In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

This note studies Mali’s performance in poverty reduction by analyzing household data from surveys in 2001, 2006 and 2009–10. Mali’s share of poor households has decreased substantially during the past decade. While the reduction in headcount poverty was more pronounced from 2001–06 when all sectors of Mali’s economy grew at a similar pace, economic growth was mainly beneficial to the very poor during 2006–10 when agricultural production boomed.

One of the fundamental challenges in deconstructing, rethinking and remaking the world from a Pan African vantage point is that some captives have tended to delight in the warmth of the [imperial] predators mouth. In other words, some captives forget that the imperial predators mouth gets warm because empire is eating and heating up from prey on the continent. (De-)Militarisation, Transnational Land Grabs and Restitution in an Age of the New Scramble for Africa: A Pan African Socio-Legal Perspective is a book that knocks on key aspects relating to land, militarisation, a PostAfrican World Order and a chaotic Post-God World Order, which require critical scholarly and policy attention in the quest to free Africa from centuries-old imperial depredations. The book carefully navigates the imperial entrapments which are designed to focus African attention only on decolonising African minds without also engaging in the [imperially more unsettling] decolonisation of African materialities.

As a result of the Enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), Mali’s stock of external debt has declined significantly. The central feature of Mali’s medium- and long-term macroeconomic outlook is the steady decline of annual gold production expected to be picked up only in part by other exports. Under baseline assumptions, all external debt and debt-service ratios remain below the policy-dependent thresholds throughout the projection period. Fiscal policy continues to be cautious.

The Yearbook on International Investment Law & Policy 2011-2012 monitors current developments in international investment law and policy, focusing on recent trends and issues in foreign direct investment (FDI). This edition also discusses regulatory and policy developments regarding FDIs in extractive industries.