Scoping the Potential for a Digital Led Recovery from COVID-19 in Africa

This research investigates the evolution of digital payment systems and decentralized financial infrastructures from a historical, technological, political, sociocultural, and economic angle. Digital payment systems are currently undergoing a radical market-driven transformation, as individual customers, corporations, and financial institutions alike are adopting private cryptocurrencies to retain value, transact, and keep accounting records, replace bank deposits for transactions, and provide and accept payment for goods or services. These traditional and novel use cases provide a unique and disruptive opportunity for both DeFi (Feenan et al., 2021; Brandl & Dieterich, 2023; Adisa et al., 2024) . Digital payment systems, also known as electronic payment systems or digital cash systems, are payment systems that electronically facilitate human or machine transactions using a digital currency between parties. Digital currencies may be either fiat or non-fiat, where new money is issued either digitally by a centralized body, typically a central bank, to exist parallel to physical money. Non-fiat currencies, in contrast, are developed and governed by decentralized entities or communities on a per-protocol basis, where the properties, supply characteristics and transaction processing methods of a new digital currency are coded by creators or proposed through a community-approved signaling mechanism. Examples of current digital payment systems include: bank payment transaction services; money transfer services; credit and debit card payment networks; and financial services and banking payment systems based on digital currencies.

The Atlantic Slave Trade

У статті розглянута актуальна проблема вивчення на прикладі зернових взаємозв'язку експорту продукції агропромислового комплексу України, ЄС і країн світу, а також визначення ефективності експорту з України зернових на європейський і світовий ринки в умовах створення зони вільної торгівлі з ЄС. Доведено, що Україна займає значне місце на світовому ринку зернових: частка в експорті пшениці в середньому становить 5,7%; в експорті ячменю – 14,8%; у світовому експорті кукурудзи – 9,1%; водночас частка України в експорті пшениці в ЄС становить 33,7%, в експорті ячменю – 48,9%, в експорті кукурудзи – 64,4%. Встановлено, що ефективність українського експорту зернових порівняно з ЄС у середньому для пшениці становить 35%, ячменю – 48%, кукурудзи – 65%, тобто для українського ринку зернових найбільш перспективним є ринок ЄС, але його активізація і перспективи зростання вимагають від України впровадження певних заходів і механізмів.

The success of New World coffee producers in the late nineteenth century has spawned a large body of writings, whereas stagnation and decline in Asia and Africa have attracted few scholars. Statistics for the early nineteenth century are rare and unreliable, but they suggest that Asia and Africa's share of global coffee exports amounted to around a third in the 1830s. This proportion remained roughly the same in the 1860s and 1870s. However, it then rapidly dwindled to around a twentieth by 1913. Within this broad evolution, there was an additional contrast. Asia was subject to a particularly sharp fall, whereas Africa's small share of the world market remained fairly constant in relative terms. When the focus is further narrowed to particular countries or regions within large and diverse countries such as Indonesia and India, outcomes were even more diverse. This chapter explores both the reasons for the overall downward trend in Africa and Asia's share of world coffee exports and the causes of the extraordinarily uneven nature of that decline.

The article is devoted to the analysis of foreign trade in agricultural products of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The analysis of indicators of export of agricultural products of the country. In the process of studying the foreign trade turnover of agricultural products of Kazakhstan, identified the main trading partners or importers of agricultural products of the Republic.
 The analysis of changes in the structure of exports of agricultural products of the Republic to the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the rest of the world. The main agricultural products occupying significant shares in the structure of export of the Republic are determined. For the analysis, a statistical review of the dynamics of foreign trade in agricultural products over the last five years is presented. The analysis of indicators of production of agricultural products, as well as the share of manufactured products for export (Simić, Stankov, 2020). 
 The study confirmed that the share of agricultural exports in the overall structure of the country's exports is insignificant. A significant part of the exported agricultural products are directed to the CIS countries and neighboring countries. A significant part of the export of agricultural products falls on cereals. The share of this category of goods in the total income from exports of food and agricultural raw materials is 90 percent.
 Thus, exports and foreign trade in agricultural products in General are a source of growth of the agricultural economy for the country, the external factor is important to take into account when building forecasts of economic growth and modeling the economic policy of the country in the field of agriculture.

