Tomasz Michałowski

After 2000, unprecedented rises in commodity prices were recorded. Despite sharp declines in the second half of 2008, from the beginning of 2001 to mid-2011 prices of primary commodities more
than tripled in value against the USD. The aim of the paper is to analyse the effects of commodity price changes after 2000 on the value of Africa’s exports and economic growth of commodityexporting African countries. Section 1 analyses the significance of primary commodities in African countries. Section 2 presents commodity price developments after 2000. Section 3 analyses relations between commodity price changes and changes in the value of Africa’s exports and economic growth of commodity-exporting African countries. The author uses mainly descriptive statistics as a method of analysis. The results of the analyses suggest that there is a strong shortterm relationship between commodity price changes and the value of Africa’s exports as well as between changes in commodity prices and changes in GDP in commodity-exporting African countries.

The paper presents an analysis of the guidelines of the European standards on procedures for the calculation of shell structures. The analysis is illustrated with examples concerning three types of structures of the type i.e.: a chimney, a silo and a tank.

The financial sector of Vietnam has undergone significant changes over the recent 25 years. More and more liberal rules for the establishment of the banks and the insurance companies and more open access for foreign investors to the market led to a significant increase in the number and diversity of the financial institutions operating in the country. As a consequence, many new financial products and possibilities have been offered to Vietnamese individual and corporate customers.
However, despite the rapid growth, Vietnamese financial sector is still characterized by a relatively high degree of underdevelopment and exhibits weaknesses. In the nearest future, the intensification of consolidation processes in the Vietnamese banking and insurance sectors, as well as the further expansion of foreign financial entities, can be expected. In the longer term, factors such as the large population, low labor costs, proximity to other fast-growing markets, low level of banking and insurance penetration should be a driving force behind the further development of the Vietnamese financial sector.

In the period 1980–2017, we could see a rapid growth in global trade in services. The world-wide expansion of the service sector has been accompanied by changes in the structure of international trade in services. The aim of this study is to present the changes which have been taking place in global trade in services, to explain their determinants, and indicate the directions of development of international trade in services in the coming years. The study is based on the analysis of current research on trade in services, as well as on the analysis of statistical data obtained from various international institutions and organizations. The authors note that international trade in services is growing faster than international trade in goods. What is more, the importance of business services as well as information, IT, and telecommunications services exports is growing, while the importance of exports of transport services and services related to the distribution of goods is decreasing. The share of Asian countries, especially China and India, in international trade in services is increasing.

The main objective of this paper is to present poverty in Sudan in its various dimensions. The paper consists of three sections, not counting the introduction and conclusions. In the first section, Sudan’s economy is described. In the second section, changing approaches to defining poverty are presented. The last section contains the analysis of various dimensions and main determinants of poverty in Sudan. The author uses mainly descriptive and statistical methods of analysis. The paper is based mostly on literature studies and the latest available statistics provided mainly by various international organizations. The author concludes that determinants of poverty in Sudan do not differ significantly from the determinants of this phenomenon in other countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Post-secession Sudan needs to adopt economic and development policies which would put its economy on the sustainable growth path. Internal conflict resolution and national reconciliation are the key issues and should be the starting point towards reducing poverty in the country.

This paper presents general principles of managing the reliability of steel chimneys according to Eurocodes EN 1990 and EN 1993-3-2. It discusses the basis for static calculations and dimensioning and compares Eurocode guidelines to the requirements of old Polish Standards. The use of standard procedures is illustrated by an example of static calculations and dimensioning of a steel chimney shell.

The dramatic economic and social situation in Vietnam in the mid-1980s had forced the communist government of that country to launch in 1986 the program of economic reforms. The reforms under the name of Doi Moi aimed to transform a state-controlled planned economy into a “socialist-oriented market economy”. The success of economic reforms initiated under Doi Moi is evident. Over the last 25 years, Vietnam has become one of the fast-growing countries in the world. An outstanding progress in reducing poverty has been reported. However, Vietnamese economy still faces a series of problems. State-owned enterprises are poorly managed and the banking system is  underdeveloped. In the paper, the Authors present the process of economic transition in Vietnam and its effects.

The creation of the eurozone is the implementation of one of the most important challenges of the European economic integration. From the very beginning, the project of creating a monetary union of the European Union countries aroused much controversy. It intensified after the outbreak of the debt crisis in the eurozone. The objective of this study is to evaluate the role of the euro as an international currency and assess selected proposals that focus on improving the functioning of the single European currency area. The study is based on the analysis of relevant reports of the European Central Bank and research by foreign specialists. Despite the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area, the euro remains the second most important currency in international economic relations. The authors are convinced that the euro area needs to be repaired, but none of the ideas al- ready submitted has a chance to be implemented. Therefore, the search for compromise solutions is needed. The authors reject the proposal to return to the national currencies of both indebted eurozone countries and Germany with huge balance of payments surplus.