See you in a hundred years kindle edition

So I went to buy See You in a Hundred Years for my kindle, but apparently I will literally not “see this book for a hundred years” because there is not a kindle edition:( We are going to have to pick another book.

Iam going to start on the essay topic about who I would most like to talk to!

Now as for V. I was committing during our travels that one of my goals for the next few months was to do more cooking. He took the opportunity to commitment that he had some things that he would like to improve on in how he related to me. He said that he wanted to be less like V and more like a friend. Well that is how I interrupted it. We will see though. So far so good.

Changed my name I hope you noticed

Love, Friend Once Upon a Time

Devaluation

Last week, Joyce Banda announced that the Kwacha would be devalued by 40%. Yesterday, May 7^th 2012, the Kwacha was officially devalued by 47.9%. The devaluation was a recommendation that was made by the IMF and the World Bank, but this is a move that Banda wanted to make apart from their conditions. Devaluation will unlock aid from the IMF and World Bank that Malawi was denied under the previous administration due its unwillingness to devalue the Kwacha.

Effect of Devaluation

With devaluation there is the question of how the fallout would affect the population. Typically, when a currency is devalued by this magnitude, it causes rampant inflation. The World Bank and IMF estimate that there will only be a 10% increase in inflation due to the fact that they believe that inflation has already occurred on the streets.

The official exchange rate before the devaluation was K166 to US$1. Joyce Banda wanted to get the exchange rate closer to the parallel market at K250 to US$1, which is near the price that the Kwacha was trading at on the black market. Since the devaluation was announced, the Reserve Bank of Malawi showed that US$1 buys 247.5 Kwacha. Aid from foreign donors should help ease the impact of the devaluation. Joyce Banda is hoping to kick start a public works program that would give people in the villages money to buy necessities even if prices increase.

Sudan President Not Welcome at AU Summit

Last week Joyce Banda requested the African Union (AU) not to extend an invitation to Sudan’s President, Omar Al-Bashir, to the AU Summit taking place in Malawi in June of this year.  President Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. Her statement has drawn widespread applause because no other African leaders have taken a tough stance against Bashir. Last year Malawi was denied $350 million in US aid money due to deteriorating human rights conditions in Malawi and Joyce Banda believes that allowing President Al-Bashir to attend a regional summit in Malawi would jeopardize Malawi’s current efforts to mend foreign relations

Inclusive Government

Joyce Banda’s 32 member Presidential Cabinet includes 18 MPs from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), six from her own People’s Party (PP), 2 from the United Democratic Front (UDF) and 1 from each of the following Malawi Congress Party, Congress for Democrats and Malawi’s People’s Party. Joyce Banda attempted to select members based on individual capacities and not party politics.