Favorable Terms Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of External Debt in the East African Community Countries

Borrowing to finance public infrastructure has pushed debt levels to record highs within the East African Community (EAC) countries. Total external debt stock grew by 333.38 percent between 1970 and 2020. The rise in external debt exceeded growth in GDP and exports in all the countries except for the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2010 and 2020. The situation could have been worse had it not been for a massive external debt cancellation by the international community under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) programmes that benefitted all the EAC countries except Kenya. Virtually all the countries are increasingly borrowing more long-term than short-term external loans. Multilateral and official bilateral creditors continue to be the major financiers in all the countries even though these countries are gradually diversifying their sources of borrowing. All the EAC countries except Burundi had publicly guaranteed private sector external debt from commercial banks between 2010 and 2020. Three of the countries, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, had nonguaranteed private sector external debt during the period. Two countries, Kenya and Rwanda, have joined a fast growing number of African countries that are issuing international sovereign bonds. The EAC countries are in a vulnerable position, with public external debt already at elevated levels. Trends in some of the external debt ratios including debt-to GDP, debt-to-exports, and debt service-to-exports ratios suggest that these countries could face challenges in servicing their external debts and meeting other foreign exchange obligations. High levels of external debt seem to have led to a vicious cycle of debt. Even after benefitting from the HIPC and MDRI debt relief programmes, the countries are once again facing high debt ratios. In light of the above findings, governments of the EAC countries should: look for improved terms on new loans; restructure external commercial loans that have heavy maturities and high interest rates; continue to diversify sources of external financing to reduce high dependency on expensive loans; make concerted efforts to increase concessional public external debt; explore non-debt creating financing options for public investments such as Public Private Partnerships; and look into refinancing expensive debt with debt on more favourable terms. Keywords : External debt, multilateral and bilateral debt, publicly guaranteed debt, external debt indicators, vicious cycle of debt DOI: 10.7176/JESD/14-4-01 Publication date: February 28 th 2023

Rice in the Time of Sugar: The Political Economy of Food in Cuba

Louis Pérez, author of more than a dozen books on modern Cuba and Cuban-American relations, here turns his hand to the history of Cuban rice. Historians interested in Cuban agriculture have written abundantly and wonderfully on sugar and tobacco. They have shown much less interest in Cuban food and food production. Pérez emphasizes early on the importance of rice to Cuban meals and diets, and its centrality to Cuban food culture. He stresses the irony that while Cubans for two centuries have been great rice eaters, trailing only some Asian populations in per capita rice consumption, they have never been great rice producers. Although Cuban landscapes, especially in the westernmost third of the island, are suited to rice growing, at many points in their history Cubans have imported 90 percent or more of their rice. This mismatch between production and consumption is what Pérez wishes to explain, especially for the years between 1840 and 1960. His stated aim is “to lift rice out of historiographical obscurity, to situate rice at the center of the very way to think about the Cuban past” (p. 23).Pérez burrows inside the politics of rice in both Cuba and the United States. At the heart of the book lies the fact that both Cuba and Louisiana could grow both sugar and rice. As a result of the growing involvement of the United States in Cuban affairs, the fate of Cuban rice farmers and rice production hinged on tariff deals between the two countries. If the US Congress and Commerce Department were to give Cuban sugar a warm welcome in US markets, then, in exchange, Cuba would have to allow US rice favorable terms. Given that economies of scale were more easily achieved by US rice farmers than their Cuban counterparts, trade deals that suited Cuban sugar producers always handicapped (uncompetitive) Cuban rice farmers. As Pérez puts it, “US rice producers had no better allies than Cuban sugar producers” (p. 25). Many Cubans lamented the lack of homegrown rice, and several governments sought to bolster rice farming, to little effect. Even Fidel Castro, who changed so much, could not change Cuba's dependence on foreign rice.Chapter 1 revisits the rise of sugar and decline of subsistence food production in nineteenth-century Cuba. Rice from South Carolina and Georgia helped make Cuban specialization in sugar feasible. By midcentury, sugar producers dominated Cuban agriculture and those aspects of policy that Spain (Cuba's colonial master before 1898) left to Cubans. Chapter 2 charts the course of rice imports from the 1890s to about 1920, an era when Cubans produced almost no rice of their own. They imported rice from several Asian countries, but the interruptions to maritime shipping brought on by World War I obliged Cubans to rely heavily on US rice for the first time. Chapter 3 explains that Asian rice reclaimed its place in Cuban markets in the 1920s, that Cuban efforts to boost rice production in the late 1920s brought meager results, and that in 1937–38 the US government negotiated new tariffs giving American rice farmers an edge over Asian ones in the Cuban market. The disruptions of World War II encouraged Cubans to try to grow more of their own rice, which they did, tripling output—but still accounting for only 3 percent of Cuban farm acreage. Chapters 4 and 5 detail the politics of rice and sugar in the 1950s. In the early 1950s, against the backdrop of a struggling economy, the Fulgencio Batista government made efforts once again to expand rice production, which had the potential to resolve the summer underemployment that came with the seasonality of sugar growing. But in 1956 Batista reversed course under pressure from sugar interests. An epilogue takes the story through the last 60 years, ending much where matters began, with Cuba importing the bulk of its rice.Pérez did research in at least eight cities. He used official documents, the press, trade publications, travel literature, and much else. The underlying research effort is one of the book's strengths. The audience that Pérez had in mind seems to be fellow scholars. The sources sometimes dominate the story, with long quotations from one or another official. A few quotations appear only in Spanish.The weakest feature in a strong book, in my judgment, is contextualization. Pérez focuses so intently on trade negotiations that he mentions only in passing important constraints and conditions that shape his larger story, such as the idea of comparative advantage and the ideology of free trade or the anxieties of Cold War Washington.

