The Economic Times
In one of the biggest cross-border deals in the education space, Manipal Education has acquired the entire shareholding of American
from New York-based Greater Caribbean Learning Resources. Manipal Education confirmed the buyout, but did not disclose the transaction size. However, sources said the company has raised $115 million debt financing from ICICI Bank in recent weeks, which will be ploughed into the buyout as well as capex requirements for ramping up the campus.
ET first reported on the potential acquisition in its edition dated October 7. The Caribbean is a well-established market for medical students
from the US mainland, where the availability of seats far outstrips demand. “We have completed the buyout, giving us control over AUA, which is among the top five medical education campuses in the Caribbean islands along with St George’s University School of Medicine
and Ross University,” Anand Sudarshan, MD & CEO, Manipal Education, told ET.
Technorati Tags: education, nearshoring, med school, India, Caribbean
Popularity: 6% [?]
Just-in-time supply chains are geared for efficiency not resiliency. With no slack built in, any disruption in international shipping, due to collapsing trade finance, can leave store shelves empty of essentials, especially food. A scary thought.
In times like these, the Cuban success with urban farming (forced upon the island by the end of the Soviet Union’s largesse after that country’s implosion) is worthy of emulation, at least partially, in many Indian and LatAm cities. For those who will not adopt any idea not originating in the United States, the Cuban urban farming model is in line with the Victory Gardens that U.S. Americans were asked to maintain during both World Wars. Book Alert: Food Not Lawns
RGE
The recent 93 percent collapse of the obscure Baltic Dry Index – an index of the cost of chartering bulk cargo vessels for goods like ore, cotton, grain or similar dry tonnage – has caused a bit of a stir among the financial cognoscenti. What is less discussed amidst the alarm is the reason for the collapse of the index – the collapse of trade credit based on the venerable letter of credit.
Letters of credit have financed trade for over 400 years. They are considered one of the more stable and secure means of finance as the cargo is secures the credit extended to import it. The letter of credit irrevocably advises an exporter and his bank that payment will be made by the importer’s issuing bank if the proper documentation confirming a shipment is presented. This was seen as low risk as the issuing bank could seize and sell the cargo if its client defaulted after payment was made. Like so much else in this topsy turvy financial crisis, however, the verities of the ages have been discarded in favour of new and unpleasant realities.
The combination of the global interbank lending freeze with the collapse of the speculative, leveraged commodity price bubble have undermined both the confidence of banks in the ability of a far-flung peer bank to pay an obligation when due and confidence in the value of the dry cargo as security for the credit if liquidated on default. The result is that those with goods to export and those with goods to import, no matter how worthy and well capitalised, are left standing quayside without bank finance for trade.
Controlling access to trade finance determines who loses their jobs, whose children go hungry, who riots, which governments fall. Without dedicated focus on the issue of trade finance and liquidity from those in the emerging world most interested in sustaining the growth of recent years, little progress can be expected. Trade finance is rapidly communicating the stress on bank liquidity to the real economy. It presents a systemic risk much more frightening than the collapsing value of bits of paper traded electronically in London and New York. It could collapse the employment, the well being and the political stability of most of the world’s population.
Technorati Tags: trade, food security,
Popularity: 7% [?]
Compelling graphic that demonstrates that throwing more money at problems does not always ensure better outcomes.
Life Expectancy around the world
via UCSC
The chart highlights the sharp contrast between the US and Cuba. With a life expectancy of 76.9 years, Cuba ranks 28th in the world, just behind the US. However, its spending per person on health care is one of the lowest in the world, at $186, or about 1/25 the spending of the United States. There are other cases where high life expectancies are achieved with low spending on health care.
Another reason some countries achieve high life expectancy with low health spending is that clean drinking water and preventive health care can be provided with little spending. If there is near universal clean water and preventive care, life expectancy rates can be high. In the US, however, nearly 40 million Americans lack basic health insurance, and are therefore less likely to receive preventive care. In contrast, Cuba has universal health care and one of the highest doctor-to-patient ratios in the world (See Physicians). Although Cuba has limited resources and many economic problems, it has made health care a priority. It is not alone. Sri Lanka, China and the Indian State of Kerala are considered “low-income, high well-being” countries, which have adopted policies that not only reduce inequality but also increase overall health and well-being.
Money spent at hospitals and doctors counts towards ‘economic growth’, by getting included in GDP stats, but is terrible as an indicator for human well-being.
Related articles
Popularity: 11% [?]
