. By the end of 1972, Japan had contributed $173.7 million to the capital resources
37.
Bank for International Settlements
–
The BIS carries out its work through its meetings programmes and through the Basel Process – hosting international groups pursuing global financial stability and facilitating their interaction. It also provides banking services, but only to central banks and it is based in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City. The BIS was established in 1930 by an agreement between Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States. It opened its doors in Basel, Switzerland on 17 May 1930, the need to establish a dedicated institution for this purpose was suggested in 1929 by the Young Committee, and was agreed to in August of that year at a conference at The Hague. A charter for the bank was drafted at the International Bankers Conference at Baden-Baden in November, according to the charter, shares in the bank could be held by individuals and non-governmental entities. The BIS was constituted as having corporate existence in Switzerland on the basis of an agreement with Switzerland acting as headquarters state for the bank and it also enjoyed certain immunities in the contracting states. The BIS’s original task of facilitating World War I reparation payments quickly became obsolete, reparation payments were first suspended and then abolished altogether. Instead, the BIS focused on its second statutory task, i. e. fostering the cooperation between its member central banks and it acted as a meeting forum for central banks and provided banking facilities to them. For instance, in the late 1930s, the BIS was instrumental in helping continental European central banks shipping out part of their reserves to London. At the same time, the BIS fell under the spell of the appeasement illusion, however, as the war dragged on evidence mounted that the BIS conducted operations that were helpful to the Germans. Also, throughout the war, the BIS accepted gold from the German Reichsbank in payment for prewar obligations linked to the Young Plan and this in spite of repeated Allied warnings not to accept gold or other assets from Nazi Germany. It later transpired that much of gold had been looted by the Germans from the central banks in occupied territories. Some of this remelted gold included gold rings and other items from labor, operations conducted by the BIS were viewed with increasing suspicion from London and Washington. H. The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference recommended the liquidation of the Bank for International Settlements at the earliest possible moment and this resulted in the BIS being the subject of a disagreement between the U. S. and British delegations. The liquidation of the bank was supported by other European delegates, as well as the United States, but opposed by John Maynard Keynes, head of the British delegation. Fearing that the BIS would be dissolved, Keynes went to Morgenthau hoping to prevent the dissolution, or have it postponed, however, the liquidation of the bank was never actually undertaken. In April 1945, the new U. S. president Harry S. Truman and the British government suspended the dissolution, after the Second World War, the BIS retained an outspoken European focus. It acted as Agent for the European Payments Union, an intra-European clearing arrangement designed to help the European countries in restoring currency convertibility and free, multilateral trade
38.
East African Development Bank
–
The East African Development Bank is a development finance institution with the objective of promoting development in the member countries of the East African Community. EADB plays a role of lender, adviser, and development partner. The bank provides a range of products and services that are tailored for the development requirements. The bank has experience, financial backing, staff, and a knowledge of the financial requirements. As of December 2014, the total assets were valued at approximately US$294.43 million. EADB was established in 1967 under the treaty of the then East African Cooperation between Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, following the breakup of the first East African Community in 1977, the bank was re-established under its own charter in 1980. In 2008, following the admission of Burundi and Rwanda into the new EAC, under the new charter, the banks role and mandate were reviewed and its operational scope expanded. Under its expanded scope, the bank offers a broad range of financial services in the member states. Its main objective is to strengthen development and regional integration. The ownership of the EADB as of December 2013 is detailed in the table below, as of December 2013, the banks shareholders equity totaled approximately US$166.03 million. In January 2013, the African Development Bank injected US$24 million into EADB in new equity, the bank was ranked the best out of 33 institutions that submitted to the evaluation. EADBs structure is composed of the following, Governing Council Advisory Panel Board of Directors Management Team The details of the current structure of EADB are outlined at the web site. The headquarters of the bank are located in Ugandas capital, Kampala, as of June 2014, EADB had three other branches, one each in the East African capitals of Nairobi, Kigali, and Dar-es-Salaam. A branch will be established in Bujumbura as soon as Burundi joins the bank, world Bank PTA Bank Rwanda Development Bank Uganda Development Bank EADB Website East African Development Bank Gets New Chief Rwanda Joins EADB EADB To Fund More Projects In Uganda
39.
