Asia

Central Asian airlines are seizing opportunities from Russia’s closed airspace, with airline traffic into the region booming in the year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, executives and analysts said. Flights in and out of the region have surged as airlines that previously flew over Russia are now passing through or flying over central Asia to get to Asia and the Middle East. New airlines, bolstered by government support, have also popped up to capitalise on the new traffic. “A lot of people have moved from the conflict area into Central Asia...they have the linguistic affinity so we’re seeing more flights into this area and we’re seeing more dynamic economies,” said Raphael Haddad, the head of JetCraft Commercial, a firm that sells aircraft globally and in the region. Since th...

Exports to Russia likely to increase as domestic manufacturing remains non-competitive Russia’s Central Bank has forecast that the conditions for the importation of goods into Russia over the period 2023-26 have been significantly improved, with the bank predicting that 2023 import rates will be similar to pre-sanctions 2021. However, this has an immediate impact on the much-discussed import substitution structures, which many businesses in Russia and overseas have invested in. How will these alternatives face an improved Russian import environment? This depends upon what and from where the Russian economy is going to import in the coming years in direct and indirect ways. In principle, Russia’s relationship with foreign markets may increase, rather than decrease. We discuss the imp...

Sri Lanka‘s government said on 28 February it was banning strikes in several key sectors as its economic crisis continues. The move comes a day ahead of a planned one-day national stoppage called by unions to protest painfully high taxes and utility bills. Anger towards president Ranil Wickremesinghe is growing. His government has slashed spending and hiked taxes to secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout after more than a year of economic and political upheaval. Wickremesinghe’s office said he used his executive power to invoke an “essential services” order. The order effectively outlawed the planned trade union strikes. A statement said he declared: Anyone defying the essential services order risks losing their job. Sri Lanka’s government has ...

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday advised Pakistan to "fix theirplans and decisions in the favour of people." During the media interaction at the inaugural session of the Asia EconomicDialogue 2023 in Pune today, he said, "The country must fix its social andpolitical issues. If I plan any scheme or decision for a country, I must think aboutthe people's perspective too. What they want, they (Pakistan) must think aboutthis. If any country facing a deep economic crisis, not pointing only Pakistan but,other countries too. They must fix their plans and decisions in the favour ofpeople." Notably, Pakistan's economy is in shambles and the country is holding virtualtalks on the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) in order tostrike the staff-level agreement. ...

For the past few years, India has invested heavily in the production of electronic goods, and in December 2022, Apple became the first firm from the nation to export iPhones worth USD 1 billion in a single month.  December set a new month for the sector, according to an article in the Economic Times, with shipments of mobile phones totaling more than Rs 10,000 crore. According to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the minister of state for electronics and IT, the goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is for mobile phone exports to rank among India's top 10 exports by 2023. Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the government would take all the measures that are required for boosting the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in the country, in an interview with news agency PTI. In 2023, the government...

New rules in China on asset classification will improve transparency by making it tougher for the country's banks to hide problem loans, S&P Global Ratings said in a Feb. 14 note. The updated financial asset risk classification methods for commercial banks, announced by the People's Bank of China on Feb. 11, will widen the assets that must be officially reported as nonperforming, Ratings said. The revised rules will apply to all new businesses from July 1. There is a grace period until 2025-end for existing portfolios. "China's risk classification of problem assets will get stricter under the new rules," S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Ming Tan said in the note. "This will minimize opportunities for regulatory arbitrage." Chinese banks' reported nonperforming loans...

On 4 February 2023, Sri Lanka celebrated its 75th anniversary of independence from British rule. With the country amid a crippling economic crisis and a fall in per capita income, Sri Lankans have mixed views on whether there was much to celebrate. Sri Lankans do agree, however, on the need to re-double policy efforts to tackle the economic crisis and build a prosperous and inclusive economy for future generations. An IMF program is necessary to stabilise the economy and enable Sri Lanka to borrow prudently from abroad again but no panacea. As China is yet to provide assurances on debt sustainability, IMF Board approval of a $ 3.9 billion IMF program over four years may take some time. Trading more with dynamic Asia economies is a complementary pathway for Sri Lanka to earn foreign e...

As concerns for user data privacy on social media platforms continue to rise, the popular video-sharing app TikTok is facing growing bans in the United States. The app, which has over 100 million active users in the country, has come under scrutiny for its data collection practices and alleged ties to the Chinese government. Several states, including Texas, New York, and Florida, have already banned the use of TikTok on government-owned devices. Additionally, some US military branches have prohibited the use of the app on government-issued phones. The latest ban was imposed by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has prohibited its employees from using TikTok for work-related purposes. The agency cited concerns about the security of user data and potential thre...

Eleventh-hour negotiations between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have failed to unlock $1.1bn in crucial funds aimed at preventing the country from going bankrupt. A deepening economic crisis has all but emptied Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves, leaving it barely enough dollars to cover a month of imports and it is struggling to service sky-high levels of foreign debt. The IMF team, which leaves Islamabad on Friday, said "considerable progress" had been made after 10 days of talks. "Virtual discussions will continue in the coming days," the head of the IMF mission Nathan Porter said in a statement. Although there was no financial lifeboat, both sides tried to paint the meeting positively. Pakistan's finance minister told a news conference the country h...