A Sentiment Analysis Approach on the Acceptance of Radio Frequency Identification Technology-Based Solutions among Schools in Nueva Ecija, Philippines

Integrating new technologies in schools improves different processes and increases trust and confidence from various stakeholders. Advancements in education are a 21st-century goal that every learning institution should consider. This study aims to conduct sentiment analysis on the acceptance of Radio Frequency Identification technology-based solutions among the private and public learning institutions in Nueva Ecija, Philippines, that have implemented the technology. School administrators and teachers participated in the study. Sentiments were analyzed using open-ended questions relating to their acceptance of the technology. Based on the analysis, more favourable terms occurred in their responses than negative words, as presented using a word cloud. The researcher thinks that school administrators and teachers of today are more open to technological progress and integrating technologies into education to improve the quality of processes, improve the delivery of instruction, create a safer and more secure learning environment, and encourage the use of new technologies to raise the quality of teaching and learning.

Loan Remodelling and Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Kenya

The implementation of loan remodelling for a bank particularly during a pandemic is aimed at providing favourable terms that allow borrowers to repay and enable the banks to avoid high rates of non-performing loans. This study’s general objective was to examine the effect of loan remodelling on the financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The theories underpinning the study included Financial Intermediation, Innovation Diffusion, Credit Risk, Modern Portfolio, and Modern Monetary Theory. An explanatory research design was espoused in the study. The 36 commercial banks operating in Kenya constituted the target population. The study used a census approach by collecting data from all the banks operating in Kenya. The study used secondary data from the 2016 to 2021 period drawn from the financial statements of the banks. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics. A panel linear regression model was developed and analysed using STATA. The study findings from the regression analysis showed that digital lending had a positive and significant effect on financial performance (β = 0.0822, p-value = 0.003), loan loss provision had a negative but non-significant effect on banks' profitability (β = -0.0255, p-value = 0.301) while business model adjustment had a positive but a non-significant effect on the financial performance of the banks in Kenya (β = 0.0915, p-value = 0.415) during the period under study. Based on these findings, commercial banks should employ technology and innovate more digital products, especially those that facilitate digital lending to enhance their profitability. Banks should continue provisioning for loan loss in compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards and caution against non-performing loans for the sustainability of their business operation. Banks should continue diversifying their investment portfolio and adjust their business model to a point that it would significantly impact their profitability, by creating more non-interest income opportunities. Finally, the Central Bank of Kenya should continue providing a regulatory framework geared towards facilitating lending and improving the profitability of banks. Keywords: Loan Remodeling, Digital Lending, Loan Loss Provision, Business Model Adjustment, Financial Performance        

Asymmetric Partisan and Ideological Evaluations from Candidate Repositioning: A Randomized Experiment

