The cost of currency controls in South Sudan

One of the ways that South Sudan has managed to avoid currency depreciation after its collapse in oil revenues, has been to impose hard controls on access to foreign currency. Instead of rationing limited foreign currency through price (to the highest bidder) - rationing has been at the discretion of the authorities. As a result, Kenyan airline Jetlink hasn't been able to convert its South Sudanese Pounds into hard currency with which to buy fuel, and has just announced the suspension of all of its flights.

HT: @bankelele

Regional Integration - East African Community

I'm sitting waiting for a connection at Nairobi airport. I have about 80,000 Burundian Francs ($50) that I forgot to change in Bujumbura.

   Me: Hi, do you take Burundian Francs?

   Nairobi Airport Forex Lady: AaaaahahahahahhaHA! Nobody takes Burundian Francs!

Eurozone labour markets not in everything

88 % of all surveyed employers stated that they had job vacancies between July 2010 and July 2011, out of which 37 % did not succeed to fill all of these jobs. Out of these, one in four tried to hire workers from abroad, but only about half succeeded. In particular large enterprises with 500 and more employees hired workers from abroad. In most cases, these foreign workers came from the European Union or the European Free Trade Area, but about half of the employers did also or exclusively recruit staff from third countries.  

Almost half of the employers with unfilled vacancies stated that they did not even consider this option. They explained this often by saying that they lack knowledge about the administrative procedure. Small and medium-sized enterprises perceived this obstacle more strongly than large employers. Furthermore, employers frequently stated to have been discouraged by the complexity of the procedure. Finally, many employers expected prospective labour migrants to lack German language skills.

From a new OECD survey, and one of the reasons why the eurozone is not an optimal currency area.