World

Strong domestic demand and favorable trends in fuel and food prices have led the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to maintain its growth prediction for Bangladesh's GDP at 6.5% for the current fiscal 2023-24. This was revealed in the Asian Development Bank's study titled "Asian Development Outlook July 2023," which was published on Wednesday. The ADB's prognosis for Bangladesh's GDP is in line with the IMF's estimate of 6.5% and is higher than the World Bank's projection of 6.2%. However, the government's goal of 7.5% growth was not met. The ADB study notes the unexpected fall in imports and a less severe downturn in export growth as reasons for revising up Bangladesh's GDP growth from 5.3% to 6% for the previous fiscal year. According to the report, "in Bangladesh, imports fell sharply...

Mr Toyozawa, an advertising sales representative in Tokyo, is not much better off today than when he started working at his company in 2001. For years, Toyozawa’s salary rose in annual increments of 1 percent and, like many Japanese salarymen at or approaching retirement age, his earnings have gone into reverse since he turned 55 two years ago. KEEP READING list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4 Nigeria, labour unions to agree new minimum wage within 8 weeks list 2 of 4 US cracks down on child labour violations amid loosening laws list 3 of 4 Canada probes Nike, Dynasty Gold on forced Uighur labour in China list 4 of 4 Amazon hit with labour complaint over alleged bargaining refusal end of list “I wish my company recognised how hard I work and I wish they appreciat...

Roads are packed with traffic, public spaces and restaurants are full of both locals and tourists, while shops are bustling. It is hard to imagine that just a year ago, this was a country struggling with massive shortages after it ran out of foreign currency. With no money to buy fuel, roads were empty with even public transport at a standstill. Sri Lanka had to go back to pandemic-era measures such as online classes and working from home. But even this was not practical because of power cuts - some of which went on for up to 13 hours a day. Food, medicine and other essentials were also in short supply, exacerbating the crisis. People had to stand in such long queues in the brutal heat, that at least 16 people - mainly the elderly - died. But now, just a year later, food, fuel...

According to a report in Dawn, the cash-strapped Pakistani government, unable to manage operations at the Islamabad International Airport (IIA), has decided to outsource the task. On Saturday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presided over a meeting of the steering committee and instructed the parties involved to finalize the formalities of delegating the operations by August 12, a day before the current government's term expires. The World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC), the transaction adviser for the outsourcing, provided an update during the meeting. It was also resolved to expedite the airport's outsourcing to enhance service delivery in accordance with best industry practices.Despite receiving approval for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package, the Sh...

Saturday, when the Godda Ultra Super-Critical Thermal Power Plant in Jharkhand, which was developed by industrialist Gautam Adani, started delivering energy to Bangladesh, Adani met with Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. Meeting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the full load start-up and handover of the 1600 MW Ultra Super-Critical Godda Power Plant was an honor. In a social media post, Mr. Adani praised the hardworking teams from India and Bangladesh who overcame COVID to commission the plant in a record-breaking three and a half years. On July 12, Adani Power Jharkhand Ltd (APJL), a 100% subsidiary of Adani Power Ltd., conducted the "dependable capacity test" at the Godda facility. A press statement states that the test was mandated by the power purchase agreeme...

The International Monetary Fund’s board approved a $3bn bailout programme for Pakistan on Wednesday, which includes the immediate disbursal of about $1.2bn to help stabilise the South Asian country’s economy. Pakistan and the fund reached a staff-level agreement last month, securing a short-term pact, which got more funding than expected for the country of 230 million facing an acute balance of payments crisis. KEEP READING list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3 IMF approves much-awaited $3bn bailout for Pakistan list 2 of 3 Pakistan gets $2bn from Saudi Arabia day before key IMF meeting list 3 of 3 Pakistan and IMF reach standby agreement on $3bn bailout end of list The bailout had been on hold since December when the IMF refused to release a critical $1.1bn p...

Singapore’s economy avoided a technical recession in the second quarter, growing 0.7% year-on-year and 0.3% quarter-on-quarter, advanced estimates showed. Economists polled by Reuters expected to see growth of 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and 0.6% year-on-year. In the first quarter, Singapore’s economy contracted by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis and saw marginal growth of 0.4% year-on-year. The latest data comes after the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state’s central bank and financial regulator, warned of an “uncertain” growth outlook earlier this month. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/W8OzG/1/ “The near-term outlook remains uncertain with downside risks,” the MAS said in an annual review. “Should latent vulnerabilities in the...

As much of the Western world continues to struggle with higher than usual rates of inflation, China faces a very different problem: potential price deflation, which could signal serious economic trouble in the future. On Monday, official data showed that consumer prices in June had barely risen compared to a year earlier. Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, inflation was still surprisingly low, at just 0.4% per year. At the same time, China’s producer price index, which measures what manufacturers charge for their goods, showed a dramatic 5.4% year-over-year decline. This signal of wholesale price deflation appears to be the result of decreased demand, which bodes ill for Chinese manufacturers. Counterintuitive crisis While lower prices for goods may seem like good...

Talk of the Bengal Tiger might make you think about big cats or cricket but what’s really roaring is the economy of Bangladesh. A conference held at the European Institute for Asian Studies in Brussels on 05 July 2023 heard how a country that’s long benefited from EU aid and trade preferences has become an important partner with much to offer Europe’s exporters and investors. It’s time for a new Partnership and Co-operation Agreement, writes Political Editor Nick Powell. In his opening address to the conference, Bangladesh’s Ambassador to the European Union, Mahbub Hassan Saleh, looked forward to “a great leap forward” in his country’s relationship with the E...

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has suggested a standard protocol for the usage of digital currencies on a distributed ledger, such as stablecoins, tokenized bank deposits, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The specifics may be found in a whitepaper that was published on June 21, 2023. The whitepaper calls for further investigation among central banks, financial institutions, and fintech firms to comprehend the design factors involved in deploying digital money. The whitepaper claims that while if digital currency allows for the potential of programming certain qualities into each bearer asset, and therefore determines how the digital currency is to be used, this would affect the currency's attributes and acceptability as a means of exchange. The whitepaper i...