This paper explores partisan and ideological differences in evaluations of a hypothetical candidate who repositions after a campaign (aka “flip-flopping”). This study uses a survey experiment with three randomized conditions and a sample of 1338 respondents. The analysis includes average treatment effects and results by 1) a respondent’s party identification and 2) a respondent’s preferred immigration policy position. I show that a candidate (without partisan or ideological labels) who repositions from a liberal immigration policy to the status quo conservative position is drastically penalized in terms of favorability, particularly by Democratic and liberal respondents. However, respondents who supported a conservative policy only modestly rewarded the candidate with higher favorability ratings for repositioning. Drastic differences also existed in ideological evaluations. Democratic and liberal respondents viewed the candidate as more conservative than respondents who are Republican or conservative. These results suggest that conservative respondents used the initial, liberal campaign position to form a strong prior when evaluating the candidate; whereas, liberal respondents were more sensitive to the conservative reposition.

ПРОБЛЕМИ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ АГРАРНОЇ ГАЛУЗІ

The article examines specific problems of the activity of agricultural enterprises of Ukraine. It is noted that having such a significant potential for development, the agro-industrial complex faces a number of systemic problems that become obstacles to further innovative development in the conditions of the globalization of the world. Among them are highlighted: insufficiently effective modernization of material means of production, imperfection of financial and credit policy, destabilizing factors of a legislative nature, instability of the world economy, etc. It was determined that the diversity of forms of management, many different forms of ownership of land and other means of production are among the specific features of modern agriculture in Ukraine. The sustainable development of the agro-industrial complex in market relations requires investment activity, the ability of enterprises to attract the necessary financial and material resources on favorable terms. It is investment that ultimately determines economic growth and the state of the economy. The level of efficiency of investments is directly dependent on the sources of their financing. The lowest level of efficiency is observed for preferential investment loans. Comparatively, the best economic results are achieved when financing investments from the state budget. An important factor in increasing the efficiency of agriculture is the expansion of the reproduction process, the implementation of the achievements of scientific and technical progress, the implementation of assessment methods and technologies for managing risk factors that affect the development of the enterprise. This contributes to an increase in the volume of production, an increase in labor productivity and a decrease in costs per unit of production. It is concluded that solving the current problems of conducting agricultural production on an expanded basis and promising ones – transforming it into a modern, developed branch of the national economy, require scientific development of various aspects.

АДАПТАЦІЯ МОДЕЛІ ДИНАМІЧНИХ ВЗАЄМОВІДНОСИН «ПОСТАЧАЛЬНИК-СПОЖИВАЧ» ДО УМОВ ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ В ЛАНЦЮГУ ПОСТАЧАННЯ

An adaptation of the model of dynamic «supplier-customer» relationships to the conditions of supply chain functioning is presented, which is based on the IRM model and involves considering procurement and sales in the industrial market as not independent agreements but long-term relationships between the supplier and the customer. This model consists of several components. The first aspect is the interaction process, which includes the analysis of two key factors: episodes (short-term in nature) and partnerships (long-term cooperation based on mutual trust). The second element involves the interacting parties with the identification of the distinctive features of the supplier and the customer, including their organizational and individual factors. The third element is the atmosphere, which relates to the degree of dependence between the supplier and the customer. The fourth element is the interaction environment, encompassing market structure, market dynamics, international relations, and the social system. On the other hand, the rationale for transforming the «supplier-customer» relationship pyramid into a model of «supplier-customer» relationships with a comprehensive combination of logistics and partnership marketing concepts is justified. This model consists of the following components. The first stage involves relationships at the contract level, meaning direct interactions between the supplier and the customer, characterized by one-time or multiple agreements. The second stage comprises relationships of advantage, where one party has the right to enter into agreements on more favorable terms than the other. The third stage involves strategic relationships, which can be non-partner (relationships arising from long-term decisions based more on rationality) or partnership (relationships where two or more organizations are linked to each other through regular open exchange of knowledge and experience). Partnership in the supply chain is considered in three forms: 1) cooperating organizations are perceived as partners and, to a limited extent, coordinate their plans and actions; 2) cooperating organizations transition from coordination to integration; 3) each organization perceives the partner as a natural extension of its firm’s processes.

