Madagascar Development

When small-business owners start looking for money to expand, they often begin at a big bank. The banks are highly visible, well-known and often nearby. But many small-business owners report that they have struggled to get loans in the wake of the economic downturn. Ami Kassar, CEO of the small-business-loan broker multifunding.com , advises business owners that large banks are "not the best place to start" when looking for a small-business loan. Kassar has created bankinggrades.com , a website that gives every FDIC-insured bank in the nation a grade based on how many small-business loans it makes. He used data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to create the site, designed to help small-business owners find the best loan. Turned Down Cold Patricia and Jim McGrath own Branches Atelier, a preschool in Santa Monica, Calif. Their existing space had grown too small and they wanted to expand. Late last year they found the perfect site, but they needed a loan to buy ...

The Location Quotient Technique is the most commonly utilized economic base analysis method. It was developed in part to offer a slightly more complex model to the variety of analytical tools available to economic base analysts. This technique compares the local economy to a reference economy, in the process attempting to identify specializations in the local economy. The location quotient technique is based upon a calculated ratio between the local economy and the economy of some reference unit. This ratio, called an industry " location quotient " gives this technique its name. Unlike the Assumption Technique , the Location Quotient Technique does not assume that ALL employment in each industry is Basic or Non-Basic. Instead, location quotients are calculated for all industries to determine whether or not the local economy has a greater share of each industry than expected when compared to a reference economy. If an industry has a greater share than expected o...

A U.S. report on human trafficking has placed Madagascar in the lowest category and claims the country's de facto government has done nothing to crack down on the practice of sending thousands of women to the Middle East, where the majority of them encounter forced labor and abuse. The new report reduces prospects of the U.S. resuming non-humanitarian aid to the island nation, to which it suspended aid in 2009 following a coup. The new report claims Madagascar has increasingly become “a source country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking," particularly since a March 2009 coup sparked an economic crisis and “a decline in the rule of law." The report says Madagascar's government has done little to prevent the sex trafficking or to prosecute so-called job agencies and government employees that recruit vulnerable women, often from poor, rural areas, and trick them into leaving for lucrative contracts in the Middle East. About 800 women hav...

Ce montant a été révélé hier par le président du groupement des entrepreneurs malgaches (Fivmpama) hier au Carlton. Il faisait partie de l’enveloppe pour Madagascar dans le cadre du Fonds européen de développement (10ème FED) dont le montant total s’élève à 633 millions d’euros. A cause de la non reconnaissance du régime en place par la communauté internationale, les aides européennes sont suspendues. Ces financements sont des aides non remboursables et sont affectées à d’autres pays en cas de non performance et/ou de problème politique comme ce qui se passe à Madagascar… Les 300 millions d’euros cités plus haut sont affectés à 19 pays pour leurs bonnes performances pour atteindre les Objectifs du millénaire pour le développement (OMD) ou pour réduire de moitié la pauvreté d’ici 2015. A la délégation de la Commission européenne à Madagascar, l’on n’a pas voulu confirmer ce chiffre en avançant qu’il évolue rapidement et peut avoir déjà dépassé les 300 millions d’euros. En effet, la réa...

Madagascar Oil Ltd. sought to resume trading in London on June 27 after resolving most disputes with the government regarding its blocks in Madagascar. The government acknowledged the company’s right to a 2-year extension of the Tsimiroro Block 3104 PSC to August 2014. Madagascar’s OMNIS acknowledged a delay due to the force majeure event that would be addressed at the end of the contract term if necessary. Activity for the installation of the Tsimiroro nine-pattern steamflood pilot facility will be ramped up to progress to a start date expected in the third quarter of 2012. Madagascar Oil in 2010 reported 18 wells successful of 24 drilled and completed 430 km of electrical resistivity tomography. A revision by Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc. of the 965 million bbl contingent original oil in place estimate to reflect the 2010 data is expected in July 2011. The Ministry of Mines & Hydrocarbons MH and OMNIS assured the company that that there are no technical issues outstand...

