Asia

The United Nations has revised upwards India’s growth projections for 2024, with the country’s economy now forecast to expand by close to 7% this year, mainly driven by strong public investment and resilient private consumption. The World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2024, released Thursday, said, “India’s economy is forecast to expand by 6.9% in 2024 and 6.6% in 2025, mainly driven by strong public investment and resilient private consumption. Although subdued external demand will continue to weigh on merchandise export growth, pharmaceuticals and chemicals exports are expected to expand strongly.” The 6.9% economic growth projections for India in the mid-year update is an upward revision from the 6.2% GDP forecast made by the U.N. in January this year. The U.N. World...

According to the monetary policy committee of the BB, the economy faced two critical challenges -- persistently high inflation and depleting foreign exchange reserves. Although the BB and the government have taken various measures to curb inflation, stabilise the exchange rate and protect the erosion of foreign exchange reserves, inflation remains stubbornly high and the foreign exchange reserve situation is not improving to the desired level, the central bank said. Inflation has stayed above 9 percent since March last year, and the local currency weakened by 35 percent against the US dollar in the past two years. The country's reserves have more than halved, bringing about one of the worst economic crises for the low-middle-income nation. It has been struggling to raise enough taxe...

In a possible diplomatic victory for India, Sri Lanka has decided to hand over management of its $209 million Chinese-built airport to two companies from India and Russia.The step taken by the Sri Lankan Cabinet is a positive change at a time when the cash-strapped island nation is heavily dependent on Chinese loans for major projects.Last week, the Sri Lankan Cabinet handed over the airport to Shaurya Aeronautics (Pvt) Ltd. of India and Airports of Regions Management Company of Russia for 30 years, a move clearly showing India regaining closeness with its immediate neighbour over China.The airport in question is Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), located in Mattala town, about 18 km from Hambantota. The airport was built in the country with funds from China EXIM Bank bu...

Stickier inflation, a relatively healthy labour market and a barrage of stronger US economic data have forced the market to reconsider its aggressive Fed expectations and to price in only two rate cuts for 2024. Despite the surging US yields, which make lending more expensive especially for the smaller corporates, US stock indices recorded new all-time highs, partly on the back of the AI craziness that is expected to benefit their accounting bottom lines, as the US economy proves to be ahead of the herd. However, the recent US CPI report has alarmed the market about the possibility of the Fed not cutting rates this year and thus prompted the current stock market weakness. Is the US economy strong enough to justify keeping rates unchanged? Putting aside the most popular busin...

In April 2022, crowds of Sri Lankans gathered on the streets, protesting the lack of essentials such as fuel and medicines. Amid an economy lurching from crisis to crisis, chaotic resignations ensued, a sovereign debt default was declared for the first time and bailout discussions were finally initiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF’s second staff-level review, which concluded in March 2024, deemed that recent policy measures had yielded ‘good progress’. While many would agree that economic conditions are better today than they were previously, macroeconomic stability and accompanying signs of economic growth are not a source of immediate comfort to the many who have lost jobs, had their incomes shrink and experienced an abrupt decline in living standards. T...

When I used to work for the World Bank, many newcomers at the Dhaka office, usually from the headquarters, would ask for reference books to read up on Bangladesh. They would look for a publication covering the body of research on social science, which I often struggled to find even though there are many brilliant writings on the subject by some of the most eminent social scientists, Bangladeshis and non-Bangladeshis alike. The recently published Fifty Years of Bangladesh: Economy, Politics, Society and Culture, edited by Professors Rounaq Jahan and Rehman Sobhan, is exactly the intellectual feed needed not only by those seeking to dive deep into Bangladesh's socio-economic landscape, but also by those who already know it but want contemporary perspectives on how the nation evolved in i...