"Turkish colleagues worked perfectly!": Ankara's secret contribution to the British suppression of German-Polish diplomatic contacts in 1940-1941

The historiography of the Second World War traditionally points to the position of neutrality, which was emphatically adhered to by official Ankara until the beginning of 1945. It is generally believed that it was she who allowed the Turkish republic to avoid being drawn into a global conflict, as well as the seizure of the country's territory by the troops of one of the conflicting parties. The British and German archival documents discovered by the author of the article indicate that the Turks were far from neutral in the intelligence sphere. Their close secret cooperation with the British allowed them to prevent Berlin's attempt to end the war in Europe on favorable terms already in 1941. Thus, the Turkish state had a much more significant influence on the course of the Second World War than previously assumed.

Military Efforts to Liberate Karabakh

Diplomacy plays an invaluable role during war to bring belligerents on favorable terms. It helps statesmen to open channels of communications with a range of actors e.g., allies, foe and neutral states to prevent them from becoming a party. Armenia illegally occupied twenty percent of Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory. It used track I diplomacy for delaying tactics, blatantly refused to withdraw occupation forces despite United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. Yet, Baku did not lose faith in the multilateral approach. It anticipated and endeavored to resolve the Karabakh conflict in the light of policy based on war avoidance. This paper using qualitative research method highlights and analyses available literature on President Ilham Aliyev’s role in achieving Azerbaijan’s national objective during the war and in the post-war era. After coming to power President Ilham Aliyev decided to regain military strength and introduced a military modernization process. In pursuit to achieve this objective presidential office paid special attention to acquire dual use medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), long-endurance Hermes-900 surveillance drones, and Heron; loitering munitions such as SkyStriker, Harop and Orbiter 1K, and Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles. Beside military modernization, President of zerbaijan was active at diplomatic front to prevent Armenian allies from entering war against Azerbaijan. Combination of politico-military efforts paved the way to force the enemy to withdraw occupation forces. Conversely, lost pride and glory was returned to the masses of Azerbaijan. The second task authors believe performed by President Ilham is to highlight enemy war crimes. In conclusion, victory in 44 Days war was ensured because leadership and the masses were on the same page

A study on financial performance analysis of selected listed companies with reference to textile industries

India’s textile sector contributes significantly to the nation’s economy. When it comes to creating jobs and bringing in foreign currency, this is one of India’s largest sectors. The robustness of the Indian textile industry’s finances is the main topic of the paper. And to understand how efficiently the textile industry has utilised its resources so far. Profitability, liquidity and solvency positions of textile enterprises have been investigated for this purpose. The comparative ratio analysis method has been utilised in this article to determine whether textile companies are financially sound. Paul G. Hastings stated that “finance is the management of the affairs of the company.” Determining the costs associated with acquiring the funds on the most favourable terms possible and allocating the available funds to the best uses.

Prepacks as a mechanism for resolving financial distress: The evidence

Prepacks as a mechanism for resolving financial distress: The evidence

Three years performance of Biodegradable Polymer Sirolimus Eluting Stent in all comer patients undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Introduction: Contemporary evidence suggest the comparable performance of biodegradable polymer sirolimus eluting stents (BPSES) with that of second generation durable polymer drug eluting stents. This study was done to evaluate the performance of BPSES in all comer patients undergoing percutaneous intervention (PCI) in real world setting over a period of three years. Materials & Methods: This was a prospective observational study, wherein all comer consecutive patients undergoing PCI with BPSES (Yukon Choice Elite stent by Translumina Therapeutics, India) were enrolled and followed up for 3 years. The study's primary endpoint was the Device Oriented Composite Endpoint (DOCE), which included cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction (MI), and clinically driven target lesion revascularization (TLR); the co-primary endpoint was the Patient-Oriented Composite Endpoint (POCE), which included all-cause mortality, any MI , and any repeat revascularization and the secondary endpoint was definite or probable stent thrombosis (DST & PST). Results: 301 patients with 502 lesions were treated with 485 BP-SES. Mean age of the study cohort was 61.6± 9.3 yrs and males were 79.1%. 18.6% patients were diabetic, 29.6% had ejection fraction less than 40% and 73.1% patients presented with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Majority of the patient had triple vessel disease (TVD) (51.8%), multivessel PCI was done in 15.6% and complex PCI in 26.2% patients. A mean of 1.6 ±0.8 stents per patient with mean diameter 3.0 ± 0.3 mm and mean length of 27.2 ± 0.8 mm were placed. DOCE & POCE occurred in 7.9% (cardiac death-4.8%, TLR-2.6% & target vessel MI-0.4%) and 12.8% (All deaths-9.7%, any MI- 0.4% and any revascularisation-2.6%) patients respectively at three years follow-up. DST & PST rate was 0.9% and 0.4% respectively in the study cohort. All the cases of stent thrombosis occurred within 30 days. Kaplan Meier analysis revealed that diabetes mellitus, low ejection fraction (EF), acute coronary syndrome (ACS), long stents and complex intervention had no impact on occurrence of DOCE & POCE while using BP-SES in all-comer patient population. Conclusion: Present study showed favourable long term safety and efficacy profile of BP-SES for all-comer patients undergoing PCI.