ANALYSIS OF THE STATE AND DYNAMICS OF UKRAINE'S FOREIGN TRADE IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTS UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF A FULL-SCALE INVASION WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE FTA+ WITH THE EU

The industrialisation of the world economy continues to develop not only at the expense of economically developed, but also at the expense of developing countries. This leads to a spatial regrouping of forces in the architecture of world industry at the regional and global levels. Changes can be traced both in production and in trade in products of hightechnology industries. The purpose of the study is to characterise modern processes in the global manufacturing industry, to show the changing role of regions in the world industry and world trade in products of knowledge- and technologyintensive (KTI) industries with varying degrees of research and development (R&D) intensity, to identify the role of a new leading region, as well as the positions of China and other countries. In the course of the research, Asia’s stable leadership in the production and export of products of high-technology industries with varying degrees of R&D intensity was established. It is shown that at present the Asia region is the leader, first of all, due to the industrial development of China, the share of which is about 30 % in the production of products of the world manufacturing industry. At the same time, the share of China in the manufacturing industry of the Asian region (the modern leader of the world industry) exceeds 50 % (as well as in the trade in industrial products of the countries of this region) already. China came out on top in the export of all groups of high-technology goods with varying degrees of R&D intensity, including in the export of high-technology goods with high R&D intensive (23 and 20 % of world exports, respectively). China is the leader in the production (26 %) and export (12 %) of high-technology goods with medium-high R&D intensity also. The strengthening of the position of the Asian region in the world industry and world trade of knowledge- and technology-intensive goods in the second decade of the 21st century is revealed.

Integrated virtual water trade management considering self-sufficient production of strategic agricultural and industrial products

South African dominance of trade in Africa as well as its position as a regional hegemon was entrenched by the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) with the European Union in 1999. South Africa's full-blown integration into the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) formation since 2011 has brought new dynamics, however, as South Africa now has a marked BRICS orientation. Although the European Union (EU) as a bloc is still South Africa's largest trading partner, China has become South Africa's largest single-country trading partner. The question arises as to whether this new found loyalty makes sense in terms of South Africa's regional position and its trade prospects. Against the background of more intra-industry trade with the EU and the new and growing inter-industry trade with the other BRICS economies, South Africa's trade share of African trade has been in relative decline. This study uses an international political economy framework to analyse South African trade hegemony based on the TDCA and the possible effects of a shift towards BRICS. The conclusion is that, although the shift towards BRICS can politically be justified, economically it should not be at the expense of the benefits of the more advantageous relationship with the EU.

Research aims: This study is intended to determine the influence of perceived security and trust on the decision to use digital payment systems during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/Methodology/Approach: The type of data used in this study was primary data, which was collected using an online survey. Sample used in this study determined by purposive sampling method. The information collected was handled and analyzed using SEM-PLS.Research findings: This study shows the results that the presence of technical protection explicitly affects the perception of security and trust significantly. In addition, security also greatly affects an individual's confidence in the use of digital payment systems. However, of the various findings made in this study, trust is the only one that influences the choice in using EPS.Theoretical contribution/Originality: During this pandemic Covid-19, limited studies talk about consumers’ perceptions instead of technical protection of digital payment in detail. Meanwhile, consumers' security is the thing that needs to be studied further to create a comprehensive study result.Practitioner/Policy implication: Results of this study give some implications for the EPS providers to complete and develop a secure EPS system for users, especially in this pandemic era when the EPS users increase and people’s mobility is restricted in some areas.Research limitation/Implication: The implication of this research is to emphasize the importance of one's knowledge regarding risks when using an electronic payment system. It is because the use of EPS in the pandemic era is unavoidable. Therefore, not only providers must improve their security systems, but users must also be aware of the EPS risks and security. Nevertheless, the limitation of this study is that it only used samples in Indonesia; maybe the results will be different when applied in other countries with better EPS security systems.

