Counting the Cost

The re-United Kingdom

As Scotland votes to stay in the UK, we ask whether it could have economically supported itself as an independent state.

After all the hype, the surge in the polls, and the years of waiting, Scotland will not be an independent country and the United Kingdom will survive.

On Thursday night, the nerves which the ‘No’ campaign felt finally gave way to celebration, as 55.3 percent of Scots voted to stay with the status quo, and with the UK.

Just after results were announced, there was an immediate lift on UK markets and the British pound lifted too, reflecting a financial sigh of relief now that the uncertainty was gone.

But the onus now falls on the UK government – a government which, in trying to woo voters over to the ‘No’ side, made a lot of promises.

And in the wake of the vote, the UK is a still fractured union, a divided country, and questions linger over whether Scotland could have supported itself economically.

The nationalists believed it could, saying the North Sea oil could finance the economy. But the Unionists called into question the amount of oil there. Laurence Lee filed a report from Aberdeen about the great oil debate.

Another issue was the share of debt Scotland would have assumed, had it split, and what it would have done for a currency. At best, it was a lot of guess work and uncertainty. To explain more on this, we speak to Sarah Hewin, a senior economist at Standard Chartered in London.

Ghana’s economic woes

Ghana is one of the most stable nations in Africa and thanks to cocoa, gold, and then the discovery of oil, the country was on course to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

And then it all went wrong and it had to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help sort out its economic mess.

The trouble started when Ghana began spending money before it began pumping oil. Debt rose from $9bn to $23bn in just three years. And where Ghana had expected to earn as much as $5bn by 2015, it received less than $900m between 2010 and 2012. Ghana’s currency tumbled 40 percent and inflation rose to almost 14 percent.

To explain the effect of all this, Ama Boateng reports on what Ghana’s economic slide is doing to its own people. We also speak to Angus Downie, the head of economic research at West African-bank Ecobank.

Alibaba

Finally this week, we look at the most anticipated stock market listing of the year, Alibaba, the Chinese market website, which raised almost $22bn.

It is now one of four Asian internet giants to dominate the top 10.

But what about the man behind the company? The one seen as Beijing’s guy, and the one who has attempted to still maintain control of the company post-float? Adrian Brown filed a report.