Favorable Long Term Outcome of Locally Advanced Adenocarcinoma Epididymis - An Extended Follow-Up: Case Report

Favorable Long Term Outcome of Locally Advanced Adenocarcinoma Epididymis - An Extended Follow-Up: Case Report

A History of Cold War Industrialisation: Finnish Shipbuilding between East and West by Saara Matala

Reviewed by: A History of Cold War Industrialisation: Finnish Shipbuilding between East and West by Saara Matala René Taudal Poulsen (bio) A History of Cold War Industrialisation: Finnish Shipbuilding between East and West By Saara Matala. New York: Routledge, 2021. Pp. 233. For over four decades, Cold War politics shaped technology and business developments in European and North American military-industrial businesses. Historians of technology, business, and politics continue to debate the nature of these dynamics and their societal implications, and Saara Matala brings a fresh perspective to these discussions with her novel study of Cold War Finnish shipbuilding. She argues that Cold War politics had a decisive influence on Finnish shipbuilders, despite the fact that they specialized in icebreakers and passenger ships—not naval vessels. She also finds that shipbuilding played a central role in Finland's transformation from a fragile, low-cost, agrarian economy in Europe's periphery into a high-cost but competitive European industrial economy with high social stability. After World War II, Finland, a young, capitalist democracy, had to come to terms with the USSR, which had just won the war and demanded Finnish war reparations, including substantial numbers of merchant ships. Finns had to sugarcoat communication with their powerful neighbor. Some observers have scornfully labeled this process "Finlandization" and suggested that Finland could and should have acted differently. However, Matala shows how Finnish businesses navigated Cold War politics to their advantage and gained substantial leverage. After the last war reparations in 1952, Finnish yards continued to supply the USSR with merchant ships. From 1945 to 1970, the majority of deliveries went there, and although domestic and Western European markets increased in importance after 1970, the USSR remained the single most important market in Finland until 1990. For shipbuilding scholars, it is not surprising to learn that shipbuilding was heavily embedded in politics in the second half of the twentieth century. Governments in shipbuilding nations have regularly employed a wide variety of support schemes to counteract the negative employment effects of depressed shipbuilding markets and the rise of Asian shipbuilders. In the long run, however, the center of gravity in shipbuilding moved to South Korea and Japan. In studying the political economy of shipbuilding, historians have focused on the United Kingdom and tended to neglect other countries. Matala's study is a refreshing contribution to this literature, and she gives nuance to the ways in which shipbuilders could gain competitiveness. As Finland balanced between East and West, Finnish shipbuilders secured high-paying Soviet orders with favorable payment terms and partly insulated themselves from the market downturn of the 1970s and 1980s. With the help [End Page 280] of Finnish politicians, including President Urho Kekkonen, they engaged in long, drawn-out Soviet contract negotiations—which differed considerably from normal yard contracting—and Finnish-Soviet technological cooperation. The USSR paid for ships via a special clearing mechanism, effectively paying for them with raw materials, including oil. Finnish shipbuilders had a strong niche focus on highly complex vessel types. Although Matala does not provide any quantitative estimates of price differentials for "newbuilding" prices for the Soviet and Western ship markets, she convincingly shows how Soviet ship demand enabled Finns to build up technological strongholds in niches: even a poor Soviet Union was rich enough to buy sophisticated, Finnish icebreakers. In the late 1980s, the Finns turned to Europe in response to the disintegration of the USSR. Although Finnish politicians claimed not to subsidize shipbuilders, Matala shows how the Finnish government provided strong support, including attractive ship-finance schemes, direct market interventions to secure ferry orders, and reconstruction support in connection with the major Wärtsilä shipyard bankruptcy in 1989. Eventually, Finland harmonized shipbuilding subsidy policies with the EU as it joined the union in 1994 and became "a normal European country" (p. 191). Matala has undertaken comprehensive archival studies in Finnish shipyards, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the presidential archives, supplemented with interviews with former yard managers and U.S. archival material. She did not consult Russian archives but points out their relevance for future research. My only main critique concerns the theoretical framework. Matala applies the lens of a techno-economic system, but she never explicitly...