The role of institutions on modern agricultural value chains

Agricultural and food products are a significant segment of the total foreign trade of Serbia, which is characterized by a relatively high import dependency, modest export and constantly present deficit. In such conditions, agrarian sector serves as a stabilizer, and its importance is reflected in the permanently positive balance, increased participation, particularly in total exports, and balancing the trade balance of the country. The aim of the paper is to analyze the basic characteristics of foreign trade of agricultural and food products of Serbia in the period 2005-2015. The tendencies in export, import, and the level of coverage of import by export of agro-food (or agrarian) products are analysed. The participation of these products in the total foreign trade of Serbia is also considered, followed by the comparison of this indicator with the neighbouring countries. In the next part of the paper, the structure of Serbian export and import of agricultural and food products (by product groups) is analysed. Special attention is given to the territorial orientation of export and import of agrarian products by the most important trade partners. In order to conduct more comprehensive analysis of comparative advantages, or competitiveness of certain groups of agro-food products of Serbia in the exchange with the world, indicator of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) is calculated. The analysis of qualitative competitiveness is derived using the indicator - unit value of export and import. The analysis points to the dynamic growth in the value of Serbian export and import of agro-food products, with the constant surplus of trade balance in the observed period. These products are significantly represented in the structure of the total foreign trade of the country, particularly in export (with about 20%). RCA indicators show that Serbia has a comparative advantage in trade of agro-food products to the world in primary products and products of lower processing phase. The relatively low unit value of Serbian export of agricultural and food products, even lower than the unit value of import confirm the existence of unfavourable export structure with a dominant share of raw materials and products of lower processing phase comparing to import which is more represented by processed products of higher quality.

International trade in high-technology products has been increasing at a rate faster than overall trade and world output. This paper examines whether trade in high-technology products has been associated with increased concentration of trade among a few countries. The paper explores market shares of leading exporters of high-technology products and concentration of trade in these products, measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman index. The main finding is that trade concentration in high-technology products has declined during the 1980–1996 period.

The article is aimed at systematizing the foreign experience in the development of the mechanism for administration of excise tax on tobacco products, taking into account the institutional peculiarities of fiscal policy. Further changes in the excise taxation system should take into consideration both the domestic retrospective experience and the empirical experience of other countries. The article discusses the system of licensing for the production, import and export of tobacco products and production equipment, as well as wholesale and retail trade in these products. The European experience of licensing of retail trade in tobacco products is researched. Licensing should be considered as a potential source of budget revenues, as well as an additional tool for ensuring the implementation of other provisions on the organization of the activities of the places for selling excisable goods. The expediency of adaptation of the experience of countries with an emergent economy as to the use of video surveillance systems in tax warehouses is substantiated. The architecture of the video surveillance system must be coordinated with fiscal authorities, which can determinate and verify its functionality and efficiency. The approaches to interaction between fiscal and law enforcement bodies in the sphere of counteraction to illegal trade in tobacco products are generalized. Coordination of customs authorities and special investigation units is a key element in the successful counteraction to the illegal trade in tobacco products. The peculiarities of functional powers of regulatory authorities in the sphere of counteraction to the illegal tobacco market in Germany, Italy and Lithuania are determined. The specifics of cross-border cooperation between the EU Member States and European institutions on countering the cigarette and raw tobacco material smuggling are studied.

The chance discovery of the log of a slave ship - the Daniel and Henry which set sail from Dartmouth in 1700, bound for the Guinea Coast - prompted Nigel Tattersfield to make this investigation into an episode in England's provincial maritime history. After an Act of Parliament in 1698 released monopoly on trading in West Africa, respectable burghers in a dozen small provincial ports seized their chance of quick rewards from human souls. This book provides an insight into the world of these merchants who knew nothing of trading in Africa, nor of the unscrupulous tribal chiefs who readily offered men, women and children in hard bargaining for beads, alcohol, weapons and gunpowder. After months at sea, what remained alive of the human cargo, stacked in chains on platforms in sweltering heat below deck, was delivered into the hands of rich plantation owners in the West Indies and North America in exchange for sugar, cotton, rice or tobacco. The author draws on long-forgotten documents to chart how the ports of Deal, Lyme Regis, Exeter, Falmouth, Whitehaven, among others, fared both economically and morally in the frantic early years of slaving when so much was won and lost.