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The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the first review of the Kingdom of Lesotho's economic performance under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. The Board's decision, which was taken on a lapse of time basis, enables the authorities to draw an additional SDR 5.68 million (US$9 million), bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to an amount equivalent to SDR 13.5 million (US$21.4 million).

Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have commended the authorities for advancing fiscal consolidation and restoring confidence in the financial sector. To build on this progress, Directors underscored the need for a better articulated strategy to address macroeconomic policy priorities. Further efforts are necessary to bring down public debt relative to GDP, safeguard financial sector stability, and intensify structural reforms to boost potential growth, create jobs, and enhance competitiveness.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Will the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) open its account in the April 13 assembly elections? Percipient observers of the Kerala political scene are skeptical, but state party leaders are confident of making it to the state assembly this time around.

Proximity of elections usually gives birth to new political outfits which have either no or little popular bases. But seldom does a political party born in an election year forces the mainstream parties to recast their electoral strategies. This is what the Akali Dal’s breakaway former Finance Minister and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s nephew Manpreet Singh Badal’s newly born People’s Party of Punjab has been able to accomplish. As Manpreet’s PPP might grab a share of both the Akali Dal and the Congress vote banks - Akali Dal’s more than the Congress’s - they are opposing Manpreet. The Akali leadership has virtually launched a tirade against him.

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party leaders have threatened to put chief minister Mayawati behind the bar on the charges of corruption if their party was voted to power in next assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. At a time when assembly elections in UP are scheduled for 2012 it is a virtual war between Samajwadi Party and ruling BSP.

New Delhi: Expressing concern about the notification of provisions of the Competition Act 2002 relating to regulation of mergers, CII said, “The move is ill-timed given the present economic environment and regulatory & procedural obstacles may cause the country’s growth trajectory to get affected.”

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is no gainsaying the fact that the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) has had a headstart in the campaign for the April 13 assembly elections. This was made possible because the LDF’s seat-sharing talks were refreshingly free from the bickering and bitterness which marked and marred the seat allocation talks among the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF).By the time the UDF managed to end the acrimony over the seat-division talks, the LDF had completed the first round of poll campaign!

Just a quarter of a century ago, a sizeable number of the world’s richest men, corporate head honchos and their wives, who assembled at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan to attend the concluding session of the first ever full-body International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) meet in India, listened with rapt attention Dr Karan Singh’s discourse on Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita talking about the futility of life and frugality of power, explaining the purpose of wealth creation and extolling the virtue of giving it away for the benefit of the society.

Economically judged, excluding societal concerns, India is seemingly on a strong wicket as it enters the new fiscal year 2012, with a budget of Rs.11.08 lakh crores voted in no time by Parliament, hastening end of a chaotic session in which Government and the opposition were at loggerheads over corruption and governance failures. The Government, badly mauled, with opposition attempts to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who stood his ground firmly, needs to rejuvenate itself and become more credible for the rest of its term till 2014.

New York: Disputes over the practice of cybersquatting rose sharply last year, with nearly 2,700 cases filed for arbitration with the United Nations agency charged with protecting inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and copyright.