The 2022 Greek pension reform: The rebirth of carve‐out privatization in Eastern Europe

AbstractAfter a decade of unprecedented austerity, Greece abruptly changed the course of pension consolidation in 2022 and implemented the controversial carve‐out pension funding approach, whereby a portion of existing pay‐as‐you‐go (PAYG) contributions are diverted to fund individual pension savings, thus undermining the financing of existing PAYG pensions. Although inspired by the World Bank’s 1994 pension privatization blueprint, the Greek 2022 reform features a major policy shift by entrusting the management of individual pension savings to a dedicated government body, ostensibly to try to remedy inherent market failures in private pension provision. Like earlier reforms in Eastern Europe, the multi‐decade transition costs of carve‐out funding have been vastly underestimated in Greece, which will give rise to fiscal distress in the coming years when annual transition costs become sizeable and favourable international financing terms start to change. Unless firm political commitment is established to implement the measures necessary to finance the transition costs, Greece may have to resort to reform reversals similar to those already implemented across Eastern Europe.

Renewable energy sources impact on economic growth: international practices

Energy is an indispensable source of power for economic development. Mainstream research has concluded that energy can be divided into two types: renewable and non-renewable. Research analyzing the impact of non-renewable energy on economic development is very comprehensive. Researchers dispute the association between expanding the usage of renewable energy sources and stimulating the economy. They investigated the connection between economic growth and energy use in developing countries. The paper assesses the impact of the energy transition to renewable energy sources driving the economic growth of countries. It has been established that positive transformations in economies can be seen both developed and emerging economies. It has been proved that economic growth, once the national energy becomes autonomous (examples of Iceland, Uruguay), ensures the economy protection from external fluctuations in energy prices and guarantees electricity generation at prices lower than those set for the energy produced from fossil sources. The paper shows that freedom from additional financial burden for businesses is a critical precondition for the stable development of the economy during the energy transition period. It is indicated in the paper that if the state cannot carry out such a transition on its own, there are good reasons to engage large businesses and other participants in this process on favourable contractual terms. It has been found that such actions will promote increased investments in the development of renewable power generation in the country. The paper studies the main opportunities for economic growth resulting from the energy transition, including price advantages for power generation (prices for electricity produced using alternative sources are cheaper than those for electricity produced from fossil sources), driving the entrepreneurial activity, as well as the possibility of exporting energy produced from renewable source. The scientific novelty of our research is in the development of the question of the energy impact transition on the economic growth of countries with different financial, economic and energy potential, through the establishment of specific characteristics of this process, which can contribute to the modeling of its implementation at the level of other states, including Ukraine.

A Practical Narrative of Tariff Protection in Pakistan

This research work quantifies the changes in effective rates of protection in Pakistan during the last decade of 2011–20. Based on its results, it supports a more flexible trade policy in Pakistan. Further, it identifies the sectors with strong and weak long-run productive capacities and highlights the role of trade barriers in these industries. A key concern is the decreasing productive capacity of textile and leather sectors where the textile industry has the largest share in the total exports from Pakistan. Hence, there is a dire need to invest more in research and development activities in such industries. Finally, the country needs to increase its range of export items and export destinations with more favourable terms of trade, which can be achieved by reducing its historically high import tariff rates. Effective Rate of Protection, Input-Output Table, Industry, Trade, Pakistan JEL Classification: C67, D57, F6, L5, R15

ПРАВО АВТОРА НА ВИНАГОРОДУ ЗА ДОГОВІРНЕ РОЗПОРЯДЖАННЯ МАЙНОВИМИ ПРАВАМИ: ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ РОЗВИТКУ З УРАХУВАННЯМ ACQUISЄС