Madagascar Oil (AIM: MOIL) this morning confirmed it has raised £50.5 million as it shares were listed on AIM. The company placed a total of 53.2 million shares at 95p each, or 27.65 per cent of its equity, as part of the stock market listing, which values the company at £182.7 million. Founded in 2004, Madagascar owns five contiguous heavy oil blocks covering 29,500 square kilometres in western Madagascar. The two main fields are Tsimiroro and Bemolanga, and contain substantial heavy oil and bitumen accumulations. An independent ‘best estimate’ puts the oil in place at Tsimiroro at 965 million barrels Production, if commercial recovery is proven, is estimated to average 87,500 barrels of oil a day for between 30 and 40 years. Bemolanga has gross discovered bitumen in place of 1.179 billion barrels, with over 1 billion barrels potential upside, subject to further delineation drilling. In 2008, the company successfully completed a farm-out of a 60 per cent stake to Total of France, whic...

In 2004 Madagascar Oil acquired the rights to operate five blocks in Madagascar, all of which had been studied in prior years. Two of the blocks; 3102 Bemolanga and 3104 Tsimiroro had been the subject of prior development efforts by several companies dating back to the early 1900’s. The other three blocks; 3105 Manambolo, 3106 Morondava and 3107 Manandaza experienced various partially successful exploration efforts over the prior 40 years, none of which led to development. Madagascar Oil has taken Bemolanga and Tsimiroro from the level of interesting potential to the point of defining significant oil resources in a field development area on each of the blocks. These two blocks have defined oil resources of over 1 billion barrels each and significant upside potential. Work is progressing in 2010 and 2011 to demonstrate the capability for commercial extraction. Work is continuing on Manambolo, Morondava and Manandaza to further define and derisk the prospects and identify potential d...

(Reuters) - Madagascar Oil said it raised 50.5 million pounds through its initial public offering, as the oil and gas explorer debuted on the junior market of the London Stock Exchange on Monday. The shares were issued at 95 pence apiece, giving the company a market cap of about 182.7 million pounds. Madagascar Oil, which expects first production from its key Tsimiroro field in 2011, said it intended to use the proceeds to fund its existing exploration programme, as it plans to carry out further drilling at Tsimiroro. The company said it had found oil at 15 of the 18 wells that have been drilled at Tsimiroro till date. Houston-based Madagascar also has a 40 percent stake in the Bemolanga project, with France's Total, which holds the remaining stake, operating the field. Strand Hanson Ltd. is the nominated adviser, while Mirabaud Securities is the lead manager and joint broker for the admission. GMP Securities Europe is also acting as joint broker. Shares of the company were trading...

ANTSIRABE, Madagascar — In Madagascar, where per capita rice consumption is the highest in Africa, Indonesian farm experts are lending a hand to help increase production of the staple crop. Jakarta sent the advisers to the Indian Ocean country, one of the world's poorest, at the request of the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Madagascan farmers favor Indonesian equipment over Japan's state-of-the-art technology, which carries a higher price tag. Furthermore, the economic and cultural similarities between Madagascar and Indonesia mean assistance from the Southeast Asian country gets a warmer welcome. Dispatched by the Indonesian government last October, 42-year-old Joko Ptioyo demonstrated a wooden thrasher he made at a cost of about 200,000 ariary (about ¥9,000) to farmers in Antsirabe, a city about 2 1/2 hours from the capital of Antananarivo. His mission is to develop and popularize small machines for poor farmers, including a winnower and a weed-eater. "Most impo...

A cartoonist has prepared a story of four young holiday makers travelling around the country and finding themselves in various scenarios that illustrate different aspects of their country's constitution. Madagascar's constitution was last altered juts a few months ago, but with political leaders there still arguing about the formation of a transitional government following a coup in March, there is talk that the constitution could be altered again by the end of next year. For many people these changes go unnoticed - perhaps because the matter seems too technical or too complex. A project to use cartoons to illustrate the constitution seeks to change that. From Antananarivo, Christina Corbett reports. A comic book has been penned in Madagascar to make it easier to get to grips with the constitution.

