Workers. That for myself and the team here in london its more news coming out from doha in about twenty five minutes time after counting the cost which is next. We understand the differences. And the similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take it aljazeera will bring you the news and Current Affairs that matter to you aljazeera. Has a seeker this is counting the cost on aljazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week we talk to i. M. F. Chief Christine Lagarde on the changing economic winds here in the middle east. Can ireland break regs if we look at how the emerald isle is caught in the middle of a big round between the u. K. And the e. U. Plus a nation in motion its the year of the dog in the worlds second biggest economy. So the economy of the arab world is changing weve been reporting how many countries are having to diversify away from their Oil Dependency and plan for a different kind of future young people and women are demanding a more inclusive role in that society one of the advisors to governments in the region is the International MonetaryFund Christine Legarde managing director of the i. M. F. Was in dakar this week i asked her how the i. M. F. Sees its role in the region and what its learned from past experiences it has been criticized in the past for putting pressure on countries to impose austerity policies that bring pain for poor people and benefit bankers. I think the i. M. F. Is a slightly Different Institution from the days that you were referring to and clearly in the past few years we have been focused on a new set of topics number one we care very much about what i call the social safety net so whenever we give policy advice whenever we finance programs we always ask the leaders and i see them on a regular basis we always ask the leaders to really be mindful of those that are most exposed of the poor of the underprivileged of those that are likely to suffer as a result of potential. Fiscal consolidation that are sometimes needed you know when a country comes to the i. M. F. And asks for a program we are lending International Money and as a consideration for that we asking that country to restore its Public Finance but we always say watch out the social safety net that you need to put in place is critically important let me give you an example when we ask a country to remove its subsidies on oil for instance we first of all ask the country and its all for it is to put in place the Cash Transfer mechanism the special support that will be given to the most exposed doesnt mean that you replace it for everyone there are people who can afford to pay for the oil prices at full price but there are lots of people also who need the cash benefits who need the Welfare Benefits and we always focus on that the second area where we have focus lately is the role of women in societies and how they can contribute to the economy and how they need to be integrated and how they need to be included we do the same thing with the young people which is particularly important in this part of the world and great to be one of the women because that gets to my next question the role of women in the gender. Cap of course has been very much in the news recently you are considered one of the most powerful women in the world what advice would you give to young women in the middle east trying to make their way in the workforce particularly in sectors of the economy that are still very much dominated by men well because i care about this region of the world and because i visit very often my first advice would not be to the young woman it would be to the leaders of those countries and my advice would be first of all look to legal structure your legal arsenal all the laws providing equality for men and women second i would say look at your budget are you providing for parents who leave are you providing for Childcare Centers are you helping the woman access or stay on the job market so that would be my first. My first call to the leaders because policies can actually change them up and i would also say to them and to people if i can reach out to them change your mindset consider how valuable women can be for your economy how much additional growth they can provide how much more sustainable that growth will be more resilient it will be and how much inequality youre going to eliminate and then i would turn to the woman my sisters and i would encourage them to number one get as much education as they can and i hope that this is accessible in the country were to talk to them not always the case i would second say have enough selfesteem take confidence in what all the women in the area or beyond can achieve and just be yourself and make sure that you have a voice and if you cant find your voice get the support of all the men and women who will be supporting you along the way. As you know there is an ongoing blockade against qatar right now by a number of arab countries that has been in place since since june of last year and i know in your capacity as managing director of the i. M. F. This is beyond your remit to get into the politics of this but i want to ask you how concerned are you about the Economic Impact that this is having potentially having in the region the longer it goes on well first of all like in any other similar situations we very much hope that this these differences in the Current Situation can be remedied and that they can be reconciliation second we have observed very carefully how the authorities have reacted in qatar and theyve taken prompt swift efficient action to the point that as we are going through the review of the economy as we speak we are seeing rather. Low impact from this this boycott that we have seen in action. We talked a little bit earlier about the i. M. F. Policies the austerity policies and so on let me bring up of. One country that is going through that right now which is of course egypt. Egypt is now in the second year of this three year twelve billion dollars aid package from the i. M. F. How do you assess the progress there because there has been a lot of the economic pain that i was talking about reducing the subsidies and inflation and so on the country has finally decided to take a number of reforms that will. Take it to a positive productive