Asia

Islamabad, Pakistan:  Pakistan has assured International Monitory Fund (IMF) to receive concessions from the ongoing project of China-Pakistan Economic corridor.   The issue of reopening of the purchase agreements of the power generation plants set up under the multi-billion dollar CPEC is unlikely to die down in the near future. The previous Imran Khan-led PTI government ha made a similar commitment with the World Bank (WB) – for the sake of a USD 400 million loan in June last year. Citing government sources, The Express Tribune reported that the assurance to seek concessions from the Chinese investors was given by Pakistani authorities to remove one of the bottlenecks in finalisation of a staff-level agreement with the IMF. Notably, the chances of that happenin...

In its 2022 strategic concept, NATO notes that as a “systemic challenge”, China has been exploiting politico-military, economic and diplomatic tools for its power projection and greater regional and global presence. The paper also takes note of China’s hybrid and cyber overt and covert operations premised on its mala fide intentions, which often run counter to its calls for peaceful co-existence and “win-win” foreign policy rhetoric. Along with its island reclamation and militarisation activities, China is increasingly using maritime militia to dominate the South China Sea. It is rapidly equipping itself with anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities in its so-called first island chain which includes Okinawa (Japan), Taiwan, and the Philippines within the wider East and South China ...

China's textile manufacturing industry, which is the largest in the world and accounts for 7 per cent of the country's GDP, is in a downward spiral. The Covid-19 pandemic proved the major reason for the demand to go down besides the increase in raw materials. There are gloomy days ahead as China is losing its space in textile imports to other Asian countries like Vietnam and India. However, things are going to get much worse as the UK and US banned cotton imports amid allegations of forced labour in China’s Xinjiang even as the European Union is mulling a similar move. There has been a massive loss to the textile industry in China since 2020 while the demand in 2022 has lowered by 40 per cent from the last year.[2] After the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) came into force, ...

The overall Pakistani internal security situation seems to be deteriorating. Decades of social and institutional apathy towards vulnerable comminutes, hatred for minorities, discrimination based on region and subtle promotion of extremism have gradually resulted in widespread militancy and lawlessness making the administration challenging across the country. The problem gets further exacerbated with the rise of criminal gangs at local levels, which further jeopardizes the development and peaceful existence of the society. When an all-weather ally China is consistently seen flagging security concerns regarding projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the situation cannot be considered normal. Repeated Chinese requests and warnings to Pak government for giving priority to ...

The US-China competition is getting intense with each passing day, with China having fast-emerged as a systemic rival to both the US and other members of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). This is evident from NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept approved at NATO’s Summit in Madrid on 29 June. Although, according to some reports, the US and the UK hold much stronger views on China compared to Germany, France and the EU, the strategic concept itself has taken a giant qualitative leap forward in comparison to its previous avatar launched in 2010, which did not even mention China as a cause of concern for NATO and its allies. In its 2022 strategic concept, NATO notes that as a “systemic challenge”, China has been exploiting politico-military, economic and diplomatic tools for its pow...

The prolonged Ukraine – Russia conflict is hurting the very fundamentals of poorcountries, especially countries like Pakistan. An analysts in JP Morgan Chase &Co. warned recently that global oil prices could reach a ‘stratospheric’ levels if theUS and European penalties prompt Russia to inflict retaliatory crude-output cuts.A daily cut of 3 million-barrel in supplies would push benchmark London crudeprices to USD 190, while the worst-case scenario of 5 million could mean USD380 a barrel, said the analyst. This would push Islamabad to a scenario muchworse than the current crisis that Colombo is facing. Islamabad is currentlyexperiencing worst energy crisis even when the oil prices are hovering above USD100 a barrel. The crisis deepened further with the State-owned Pakistan LNG Ltdscrap...

The disruption in supply chain and sky rocketing energy prices due to Ukraine-Russia conflict along with rising debt service to China are accentuating the problems of Nigerian economy, which is struggling for recovery after falling into recession in 2019 and 2020. Despite Nigerian economy showing signs of recovery in the first quarter of 2022 with 3.6% growth in GDP due to a broad based recovery in the services and agriculture sector among others, its lead sector, i.e., oil is still depressed. Nigeria is heavily dependent on crude oil exports for the bulk of government revenues and foreign exchange reserves. However, the nascent economic recovery of Nigeria is facing several challenges that could disrupt the stability and growth of the country. According to World Bank’s Economic Outloo...

Turkey’s lira, which has suffered two currency crises since 2018, fell for thesixth-straight day in July, the longest losing streak since mid-May. The lira wastrading down 0.3 percent at 17.28 per dollar in Istanbul on July 07, 2022. Thecurrency has lost almost a quarter of its value this year after sliding by 44 percentin 2021.Market is rife with concerns that the TL will lose more value due to thequestioning of the adequacy of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT)reserves.CBRT weekly data is keenly watched by the analyst. Bankers calculate adecrease in foreign exchange deposits of around $3.5 billion, most of which iscorporate-related. Due to the activity experienced in euro/dollar and gold/dollarparities in June 22 end, the data will also be followed in an adjusted way. Fur...

ISLAMABAD: At a review meeting of the National Coordination Committee on foreign-funded projects, the ministry reported that it was managing an ongoing portfolio of $34.8bn such projects of various sectors of the economy. “Out of the total portfolio, $15bn (43pc) is considered as problematic,” it added. On top of that, the meeting was informed that the “share of federal energy projects is about $3.3bn, of which $2.3bn (or almost 70pc) is rated as problematic”, an official statement said. No wonder then, the energy sector is emerging as a challenge to the country’s stability, an official said, referring to over 17pc losses and 10pc short recoveries in the power sector and 10-17pc system losses in the gas sector. Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq presided over the ...

The economic crisis in Turkey is worsening every passing day as inflation issurging at an alarming rate and manufacturing output going down while itscurrency spiraling down fast. This has led to huge inconvenience to people,thanks to food shortage, low wages, and high farming costs. So people areprotesting against the incumbent Turkish President Recep Erdogan. Thisdoes not come as good news to Erdogan, who is seeking anotherpresidential term in soon-to-be-held elections. Besides the inflation andfood shortage, the rising number of Covid-19 patients is another factor thathas angered people. The rising hardships are adding to the socio-politicaltensions, which are likely to be detrimental to Erdogan's prospects ofreelection.The annual inflation in Turkey hit 79 per cent in June this year, w...