Lagos — Nigeria dropped nine places to 130th position out of the 180 countries ranked on the global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2009 by Transparency International (TI), a global anti-corruption watchdog. The survey measures domestic public sector corruption in selected countries and is conducted by TI, which is based in Berlin, Germany. In terms of level of perceived corruption, Nigeria, which had moved up 27 places to rank 121 out of 180 countries in 2008, placed 10th out of the 16 West African countries. However, according to TI, no region of the world is immune to the perils of corruption, as the world economy begins to register a tentative recovery and some nations continue to wrestle with ongoing conflict and insecurity. The newly released Corruption Perceptions Index is different from the Global Corruption Report (GCR), which was released by last September. In the GCR report, Nigeria's banking sector was lambasted for its perceived corruption, which was described as pa...

The long-held assumption that Madagascar has lost 90 percent of its forest cover due to fire and slash-and-burn agriculture may be overstated, argues new research published in Conservation Letters. Analyzing 6000-year pollen records in four sites, Malika Virah-Sawmy of Oxford University found evidence that vegetation in southeast Madagascar has for millennia been a mosaic of forests, woodlands and savannas, rather than continuous forests as generally believed. "Dry woodlands were once connected to humid forests in southeast Madagascar but disappeared in response to extreme dryness over the last 6000 years," Virah-Sawmy told mongabay.com. "By contrast, the humid forests were more resilient to these climatic shifts. Thus the current distribution of forest types in Madagascar may well be a function of climate change, rather than necessarily the product of human activities." Virah-Sawmy nonetheless notes that deforestation on the California-sized island has been extensi...

Andry Rajoelina, Marc Ravalomanana, Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy, leaders of four major political parties in Madagascar began roundtable negotiations Wednesday in Maputo, Mozambique at the Southern African Development Community summit on the crisis in Madagascar. The objective of the summit is to advocate for an end to hostilities that have rocked the island since the beginning of the year through signing of a charter. They also wish to encourage the transitional government to hold new elections in the earliest possible time. Whilst many political analysts believe that this is a crucial moment, others think that this meeting is possibly the last chance to heave Madagascar out of the political crisis that has rocked the country’s foundations since the overthrow of President Marc Ravalomanana, last March. Under the auspices of the International Contact Group (ICG) headed by former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano, the heads of the four main Malagasy political parties met Wednesd...

Daewoo Logistics Corp. has established "PT Daewoo Logistics Indonesia" in Indonesia for partaking in such natural resource development as Palm Plantation, Gum Plantation, Corn Farm, Coal Mining, CDM(Clean Development Mechanism) business. Through investing huge investment for Palm Oil, recognized as leading future food & energy source, PT Daewoo Logistics is trying to secure a competitive edge at the leading group in the market and intending to maximize profits in the development. In addition, PT Daewoo Logistics plans to establish Palm Oil manufacturing factory at the sight, scheming the vertical integration of planting and manufacturing of the natural resource. Daewoo Logistics Corp. will participate in Gum Tree Plantation Project with the scope of 500,000 ha project agreed upon between Korean and Indonesian government. PT Daewoo Logistics Indonesia in Indonesia is pursuing a Corn Farm Development plan to secure & develop a major food resource. Test Cultivation has b...

What have Madagascar and South Korea got in common? On the face of it, nothing. The former is a country in development, the second is an economic power. One is in Africa, the other in Asia. The Malagasy have uncontaminated land. The Koreans lack cultivatable land. Madagascar has 28 inhabitants per square kilometre. South Korea has 493 inhabitants per square kilometre. Two countries that are different from each other but that today have Daewoo in common as well as neocolonialism without capital. Tronchetti and Colaninno have been leading the way even abroad. Once upon a time they gifted necklaces and shining stones to indigenous people in exchange for every type of good. Today not even that. South Korea needs corn, palm oil and agricultural goods. Madagascar has land. Daewoo signed an agreement with the Malagasy government. The handing over of 1.3 million hectares of cultivatable land for 99 years. More than half the cultivatable land in the country (2.5 million hectares). It’s all for ...