job rich situation in the future its not yet there but its clearly the objective at the end of the of the journey and that journey implied some difficult and courageous economic decisions one was to float the currency which had been pegged to the dollar for a long period of time which cost the country a lot of reserve. The decision was made to float which inevitably leads to increased inflation but inflation has gone down it when it peaked to about thirty percent it is now down to about seventeen we expected to be down to less than twelve percent at the end of the year growth has picked up significantly and is now cruising at about five percent which is much more than was that prevailed before the program came into place the Subsidy Program has also been revisited significantly and Cash Transfers have been put in place for eight million families which means roughly twenty Million People which are now benefiting from this substitute to the subsidies now clearly the egyptians people are. Taking. The burden of that are. Seeing their income slightly reduced for some of them in particular but our hope is that the egyptian decisions gyptian reforms that are put in place would love to lead to an improved situation the reserves are coming back to the country the direct investments including from abroad are increasing as well so its you know the foundations are now being set up in order to operate a better and more prosperous economy model Going Forward but how long will it be before enough people in egypt will see the benefit of the things that youre talking about the to those figures you bring i guess when you talk stick i knew it was a lineage of you know what i thought seniors are not seeing it no because they are still going through that phase of transition and improvement of the foundations so that then once the investments are made jobs are created people have access to the market and can can do better but im convinced that it will be improved over the course of time. Another criticism thats been made of the i. M. F. Is an institution is that its been too kind of western dominated this kind of rich mans club that doesnt truly reflect the go back to Global Economy whats the i. M. F. Doing to try and change that image well we have we have the mechanism in place that allows for evolution of its capital structure and its Board Composition ill give you an example all big five emerging market economies now are in the top five shareholders of the i. M. F. If you will and this region is representing more than seven percent of its shareholding and three if i recall of my twenty four Board Members of from this part of the world so we have. A very diverse representation it is true that. There is still. You know a dominant representation of advanced economies but this is changing when you have the five emerging countries in the world in the top ten shareholders of the institution and you can tell that there is a process in train that will continue because thats part of the. Of my my. Obligations in the institution that it reflects gradually over time the actual state of the economy and the economy has changed just going back to the middle east finally its well known there is a need in the region for economies to diversify away from oil and one of the ways to do that is with things like greater taxation and and cuts to subsidies is that really part of the solution do you think i tell you what is part of the solution because clearly the model is going to change the price of oil is definitely going down. And the substitution products are coming to the market the mindset has changed and as a result of that you cannot operate the country as this sort of welfare state where part of the social contract was we have wealth we are destroyed redistributing part of it so for us it means a much more diversified economy to begin with number two. An economy where the private sector is welcome and where the Business Environment is friendly so that people dont bump into. Bureaucratic processes multiple licenses and are prevented from investing for all sorts of reasons so its well coming other investments and of slightly different model it also means providing value for money and focusing on the young people you know when you have societies that still have all that now have over ten percent unemployment twenty five percent of the young people unemployed and a quality of service that people are not satisfied with there is something that is not really working and that needs to be addressed so it certainly requires creation of jobs by alternative channels including the private sector and it probably means scrutinizing the Public Service which represents a massive share of the public spending to make sure that there is quality of service and that the wage bill is actually focused on those who provide the services. My demagogue thanks very much for being with us thank you all right still to come on counting the cost reconstructing iraq Prime Minister hey diddle the bad he says his country needs to rebuild after years of conflict how much will it all cost to break down the numbers for you. But first when the United Kingdom leaves the European Union its closest neighbor the republic of ireland is going to take an economic hit a new report out this week says irelands unique exposure to breaks it means it faces but tension is a huge threat to jobs that could cost the country billions each year the u. K. Is the second largest destination for irish goods after the u. S. The dublin london air it is europes most traveled and apart from trade there is another major break as it related issues arland is the only country to share a land border with britain its preparing for the worst and looking for new markets i could up with kiran cannon irish minister of state at the department of Foreign Affairs and trade while he was here in doha i began by asking him if there is a lack of understanding internationally about the impact of breaks it on the island of ireland i think perhaps there was a number of months ago certainly in the immediate aftermath of the referendum when the decision was taken from britain to leave the us think there was a lack of understanding but but as we know move forward into a critical phase of the negotiations i think there is