Asia

The rural-urban divide among millions of Chinese youth may stand between the dragon country and future economic rise because of a growing mismatch between jobs and education. Every passing year is forcing the youth to choose higher education courses on the basis of their low income backgrounds. That in turn is leading to lower academic performance. As a result, the question millions of youth in China face after completing high school is whether to pursue academic or vocational education. The academic route is very expensive in the country. It costs time too. However, the returns are not very encouraging considering scores of skilled youth with college degrees compete for low-level jobs. On the other hand, youth prefer vocational education because it is tailored to the skill sets nee...

Prominent businessmen and around 50 representatives from the Pak business and industrial community at a recent emergency meeting have demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to declare an economic emergency and take urgent steps to avoid a Sri Lanka-like situation. Pakistan Businesses Forum Senior Vice President Muhammad Riaz Khattak stated that “Pakistan is going through a severe economic crisis and unfortunately mainstream political parties have not come up with any effective measures to save the economy.”  While international investors operating in Pakistan welcomed the government’s ‘bold policy measures’ to finalise the IMF programme, they are increasingly getting apprehensive about deteriorating prospects of the Pak economy. They have also expressed doubt about the efficacy of...

ISLAMABAD: “Once finalised, Pakistan’s extent of borrowing from the IMF during the present financial year (July to June) will increase by $2.8bn. This will be a very important gesture,” a senior Pakistani official said. The assistance would help Pakistan secure a $1.2bn payment from the IMF, whose board is set to meet this month to approve the disbursement. The IMF agreed last month to increase its loan package by $1bn to $7bn, but has conditioned the disbursement on assurances that Pakistan receives additional financial support from elsewhere. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the government cannot afford to provide subsidy on petroleum products, adding that they had made arrangements to get $4 billion from friendly countries as desired by the IMF. When asked by ...

The economic data, which largely fell short of market expectations on Monday, highlights the uncertainties lying ahead for the world’s second-largest economy in the face of coronavirus outbreaks, deeper property-market adjustments, possible stagflation in the global economy, and an intensifying rivalry with the United States. With China’s central bank cutting a major policy interest rate by 10 basis points on Monday – the first cut since mid-January – analysts are expecting Beijing to use price tools, coupled with a credit boost and infrastructure push, to quickly drive up domestic demand before a leadership reshuffling at this autumn’s 20th Party Congress. The impact of the stimulus rolled out in May-June has proved weaker than expected, prompting policymakers to step up policy eas...

Being increasingly seen as “easy money”, the Chinese investments underBelt and Road Initiative (BRI) across the world are causing alarm among thebeneficiaries, as some realise, at times too late, the debt trap that it brings.It’s a mixed picture, but worrisome nevertheless. Some get abjectlydependent and cannot find a way out, others struggle to survive by curtailingdependence and cancelling projects. But suffering in silence is not an option:debts incurred have to be paid back, come what may.Some speak up. The recent warning by Bangladesh finance minister AHMMustafa Kamal or a recent cancellation of a key Chinese-financed project byZambia are sharp pointers.Zambia, working to prevent China’s debt-diplomacy, which only reaps profitsto Beijing while countries are pushed towards an economic...

China's smartphone market boom comes to an end as it registers a sharp decline in demands within the mainland and outside. As per the latest data, China's second-quarter smartphone shipments fell by 14.7 per cent, which is the fifth consecutive quarterly decline. Analysts believe that the Chinese market is in deep trouble, and under the blow of multiple factors, the prospects are becoming bleaker and bleaker. According to data released by the US research firm IDC, smartphone shipments in China fell 14.7 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier to 67.2 million units. It was the fifth consecutive quarter of declines in shipments and the second consecutive quarter of double-digit declines, with major players like Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo reporting sharp declines in sales. Bloomb...

ISLAMABAD: The country’s exports to Afghanistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives account for a small amount of $4.590 billion — just 14.43pc of Pakistan’s total global exports of $31.79bn in FY22. China tops the list of Pakistan’s regional exports leaving other populous countries India and Bangladesh behind. Islamabad carried out trade with its farther neighbours Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives via sea only. On the other hand, imports from these countries edged up to $17.814bn in FY22 against $13.826bn over the corresponding period last year, an increase of 28.84pc. Exports grew 17pc, but imports swelled close to $18 billion As a result of huge imports, Pakistan’s trade deficit with the region expanded during the ...

Beijing, China: According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the outlook for FDI in 2022 is "worrisome". International project finance in infrastructure sectors is expected to continue to provide growth momentum. Reports say that a new project activity in the first quarter of 2022 recorded a decrease of 21 per cent, and international project finance deals were down 4 per cent. The same trend is observed in BRI investments, as per European Times. According to a study by the Green Finance & Development Center, Chinese Belt and Road financing and investments, in the participating 147 countries of BRI fell in the first half of 2022. During the period financing and investments were recorded at USD 28.4 billion, compared with USD 29.4 billion ...

KARACHI: Inflation in the country has reached the record high in 14 years in this July. Consumer price index (CPI) inflation rose to 24.93 per cent in July, whereas in July 2021, it was recorded at 8.4 per cent, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistic. That compares with a 21.3 per cent jump in June. This level was last seen in August 2008. On a month-on-month basis, CPI-based inflation increased 4.3 per cent in July 2022 as compared to an increase of 6.3 per cent in the previous month, and an increase of 1.3 per cent in July 2021. Over a decade ago, Pakistan experienced high and volatile inflation in FY2009, where July 2008 CPI increased to 24.3 per cent, and then in August of the same year, it increased to 25.3 per cent. Now in July 2022, it has again rea...

Port Louis, Mauritius:  The 3G network in Mauritius has been largely developed by Huawei.The issue of the allocation of contracts to Huawei under the era of Sherry Singh, the former Chief Executive Officer of Mauritius Telecom has pointed toward the unholy alliance between the executive and the Chinese government.Different stories are heard about the issue of the allocation of contracts to Huawei under the era of ex-CEO Sherry Singh.Huawei has been awarded worth hundreds of millions of rupees contracts during 2006-07, which skyrocketed to billions of rupees under Singh.In 2006-07, Huawei entered the national telecommunications company under the direction of the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mauritius Telecom (MT) Sarat Lallah.During this same period, Huawei was entrusted wi...