Rio Tinto’s titanium dioxide-ilmenite business extends back to the 1950s and has been part of its long-standing strategy within the industrial minerals area. The company sees titanium dioxide as a good business to be in. It is a low-cost producer and roughly produces a third of the world’s titanium dioxide feedstock capacity. Rio Tinto recovers more than a third of the sector’s cash flows and net incomes, which is consistent with the company’s strategy. The company sees its titanium dioxide business as continuing to develop for decades. In 1989, Rio Tinto acquired Quebec Iron & Titanium (QIT), which for long has been the leading producer of titanium oxide feedstocks for the pigment industry. About 95% of titanium oxide goes into paints and plastics as pigment. During the course of the 1950s, QIT came up with a new process for producing a feedstock, referred to as slag, for the pigment sector. During the 1960s, regulations forbade the use of lead carbonate in paint and at that time ...

I would like to raise another point that may be worth considering (putting all the environmental problems that may result from this deal aside for awhile): I might have been misinformed but from what I understand, the corn planted in these lands are not going to be destined for local consumption alone. If this is true, Madagascar may benefit from this deal in the short term (e.g. job creation, reduced independence from the imported corn) since we are not using the land right now (I assume this is the case and that we are not taking fertile land away from people or cut forests to grow these corns and palm trees). The question is, what will happen when we will have the technology in the future and will need the land to grow our own food to meet our demands? By that time, these lands will be so used up and will not be fertile anymore. We also need to be aware that this is how some countries try to use irreplaceable resources from other countries to help sustain the consumption need o...

Thank you for the interesting reactions. It just shows how much we would stand for the benefit of this beloved country of ours. I would like to congratulate the reaction of our President; if it is got into effect. I think that he should need further assistance and voice out from Malagasy development agents. In fact, it seems that we are too quick to be lured by "FDI" Foreign Direct Investments. We should ask one very important question: why all of these FDI are rushing to get land in our country and mostly and only lands??? And the corollary questions behind it: what are the status of land market in those countries? That is to say how much money would it take them to acquire these vast tracks of land? Could they access and possess such vast track of land? How are the land taxation systems in those countries? What advantages are we offered to them that they would either find in their own countries of origin? How many of these so called FDI bring about positive changes to our...

Tenant farming was popular in rural America until the Dust Bowl years of the Depression, but the practice is making a comeback on an epic scale in much of Africa. This time, however, the "tenants" are not simply family farmers down on their luck and willing to work land they don't own; they're major international corporations and governments looking to compensate for shortages of arable land in their own countries by setting up massive industrial farms abroad. South Korea's Daewoo Logistics this week announced it had negotiated a 99-year lease on some 3.2 million acres of farmland on the dirt-poor tropical island of Madagascar, off southern Africa's Indian Ocean coast. That's nearly half of Madagascar's arable land, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization, and Daewoo plans to put about three quarters of it under corn. The remainder will be used to produce palm oil — a key commodity for the global biofuels market. A Daewoo manager...

Vatican City, Nov 18, 2008 / 05:54 pm (CNA).- The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Renato Martino, has announced the recipients of the St. Matthew Foundation Awards for outstanding service in solidarity and social justice. One of the recipients this year is the Argentinean Fr. Pedro Opeka, who has worked with the poor in Madagascar since 1989. The St. Matthew Foundation was created in memory of the late Vietnamese Cardinal Francois Xavier Van Thuan, who died in 2002, and whose cause for beatification is underway. The foundation promotes initiatives that encourage the presence of the Church in society through study and the spreading of the Church’s social doctrine. Father Opeka’s life The AICA news agency reports that Argentinean writer Jesus Silveyra, in his book “A Trip to Hope,” written after visiting Madagascar, says the following about Father Opeka: He was ordained a priest in 1975 and returned to the African island to be pastor of the parish of ...