more than a good degree of understanding of the challenges that are and is going to face and deep challenges that britain will face and the e. U. As a whole will face so i do think that as people read more about it become better informed i think there is a significant understanding developing internationally of the challenges that we face. And at this point despite months of negotiations the still doesnt seem to be any real clarity on what exactly the u. K. Wants from from brakes what kind of brakes it is going to be how is ireland then preparing for brakes it when arent was in preparation for brakes and a number of i would say at least two years before the referendum actually occurred we were preparing in the hope that the decision to leave the wouldnt be taken but on the very morning that it was taken a significant number of key strategic actions were kicked into place immediately while there may be no perfect clarity from the u. K. Government as to how they want to move forward in the approach we have been nothing but clear as a country from the very very beginning we regret deeply regrets the decision taken by britain to leave the e. U. I think ultimately proved to be a retrograde step program but we are on the basis that decision has now been taken we have to act and work in our interests and i want to say our the interest i mean the whole island of ireland including Northern Ireland because it is critically important that the hard won piece that exists now in our country that took years of diplomacy. And effort on our parts is a very can be a times a fragile one so that needs to be protected in the context of briggs and all the provisions of the good friday agreement which brought about that peace need to be honored also the fact that we have now a seamless transition of people and goods back and over across that border between our own in Northern Ireland that needs to be protected but all of those things have been. Given strong concrete commitment by the e. U. Bar by our partner countries in the e. U. And indeed by britain that those things would be protected in face to the negotiations and this is part of the problem is why you say that there is clarity on the part of ireland its not clear what the u. K. Government wants to see out of that i mean that the state of the border between island and Northern Ireland is does seem to be doing. Actually challenged by breaks it this open border that you told me about that was negotiated twenty years ago in the good friday agreement that this is at the heart of the whole thing isnt it just just explain to us for our viewers who might not be familiar this why this matters so much to people not just in in the republic of ireland but in Northern Ireland when were a tiny island on the edge of europe. And post break this we would we will form have the only land border between the e. U. And the u. K. Will be on the island of ireland. And that is a significant part of the consideration and how exactly britain structures and indeed the e. U. Structures britains exit from the e. U. Its critically important for us as an island a small island nation where we are for example is a huge part of our economy we have farmers producing milk in Northern Ireland in the morning that is processed in the afternoon in the Republican Guard and we have that Free Movement of people and goods back and over across our border which is led to. Significant Economic Growth in both those jurisdictions which is lead to peace in both of those jurisdictions and that is what were trying to protect here so i think people need to be aware internationally of how important it is to argue that that border remains open free and seamless and also wants to ensure that there are a few barriers to trade between itself and the u. K. As yes as possible so if there is no deal worked out if there is a what some in the u. K. Calling a hard braggs it no deal what what impact is that going to have on an island and its Key Industries and jobs are you talking about earlier we have been working very hard over the last number of years long before break that to diversify our export opportunities internationally for example our trade in china has doubled over the last number of years from seven billion per annum to fourteen billion per annum seventeen percent of our trade National Trade is with britain its a huge part of our economy and particularly around the whole food and i guess. Sector so we want to protect that as best we can. But ultimately if britain takes a decision to leave for the leave the costumes union and all of the trading arrangements that hello goods and services to flow freely between britain and ireland that is going to pose a challenge not alone for britain but indeed for the whole of the it is braggs it all bad for ireland necessarily i mean how how do you see the country well adapting to it thankfully its not and we see significant opportunities arising for ireland as a result of british post break as we will be the only English Speaking common law country in the whole of the e. U. And when Countries Worldwide from all across asia the middle east and the us want to establish a presence for the very first time in the e. U. In an English Speaking country where its very very straightforward and very easy to do business were hoping they will choose our and as that platform to launch themselves into a market of five hundred Million People a market that we are fully committed to and a market where weve already established very very strong trading relationships so we do see that as an opportunity for our and we also see the opportunity where some of the Financial Services sector particularly in the city of london where they choose to relocate internationally we are competing with locations like frankfurt paris and brussels that are and will become a very attractive location for them to relocate to and to investing so its not all bad in fact you know that our opportunity to pitch ourselves as that launch pad for the English Speaking world into the e. U. Will be a very positive development in the future kiran cannon good to talk to you thanks very much thank you very much indeed now an International Summit for iraqs reconstruction was held this week thirty billion dollars was pledged to rebuild the