Economic Community of West African States
–
The Economic Community of West African States, also known as ECOWAS, is a regional economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these comprise an area of 5,114,162 km2. The union was established on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, a revised version of the treaty was agreed and signed on 24 July 1993 in Cotonou. In recent years these included interventions in Ivory Coast in 2003, Liberia in 2003, Guinea-Bissau in 2012, Mali in 2013, established in 1994 and intended to counterbalance the dominance of English-speaking economies in the bloc, members of UEMOA are mostly former territories of French West Africa. The currency they all use is the CFA franc, which is pegged to the euro, the West African Monetary Zone, established in 2000, comprises six mainly English-speaking countries within ECOWAS which plan to work towards adopting their own common currency, the eco. A few members of the organization have come and gone over the years, in 1976 Cape Verde joined ECOWAS, and in December 2000 Mauritania withdrew, having announced its intention to do so in December 1999. In 2011, ECOWAS adopted its development blueprint for the decade, Vision 2020, and, to accompany it. As of February 2017 ECOWAS has 15 member states, eight of these are French-speaking, five are English-speaking, all current members joined the community as founding members in May 1975, except Cape Verde which joined in 1977. Statistics for population, nominal GDP and purchase price parity GDP listed below are taken from World Bank estimates for 2015, area data is taken from a 2012 report compiled by the United Nations Statistics Division. The ECOWAS nations assigned a non-aggression protocol in 1990 along with two earlier agreements in 1978 and 1981. They also signed a Protocol on Mutual Defence Assistance in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 29 May 1981, the Community Parliament consists of 115 members, distributed based on the population of each member state. This body is headed by the Speaker of the Parliament, who is above the Secretary General, for the third time since its inception in 1975, ECOWAS is undergoing institutional reforms. The first was when it revised its treaty on 24 July 1993, however, the Court did not officially begin operations until the 1991 protocol came into effect on 5 November 1996. The jurisdiction of the court is outlined in Article 9 and Articles 76 of the Revised Treaty and it also provides the ECOWAS Council with advisory opinions on legal issues. Like its companion courts the European Court of Human Rights and East African Court of Justice, it has jurisdiction to rule on fundamental human rights breaches. ECOWAS nations organize an array of cultural and sports event under the auspices of the body, including the CEDEAO Cup in football, the 2012 ECOWAS Games. It was established to promote economic integration among countries that share the CFA franc as a common currency. UEMOA was created by a Treaty signed at Dakar, Senegal, on 10 January 1994, by the heads of state and governments of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte dIvoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo
40.
International Fund for Agricultural Development
–
The International Fund for Agricultural Development is a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. It was established as a financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. Seventy-five percent of the poor live in rural areas in developing countries. The strategic policy of IFAD is detailed in Strategic Framework for IFAD 2011–2015 and its headquarters is in Rome, Italy, and is a member of the United Nations Development Group. The President of the IFAD is Gilbert F. Houngbo from Togo, IFADs goal is to empower poor rural women and men in developing countries to achieve higher incomes and improved food security. As reflected in the framework, IFAD is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the target to halve the proportion of hungry. Underlying these objectives is IFADs belief that poor people must be empowered to lead their own development if poverty is to be eradicated. They must be able to have a say in the decisions and policies that affect their lives, through loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested $12 billion, DM7.5 billion in 860 projects and this represents a total investment of about $19.6 billion. IFAD tackles poverty not only as a lender, but also as an advocate for poor people. IFAD is represented on the Leadership Council of Compact2025 by its president, membership in IFAD is open to all member states of the United Nations or its specialised agencies or the International Atomic Energy Agency. A state becomes a member of IFAD by ratifying the treaty known as the Agreement establishing the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The Governing Council is IFADs highest decision-making authority, with the Member States each represented by a governor, the Executive Board, responsible for overseeing the general operations of IFAD and approving loans and grants, is composed of 18 members and 18 alternate members. The President, who serves for a term, is IFADs chief executive officer. The current, and sixth, President of IFAD is Gilbert F. Houngbo, as of February 2015, IFAD has 176 member states. This includes 174 UN members states along with the Cook Islands, the member states are classified as follows, List A, List B, and List C. List C is further divided into sub-list C1, sub-list C2, the observers are the Holy See and European Union. The Governing Council is IFADs highest decision-making authority, each Member State is represented in the Governing Council by a Governors, Alternate Governors and any other designated advisers
41.
Aid
–
In international relations, aid is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Humanitarian and altruistic purposes are at least partly responsible for the giving of aid, Aid may be given by individuals, private organizations, or governments. Standards delimiting exactly the types of transfers considered aid vary from country to country, for example, the United States government discontinued the reporting of military aid as part of its foreign aid figures in 1958. The most widely used measure of aid is Official Development Assistance, Foreign aid has increased since 1950s and 1960s. The notion that foreign aid increases economic performance and generates economic growth is based on Chenery, lancaster also states that for much of the period of her study foreign aid was used for four main purposes, diplomatic, developmental, humanitarian relief and commercial. Most official development assistance comes from the 28 members of the Development Assistance Committee, a further $15.9 billion came from the European Commission and non-DAC countries gave an additional $9.4 billion. Although development aid rose in 2013 to the highest level ever recorded, as of 2013, Official development assistance contributed by the top 10 DAC countries is as follows. European Union countries together gave $70.73 billion and EU Institutions gave a further $15.93 billion. The type of aid given may be classified according to various factors, including its intended purpose, the terms or conditions under which it is given, its source, Official aid may be classified by types according to its intended purpose. Military aid is material or logistical assistance given to strengthen the capabilities of an ally country. Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, Aid can also be classified according to the terms agreed upon by the donor and receiving countries. In this classification, aid can be a gift, a grant, Aid can also be classified according to its source. While government aid is called foreign aid, aid that originates in institutions of a religious nature is often termed faith-based foreign aid. Aid from various sources can reach recipients through bilateral or multilateral delivery systems, bilateral refers to government to government transfers. Multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank or UNICEF, pool aid from one or more sources, Aid may be also classified based on urgency into emergency aid and development aid. The term often carries a connotation, but this is not always the case. It is often distinguished from development aid by being focused on relieving suffering caused by natural disaster or conflict, Development aid is aid given to support development in general which can be economic development or social development in developing countries. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid as being aimed at alleviating poverty in the long term, Humanitarian aid is distinguished from humanitarian intervention, which involves armed forces protecting civilians from violent oppression or genocide by state-supported actors
U.S. dollar
Euro
Chinese yuan
Japanese yen
Pound sterling
DEM
FRF