A budget expenditure of Rs 34.15 billion was earmarked for rural development activities exclusively for irrigation (Rs 25.19 billion), land reclamation (Rs 1.77 billion) rural development (Rs 6.19 billion) and rural electrification (Rs 1 billion) during 2003 04.

The largest home sources of South South FDI (based on outward FDI stock) were Hong Kong (China) by far the largest ( 283 billion in stock) Brazil ( 45 billion), Singapore ( 40 billion), the Republic of Korea ( 17 billion) and Malaysia ( 15 billion).

The authorities will issue 35.2 billion in new securities, comprising 15 billion in par bonds, 11.9 billion in discount bonds and 8.3 billion in quasi par bonds.

It has used considerable resources, backing its efforts with more than one and a half billion Swiss francs since 1995.

Total other resources income from all sources was 1.36 billion against the planned target of 1.49 billion.

The United Nations proposal to double official assistance from 50 billion to 100 billion is not sure to be implemented.

In 1996 97 it was Rs. 3.99 billion and had risen to Rs. 4.2 billion in 1999 00.

This is of vital importance, especially in light of the fact that Asia s populations are still booming India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh will see an increase in the next fifteen years from 1.4 billion to 1.73 billion inhabitants, while China s population will grow from 1.3 billion to 1.42 billion.

China and four newly industrialized East Asian economies are among the largest developing country traders, exporting services worth 46 billion and 156 billion, respectively, while exports from South and Central America stood at 70 billion, and those from Africa at 49 billion.

Foreign direct investment inflows to Africa increased from 12 billion in 2002 to 15 billion in 2003 and are likely to reach 20 billion in 2004.

In absolute terms, the outward FDI stock from developing countries increased from 60 billion in 1980 to 129 billion in 1990 and 859 billion in 2003 (table 1).

Military expenditure accounts for 1,000 billion a year, including, sadly, more than 200 billion by developing countries, and that we spend maybe 50 or 60 billion on development assistance.

At the end of 2002, African countries owed a total of 296 billion to creditor countries and institutions, of which an amount of 211 billion was owed by the countries of sub Saharan Africa.8 This debt grew from 120 billion in 1980 to 340 billion in 1995.

Domestic expenditures are estimated to have increased to 12.5 billion in 2004 from 11 billion in 2003 and they are projected to increase again to 12.7 billion in 2005.

In the past, as in the case of the debt write offs for Egypt ( 29 billion), Jordan ( 1.4 billion) and Poland ( 2.7 billion), similar relief has been provided to support countries on the path to economic restructuring and resumed growth.

According to estimates by the World Bank, remittances reached 72 billion in 2001 and 93 billion in 2003.

The budget aims for fiscal revenues to the extent of 1 billion, though donor support will have to cover a deficit of more than 1.17 billion.

Africa, with its population of one billion, is also gaining economic momentum, contributing further to the rapid expansion of the global middle class, which is expected to surge from 1.8 billion in 2010 to 3.2 billion in 2020 and to 4.9 billion people more than half of the world s population in 2030.

Such remittances totalled 80 billion in 2002, and it is estimated that this year they will total more than 100 billion.

The United States, top donor for WFP, decreased its contributions by 38 per cent, from 1.6 billion in 2003 to 1 billion in 2004.

And then you created Earth about 4.5 billion years ago, and then you got life about four billion years ago, and then you got hominids about 0.006 billion years ago, and then you got our version of hominids about 0.0015 billion years ago.

To achieve these encouraging outcomes, the State budget allocated to cultural and information field has been increased on a year on year basis (VND 820 billion in 2001, VND 996 billion in 2002, and VND 1,302.7 billion in 2003).

Rob Reid The 8 billion iPod

The move is reported to be one of the many cost cutting measures taken by Air India, which is facing debt of around Rs 550 billion (US 8.5 billion).

Other resources income rose by 33 per cent (from 2.3 billion in 2003 to 3.1 billion in 2004).

During 2002 03, the total expenditure on health was estimated at Rs.28.814 billion (Rs.6.609 billion development and Rs.22.205 billion as recurring) showing an increase of 13.4 percent over the previous year and worked out at 0.7 percent of GNP.

Once again, Africa was the largest recipient of development assistance aggregating to 2.6 billion, while the Arab States region received 2.5 billion.

For instance, the SADC countries have a total debt stock of 78.1 billion, with an annual total debt service amounting to 6.8 billion.

The gecko has a billion of these 200 nanometer sized split ends.

The government spends around 320 million annually on their military.

In 2006, Brazil invested 28.2 billion abroad, compared to inflows of 18.8 billion. Indeed, emerging giants from Latin America and Asia will be at the center of worldwide investment in the coming decades.

Altogether, these four sectors attracted almost 1.16 billion (87 per cent) of the total value of UNICEF assistance recorded in 2004 ( 1.34 billion).

According to tentative and conservative calculations, the direct economic damage suffered by the Cuban people owing to the application of the embargo exceeds 82 billion, an average of 1,782 million per year.

With at least a hundred billion galaxies in the observable Universe and two hundred billion stars in Earth's Milky Way alone, the potential for planets with the conditions to support human like life is considerate.

And then there is the slashing of social expenditures in the budget, which during the second Intifadah totaled NIS 65 billion, while the defense budget increased by NIS 15 billion.

Overall income of other resources increased by 752 million, from 2.5 billion in 2003 to 3.3 billion in 2004.

Manufactures as a proportion of developing country exports rose from 20 per cent ( 115 billion) in 1980 to 70 per cent ( 1,300 billion) in 2000.

But he's offering 84 billion dollars for the modernizing of nuclear weapons.

We have a challenge, because the urban population is growing in this century from two billion to six billion in a very short amount of time. People are moving to the cities.

Total contributions to UNICEF decreased by 6 per cent, from 1.7 billion in 2003 to 1.6 billion in 2004.

UNDP continued its upward trend in delivery with an increase of 17 per cent in 2004 ( 2.8 billion, up from 2.4 billion in 2003).

This pool of resources has increased by 10 per cent from 1 066 billion in 2003 to 1 180 billion in 2004.

Currently donor commitments to the development budget stand at 2.3 billion (compared with 3.65 billion in the development budget approved for 1383).

UNDP had a 28.2 per cent share at 2.8 billion, while other specialized agencies, funds, and programmes had a 26.2 per cent share ( 2.6 billion), UNICEF 13.4 per cent ( 1.3 billion) and UNFPA 3.2 per cent ( 317.5 million).

(A billion (bn) is called a milliard (mrd or Md) in most languages.