Word: surplus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...ranks of civil service has plummeted. A traditional preference for boys over girls has led to widespread sex-based abortions, leaving China with one of the world's most lopsided gender ratios. In 2005, 118 Chinese boys were born for every 100 girls. That means fewer brides for a surplus of Chinese men in the coming decades - not to mention a deficit of future female Olympians...
...laughing. Frustration over the sluggish pace of Iraq's oil production is rising in the country and abroad as global prices soar. (At the same time, current oil revenues account for 90% of the government's substantial budget surplus of roughly $50 billion, unspent because of an inefficient infrastructure and bureaucracy.) Much of Iraq starves for electricity and fuel as vast amounts of oil and gas sit untapped in the ground. Iraq's oil industry needs a virtual overhaul to reach a level of production that could erase chronic fuel shortages in the country and rake in windfall profits...
Could the Iraq Surplus Shrink...
...government, meanwhile, grossed an estimated $96 billion in revenues from 2005 to 2007, almost entirely from oil. Between $67 another $79 billion in oil revenues is projected for Iraq in 2008 with prices remaining at record levels on the world market. That leaves the Iraqi government with a budget surplus this year of roughly $50 billion, which is managed by the Central Bank of Iraq along with the country's other revenues. Yet Iraq has spent only a fraction of its own money on reconstruction. The GAO report found that the Iraqi government spent just $12.2 billion of its capital...
While some of Iraq's surplus funds sit in U.S. accounts, no Iraqi officials reached by TIME expressed any concern that they would be able to access the money. All the funds are managed by the Central Bank of Iraq and spent on government orders. Iraqi officials say continuing violence has undoubtedly hindered the rebuilding. A shortage of skilled officials in key ministries and anti-corruption safeguards have also slowed Iraqi reconstruction initiatives, U.S. and Iraqi officials...