Pakistan seeks to emulate Chinese economic model
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed Pakistan’s keen interest in learning from China’s economic model to bolster its own economic growth, trade, and investment ties.
Speaking in an interview with China Media Group representatives, the Prime Minister emphasized the strategic importance of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its transition into a new phase of high-quality development, which has significantly advanced Pakistan’s scientific and technological landscape.
India stocks plunge on concerns of a narrower win for India’s Modi
Indian stocks have suffered their worst intraday fall since March 2020 and foreign investors sold the most on record, as vote-counting trends in the general election suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alliance was unlikely to win the overwhelming majority predicted by exit polls.
With over half the votes counted on Tuesday, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked unlikely to secure a majority on its own in the 543-member lower house of parliament and likely to need allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to form the government.
Mongolia’s fight against land degradation and desertification
In recent years, Mongolia has made major leaps in managing and improving its environmental policies. Mongolia’s heavy dependence on its natural resource extraction along with misuse has created long-lasting environmental damage, desertification, and land degradation. These issues require attention from policymakers and the international community. The long-term strategic goal for Mongolia is to implement a sustainable strategy that combats desertification while increasing economic opportunity with diverse environmental benefits.
A breakout economy or another LDC crash landing?: Bangladesh
What Bangladesh achieved in the last five decades, more so over the last 30 years or so, has been more than impressive. We have been stepping up our gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates every decade consistently since the independence, culminating to 6-7 per cent pre-pandemic. If we take the first 50 years since independence, we have seen massive acceleration in the last 30 years with GDP doubling every 10 years, an unmatchable feat for any least developing country (LDC). During the period, Bangladesh has also seen strong acceleration of the Human Development Index (HDI), well ahead of India, Pakistan, and Nepal (albeit lower than Sri Lanka, Maldives & Bhutan) and is currently placed as Medium Human Development Category.
Japan’s biggest base pay jump since 1994
Japanese workers’ base pay jumped by the largest margin since 1994 in a sign that corporate pledges to offer wage increases are starting to take effect, though market players appeared unconvinced over the strength of the trend.
Base pay in April rose 2.3% from a year earlier to drive up nominal wages by 2.1%, the labor ministry reported Wednesday.
Despite the slew of improved figures, pay continued to lag inflation and market participants appeared to latch on to weaker-than-expected growth in cash wages in data that avoids sampling issues. The yen weakened back past the ¥155 mark against the dollar after recent gains.
Malaysia’s chip industry falls
The United States’ efforts to cripple Russia’s war machine in Ukraine have ensnared an unlikely target far from Moscow: Malaysia’s multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry.
Malaysian semiconductor maker Jatronics SDN BHD is among nearly 300 entities that Washington slapped with US sanctions last month over their alleged links to Russia’s military suppliers.
Jatronics, based in Kuala Lumpur, is accused of shipping electronic parts and components to Russia that Moscow needs to sustain the conflict.
In the Maldives the fight for freshwater
Coral reefs, ring-like atolls, attractive beaches and teeming marine life – the Maldives is renowned for its scenic beauty. But these waterside attractions make the pressure on fresh water supplies in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation all the more incongruous. Water shortages are expected to grow worse with climate change. And for a nation dependent on tourism, and for the capital Malé, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, this spells trouble.
Islands in the Maldives are predominantly low-lying, with an average elevation above sea level of only 1.5 metres. Experts estimate that sea level rise could submerge 80 per cent of the Maldives by 2050. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in 2007 that rises of 18-to-59 centimetres would make the Maldives virtually uninhabitable by the end of the century.
Philippines economic update
The Philippines needs to intensify steps to bolster community resilience against the effects of climate change and extreme weather to minimize economic disruption and sustain inclusive growth, the World Bank’s Philippines Economic Update (PEU), released today, says.
In addition, the government needs to improve the efficiency, transparency, and inclusive use of public resources in climate adaptation, mitigation, response, and rehabilitation, the report says.
India receives highest FDI from Singapore in 2023-24
India received the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) from Singapore in 2023-24 even as overseas capital inflows into the country contracted by about 3.5% due to global economic uncertainties, according to the latest government data.
Though FDI from Singapore has dipped by 31.55% to $11.77 billion in 2023-24, India has attracted the maximum inflows from that country, the data showed.
During the last fiscal, FDI equity inflows decreased from major countries, including Mauritius, Singapore, the U.S., the U.K., UAE, Cayman Islands, Germany, and Cyprus.
However, investments increased from the Netherlands and Japan.
Since 2018-19, Singapore has been the largest source of such investments for India. In 2017-18, India attracted the maximum FDI from Mauritius.
