Asia

The World Bank reports in its semiannual regional update that South Asia's economic prospects have dimmed as a result of tighter financial conditions, with considerable downside risks in most countries owing to limited fiscal flexibility and dwindling reserves. The research emphasizes the need to reverse pandemic-era market distortions and rectify the widening socioeconomic gaps that limit opportunities in South Asia. The newest South Asia Economic Focus, Expanding Opportunities: Toward Inclusive Growth, released today predicts the region's average growth will slow to 5.6% in 2023, down slightly from the 5.7% prediction made in October of last year. After a rapid 8.2 percent growth rate in 2021 after the pandemic, modest growth of 5.9 percent is predicted for 2024. Both positive and...

Chittagong in Bangladesh, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, and Gwadar in Pakistan are the three Chinese-run ports in South Asia, and they form a "triangle of death" around India. By offering energy and military hardware agreements, New Delhi hopes to pull Dhaka and Colombo back into its camp and preserve strategic control in its immediate neighborhood. India is building a port in Sri Lanka and has offered to maintain Bangladesh's Russian military gear in exchange for better transportation links and power purchase agreements. The Bangladesh Air Force is reportedly more interested in European fighter planes than in the Indian indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas for its fleet modernization efforts. Bangladesh's Power Struggle Submarine base BNS Sheikh Hasina will open at Cox's B...

In July 2022, when Sri Lanka was experiencing its biggest economic and political crisis since independence in 1948, Ranil Wickremesinghe became president. Protests over 12-hour power outages and ongoing gasoline and food shortages led to the ouster of his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapakse. It was a bankrupt country. Wickremesinghe has prioritized achieving macroeconomic stability and pursuing harsh but necessary structural changes since bringing in the International Monetary Fund. Sri Lanka has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reestablish stability and advance sustainable development as it begins its 17th IMF programme. President Wickremesinghe should begin by establishing an autonomous central bank, reorganizing state-owned businesses, broadening trade liberalization, and enhancing the bu...

Transitioning to a circular economy has been advocated by academics and policy professionals as a means to sustainably address the world's rising waste and pollution issue for some time now. The goal is to swiftly transition away from the linear "take-make-waste" economic paradigm and toward the circular "reuse, repair, refurbish, and recycle" one. Zero waste would be the perfect outcome. But how can forward-thinking businesspeople and corporations make sense of the circular economy beyond the phrases now circulating in the media? In what ways may corporations utilize this approach to lessen their environmental impact and maximize their utilization of recycled materials? And, particularly in developing countries, where capital is scarce, where do small enterprises who are testing out n...

In the years before the pandemic, the emerging economies of Asia were the world's economic success story. The economies of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam expanded at a combined 6.1% CAGR from 2010 to 2019. This is in contrast to the 4.3% and 3.9% CAGRs seen in emerging markets globally and in emerging and developing nations, respectively. The growth of these Asian economies is largely a reflection of developments in China, which accounts for over 60% of total GDP. A CAGR of 6% was found regardless of whether or not China was included in the analysis. Long-lasting cyclical decline In recent years, growth in developing Asia slowed. However, in 2020–2022, the CAGR dropped to 3.9% as growth deviated from its 2010s pattern due to the avian flu e...

There are fresh worries that North Korea's army of hackers is attacking financial institutions to support the Pyongyang dictatorship and perhaps finance its weapons development projects. According to a report released on Tuesday by the cybersecurity company Recorded Future, North Korean-aligned actors have been sending emails and documents that, if opened, could give the hackers access to crucial systems while impersonating well-known financial institutions in Japan, Vietnam, and the United States. According to the research from Recorded Future's Insikt Group, "the targeting of investment banking and venture capital businesses may disclose sensitive or secret information of these entities or their clients." It warned that doing so "[could] lead to legal or regulatory action, dama...

Changshu City in east China's Jiangsu Province will start paying salaries of all civil servants and state-owned units in digital RMB from May, Shanghai Securities News reported on Saturday, citing the local financial supervisory authority and financial bureau. Such attempts have already been made in multiple cities since last year. According to the public WeChat account "Taicang Finance", all employees in 59 municipal-level departments, eight district and town administrative institutions, and state-owned enterprises in Taicang City of Jiangsu Province have been paid in digital RMB since July 2022. Domestic media reports that in March 2022, 64 high-level talents in key industries in Xiangcheng District of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province received talent subsidies totaling 235,000 yua...