country after the defeat of eisel but the Iraqi Government has estimated that reconstruction will cost a lot more than that i doubt that hammy to breaks down the numbers force. For fifteen years conflict has laid waste to iraq roads schools hospitals industry even entire cities are now in ruin millions of people live in poverty the government of iraq worked with the world bank to assess all this damage and count the cost of rebuilding the country they concentrated on the areas that were most affected in recent years of conflict they came up with a staggering figure one hundred four billion dollars in total losses since the u. S. Led invasion in two thousand and three damage from the war against isis alone is estimated at forty five billion now the breakdown seventeen point four billion is needed to rebuild homes this is a priority as about three million iraqis are living in tents about ten billion dollars are required to repair schools and Health Care Facilities at least half of iraqs hospitals and Health Clinics are gone. And then theres the water and sanitation system about ninety percent of it is damaged beyond use thats another two point four billion dollars repairing the damage eisel caused to the countrys cultural and religious sites will cost one point seven billion another nine billion is needed to restore power for all iraqis at the moment their entire cities which dont have electricity at all and in others just a few hours a day the basic sectors of the countrys economy need more than twenty billion dollars just to function properly nearly half of that is earmarked for the oil and gas industry thats a priority for iraq to be able to pump more Barrels Per Day and kick start the economy but before reconstruction can begin the government of iraq needs to provide security and stability as well as an all inclusive government for all iraqis regardless of sect or ethnicity for iraq that is priceless williams of Chinese People around the world are celebrating the moon a new year and millions in china are traveling home for the holidays adrian brown reports now from beijing. Well im on the concourse of beijing Railway Station one of the busiest train stations in china and of course especially busy at this time of year and evidence around me of a nation now in motion much of the worlds second largest economy will be at a standstill for the next two weeks as Chinese People take part in the most important celebrations of the year Chinese New Year really is the most important holiday of all now most people in china travel home by train at this time of year last year some four hundred Million People took the train more than half of them took the high speed bullet train which is amazing because this time a decade ago the Bullet Train Network was barely in existence here in china but its now transforming lives in so many ways as they travel across this vast country at this time of year some of the people weve been talking to at the station are Migrant Workers and they say theyre not going to be returning to beijing because they no longer feel welcome and the reason for that is the government has been demolishing their homes in a campaign to get rid of what it says are properties which violate Safety Standards it also believes these homes are icefall so that lends a sort of poignant aspect to this Lunar New Year holiday this of course is traditionally a time of year when big predictions are made weve been talking to a leading fortune teller who says that actually the year of the dog is a very bad year for anyone born in it people like President Donald Trump he says the president s going to have a very bad year when it comes to his health and also to Decision Making its probably fair to assume though the president from doesnt pay a great deal of heed to chinese fortune tellers but here in this part of the world they take those predictions very seriously adrian brown counting the cost in beijing and that is a show finish we should get in touch with us by tweeting me at has him speak and the need to have a. A j c d c when you do or drop us an email counting the cost that aljazeera dot net is our address as more for you online at aljazeera dot com slash c t c take you straight to our page which has individual sports links and entire episodes for you to catch up on. Thats it for this edition of counting the cost and has a secret from the whole team here thanks for joining us the news on aljazeera is next. From Satellite Technology to three d. Printing and recycled waste to solar powered classrooms africa is transforming young innovators are propelling change Building Communities creating employment and solving problems theyre challenging systems and shaping new ones its about creative thinkers shaping their continents future innovate africa at this time on aljazeera. I sometimes feel that were really looking into the hearts and the soul of those directly involved in events taking place very good at telling all sides of the story from the political elite to those people who think if you really get to know whats happening on the ground thats very important for me as a generation past that can often feel that my continent is misrepresented and weve changed that your story is important to us it doesnt matter where you come from. Monetarily truck quantified i mean value data a new car for. Your data your identity is a commodity and we have to understand where im from or come from obsolete it is time to reclaim our cyber so we have to put in them a something that cannot be sold we are creators we are activists we are geeks give us back our data at this time on a zero the story of one of the most successful p. R. Campaigns in the us. Study after study has demonstrated that israeli perspective dominated American Media coverage for part of this case you get through your thick head is hamas a terrorist organization the only thing that youre going to say is what we want and if you dont say it when i go at you speak it would be very hard for ordinary americans to know that theyre being deceived the occupation of the American Mind at this time on aljazeera. This is aljazeera. Logs the whole robber this is the aljazeera news hour live from our headquarters here in doha coming up in the next sixty minutes. To finish allegedly can do