Recovery takes hold: Sri Lanka
To say that Sri Lanka has seen its ups and downs lately is a bit of a perennial. The island nation was forced to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 16 times between 1965 and 2020 in a history punctuated by civil war, constitutional crisis, terror attacks and Covid-19. Each time, it has bounced back. The latest such episode started in 2019 with the ongoing debt crisis, followed by a currency collapse and, in 2022, the fall of the scandal-ridden government of Rajapaksa. Since then, Rajapaksa’s successor, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has presided over yet another tentative economic recovery.
| Growth Rate Of GDP (% per year) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details  | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Developing Asia | 4.9 | -0.6 | 7.4 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Developing Asia excluding the PRC | 4.0 | -3.2 | 6.4 | 5.5 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 5.3 |
| Caucasus and Central Asia | 4.8 | -1.9 | 5.8 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 5.0 |
| Armenia | 7.6 | -7.2 | 5.8 | 12.6 | 8.7 | 5.7 | 6.0 |
| Azerbaijan | 2.3 | -4.3 | 5.6 | 4.6 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.6 |
| Georgia | 5.0 | -6.8 | 10.5 | 10.4 | 7.0 | 5.0 | 5.5 |
| Kazakhstan | 4.5 | -2.5 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 5.1 | 3.8 | 5.3 |
| Kyrgyz Republic | 4.6 | -7.1 | 5.5 | 9.0 | 6.2 | 5.0 | 4.5 |
| Tajikistan | 7.5 | 4.5 | 9.2 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Turkmenistan | … | … | 5.0 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.0 |
| Uzbekistan | 6.0 | 2.0 | 7.4 | 5.7 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 5.6 |
| East Asia | 5.4 | 1.9 | 8.0 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| Hong Kong, China | -1.7 | -6.5 | 6.5 | -3.7 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.0 |
| Mongolia | 5.6 | -4.6 | 1.6 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 4.1 | 6.0 |
| People’s Republic of China | 6.0 | 2.2 | 8.4 | 3.0 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 4.5 |
| Republic of Korea | 2.2 | -0.7 | 4.3 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| Taipei,China | 3.1 | 3.4 | 6.6 | 2.6 | 1.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
| South Asia | 4.0 | -4.4 | 8.8 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 6.6 |
| Afghanistan | 3.9 | -2.4 | -2.1 | -20.7 | -6.2 | … | … |
| Bangladesh | 7.9 | 3.4 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 6.6 |
| Bhutan | 5.8 | -10.2 | 4.4 | 5.2 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 7.0 |
| India | 3.9 | -5.8 | 9.7 | 7.0 | 7.6 | 7.0 | 7.2 |
| Maldives | 7.3 | -32.9 | 37.7 | 13.9 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 6.0 |
| Nepal | 6.7 | -2.4 | 4.8 | 5.6 | 1.9 | 3.6 | 4.8 |
| Pakistan | 3.1 | -0.9 | 5.8 | 6.2 | -0.2 | 1.9 | 2.8 |
| Sri Lanka | -0.2 | -4.6 | 4.2 | -7.3 | -2.3 | 1.9 | 2.5 |
| Southeast Asia | 4.7 | -3.2 | 3.6 | 5.7 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 4.7 |
| Brunei Darussalam | 3.9 | 1.1 | -1.6 | -1.6 | 1.4 | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| Cambodia | 7.1 | -3.1 | 3.0 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 6.0 |
| Indonesia | 5.0 | -2.1 | 3.7 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Lao People’s Dem. Rep. | 4.7 | -0.5 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Malaysia | 4.4 | -5.5 | 3.3 | 8.7 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| Myanmar | 6.8 | 3.2 | -5.9 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.2 |
| Philippines | 6.1 | -9.5 | 5.7 | 7.6 | 5.6 | 6.0 | 6.2 |
| Singapore | 1.3 | -3.9 | 9.7 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 2.6 |
| Thailand | 2.1 | -6.1 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 3.0 |
| Timor-Leste | 2.0 | -8.3 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 1.9 | 3.4 | 4.1 |
| Viet Nam | 7.4 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 8.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.2 |
| The Pacific | 3.2 | -6.2 | -1.9 | 7.9 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 4.0 |
| Cook Islands | 12.6 | -15.7 | -25.5 | 10.5 | 13.3 | 9.1 | 5.2 |
| Federated States of Micronesia | 2.4 | -3.1 | -1.4 | -0.6 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 2.8 |
| Fiji | -0.6 | -17.0 | -4.9 | 20.0 | 7.8 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
| Kiribati | -2.1 | -1.4 | 8.5 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 5.3 | 3.5 |
| Marshall Islands | 10.4 | -2.8 | 1.1 | -0.7 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 1.7 |
| Nauru | 9.1 | 4.1 | 7.2 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.0 |
| Niue | -1.7 | -4.7 | -6.2 | … | … | … | … |
| Palau | 1.3 | -6.7 | -13.0 | -1.7 | -0.2 | 6.5 | 8.0 |
| Papua New Guinea | 4.5 | -3.2 | -0.8 | 5.2 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 4.6 |
| Samoa | 4.5 | -3.1 | -7.1 | -5.3 | 8.0 | 4.2 | 4.0 |
| Solomon Islands | 1.7 | -3.4 | -0.6 | -4.2 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
| Tonga | 0.7 | 0.4 | -2.7 | -2.2 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.3 |
| Tuvalu | 13.8 | -4.3 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 2.4 |
| Vanuatu | 3.2 | -5.0 | -1.6 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 3.6 |