The purpose of this study is to highlight the current problems of the author's right to remuneration for contractual use of a work. One of the tasks of the study is to develop practical recommendations for ensuring the author's right to remuneration for contractual use through the prism of justice, taking into account the EU acquis. The work is based on the methods of synthesis and analysis, comparative legal method and formal logical method. The author's concept of fair remuneration of the author is proposed, which should be understood as a set of means for exercising the right to remuneration for contractual and non-contractual use of the work on favorable terms for the author. Fair remuneration shall be applied to the right of remuneration of the author for non-contractual use within the exceptions and limitations of economic rights, as well as for the contractual disposal of economic rights to a work, in which the author is the primal subject. The means of realization of fair remuneration include the form of author's remuneration and the terms of contracts that strengthen the position of the author. In the copyright law of Ukraine, the concept of fairness of author's remuneration as a general concept has a narrow meaning. The concept of fair remuneration in the copyright law of Ukraine applies exclusively to the non-contractual lawful use of works within the exceptions and limitations of economic rights, for which the payment of remuneration is provided on the basis of a direct indication of the law. It is proposed to extend the concept of fair remuneration not only to the non-contractual lawful use of works, but also to the contractual use of works, taking into account the proportionality of the author's participation in the income from the use of his works. Relevant amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Copyright and Related Rights" are proposed to provide information on the amount of remuneration received, amendments to the contract in terms of the amount of remuneration in case of its disproportionately low size. It is proposed to determine the author's remuneration in contracts for the transfer of economic rights and license agreements primarily in the form of royalty, which is a percentage of the income from the use of the work

АНАЛІЗ БІРЖОВОЇ ТОРГІВЛІ ДЕРИВАТИВАМИ НА МІЖНАРОДНИХ ТОВАРНИХ І ФОНДОВИХ БІРЖАХ

The article highlights the organizational aspects of the functioning of international commodity and stock exchanges in the conditions of globalization and instability. It was noted that international exchange trading is an organized form of wholesale trade in commodity and financial base assets. International exchange trade currently performs important functions for the formation of global economic stability. International exchange trading on commodity and stock exchanges is an important place for the accumulation and redistribution of investment resources at the global level. Features of international exchange trading in derivative contracts are highlighted. The current state of international exchange trading on commodity exchanges and stock exchanges by geographic regions is analyzed. Growth rates in recent years on the international stock market have been noted. An assessment of international exchange trade in various types of commodity and financial assets is presented. The main modern trends of international exchange trade in derivative contracts on commodity and stock exchanges are established. In 2022, the continuation of the following trends is observed: continuation of the annual growth of indicators of international stock trade; resumption of activity of financial institutions after the pandemic and in the conditions of war in Ukraine; providing entrepreneurs with favorable terms of lending and financial support; satisfaction of customers' needs in goods and services; increasing the pace of international exchange trading in financial derivative contracts; recording new record indicators of trade volumes and the number of open positions on international stock exchanges. The main problems facing global stock markets today are: wars and military conflicts that continue and escalate in various parts of the world, primarily in Ukraine and Israel; establishment of new logistic ways of delivery of commodity assets, which are disrupted due to the war in Ukraine; struggle with the consequences of price fluctuations on international exchange platforms due to uncertainty and new geopolitical risks; reduction of inflationary pressure due to the liberal policy of central banks.

Perception of Small and Medium Enterprises about Islamic Banks in Oman: Evidence from Survey Data

Islamic banking system is one of the fastest growing sectors of the global finance industry. It has an enormous potential to satisfy the financing needs of SMEs that wish to share business risks with financers because Islamic banks allow customers and investors to involve with interest-free financial transactions on a risk-sharing based Shariah-compliance products. From this perspective, this paper aims to identify factors that influence SMEs in Oman to choose a particular bank. In addition, the paper examines the determinants that attract SMEs in Oman to choose (or not to choose) Islamic banks. To achieve these objectives, the paper collects data from 106 SMEs from the Muscat governorate in Oman. Applying structural equation modeling (SEM), the paper finds that Islamic banks’ attractive package including favorable terms and conditions, easy access to financing facilities, availability of sufficient branches and ATMs facilities, and the existence of electronic banking system influence customers to establish business ties with Islamic banks. The paper further shows that SMEs in Oman are optimistic about the thriving future of Islamic banks in the country. The paper offers important policy prescriptions for regulatory authority, practitioners, and customers of Islamic banks.