"Laos remains one of the poorest countries in Asia, where two out of three people live in abject poverty. Now the country is opening up to the outside world, after years of political seclusion -- but is the government ready to uplift its poor people? Laos remains a country with a primitive infrastructure. It has no railroads, a rudimentary road system, and limited telecommunications, though the government is sponsoring major improvements in the road system with possible support from Japan.

Laos is banking on the rich natural resource like water to boost its economy and infrastructure. Foreign investments in the country has now passed $6 billion mark, with Thailand leading the way by investing more than $1.3 billion dollars in 169 projects, followed by China with $1.1 billion dollars in 237 projects. However, China is expected to surpass Thailand in 2008, becoming number one investor in Laos. Now, the challenge before the government is to make sure that the common people of Laos are not left behind in the development."

"While the Pacific region is expected to see some economic progress this year -- mainly due to increases in commodity prices, tourism and investor-friendly policies -- weak governance will continue to hinder the region's ability to make significant gains, according to the Asian Development Outlook for 2008. Poor use of public resources, capacity constraints, political instability and lawlessness are problems that exist in parts of the region and need to be addressed for the Pacific to meet its economic potential.

The economic outlook for the region in 2008 is expected to closely reflect the 2007 results, with the Pacific economies projected to grow an overall 4.3% in 2008. In 2007, the Pacific economies grew 3.1%, picking up from 2.3% growth in 2006. Much of the growth in 2007 was due to tourism and favorable developments in world commodity markets. Resource-rich Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste are expected to record the highest growth rates in 2008 because commodity prices are projected to stay high."

"Endowed with rich natural resources and the world's fourth-biggest population, Indonesia has many of the ingredients that could make it one of the world's top economies. But despite posting its fastest growth in more than a decade last year, Southeast Asia's biggest economy still appears stuck in a slower lane compared to the booming economies of Asian neighbors such as India, China and even Vietnam. Indonesians need to invest and save much higher percentages than they are doing right now if they want to step growth up another notch.

Indonesia has pledged to accelerate infrastructure spending, although progress has been hampered by difficulty acquiring land for some projects, while foreign investors say they are put off by issues such as graft, red tape and onerous labor laws. The government has set a growth target of 6.4 percent this year, although this was revised down from 6.8 percent amid concerns over the global economy. The World Bank said in its latest report that Indonesia should weather a world slowdown reasonably well, although warned 2008 growth may slow to 6 percent, before rebounding next year."

"Social and economic development in the Philippines remains uneven and poverty continues to be characterized by widespread disparities across regions and population groups, a recent United Nations country team report said. Compared with other East Asian and Southeast Asian neighbors, poverty reduction in the country has lagged far behind that of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China -- countries that started with higher levels of poverty incidence than the Philippines but have successfully managed to lessen, if not virtually eliminate, extreme poverty.

According to the country team report, there were 27.6 million poor Filipinos in 2006, a 3.8-million increase from the 2003 data. Because of rural poverty, migration to urban areas has made the Philippines the fastest urbanizing country in Southeast Asia, with 55 million of its 86-million population, or 64 percent, living in urban areas. Thirty percent of the 64 percent live in slums."

"Currently, amid murmurs of an economic slowdown, there is a debate among economic and industrial circles about how to meet emerging challenges and ensure that India's growth story does not lose any of its luster. Industrial growth slid to 5.3% in January 2008, against 11.6% in January 2007. While curbing inflation may be the government's current focus, the industrial slowdown needs to be tackled on an urgent basis, too.

Indian external trade reforms are well on course, but internal reforms have somehow lagged behind. Although import duties have been brought down, much needs to be done to enhance the competitiveness of industry. Changes in the policy framework could achieve greater competitiveness. A conducive policy environment, aimed at rectifying policy inconsistencies, could go a long way in reversing the industrial slowdown currently being experienced in several sectors. It would keep hope afloat, and signal to Indian industry that the efforts are not at cross-purposes, but aimed jointly at a strong comeback."

"While Vietnam's domestic investors are indifferent to bank shares as they think that banks will have a difficult year in 2008 due to the government's tightened monetary policy, foreign investors are planning to buy Vietnamese bank shares at high prices. The decision by Vietnam's central bank to limit the credit growth rate at 30% this year has forced many banks to lower their targeted profit goals, and this has made local banks less attractive in the eyes of domestic investors.

The biggest attraction of Vietnamese banks is that they are full of potential, as only 8% of population currently uses banking services. A recent survey shows that the total turnover of banking retail services may have a growth rate of more than 25% per annum in the next 5-10 years, the highest growth rate in Asia. Vietnam's card market is growing rapidly by 300% a year."

"China's central government emphasized the importance of combating inflation Wednesday as some cities plan to raise water fees. Most cities are considering raising utility charges, such as those for electricity and water, to offset rising costs.

Water prices in China are relatively low, reducing investors' willingness to finance improvements. In Beijing, for example, water for residential use is priced at 2.80 yuan (40 U.S. cents) per ton, while industrial and commercial users pay 4.10 yuan per ton. Some experts admit that water charges will have to rise in the long run but agree with the government's decision to give top priority to curbing inflation at present."

"Nepal's economic growth rate has been downgraded to 3.8 percent from the earlier expected figures of more than 4 percent for 2008, with the Asian Development Bank saying the country faces serious food problems and possible high inflation rate. The difficulties for Nepal are deeper than most countries as it has not adjusted fuel prices. Once the oil prices are adjusted, inflationary pressure will mount, further eroding the purchasing power of low income groups.

Net food importing countries like Nepal could face problems in terms of availability and affordability of food. Nepal depends on India for more than 50 per cent of the rice supply. Restrictions on rice exports by India and Indonesia are the main reasons for the fears of food shortage."

"Bangladesh's three newly-corporatized state-owned banks -- Sonali, Agrani and Janata -- have sought the finance ministry's approval to raise funds from the primary market to shore up their capital. The three banks face a total capital shortfall of Tk 6,500 crore. Officials attributed the huge shortfall due to a continuous rise in accumulated losses and non-performing or classified loans.

State-owned banks not only face capital shortfalls but also image and governance crisis due to unabated corruption and malpractice. Under the nationalized commercial banks reform program, the government corporatized Sonali, Janata, and Agrani in November last year, and put the fourth bank Rupali on the privatization track. State-owned banks have been continuously losing market share and accounted for 32.7 percent of the total industry assets in 2006 compared with 37.4 percent in 2005."

"India's core infrastructure industries' growth accelerated to 8.7% in February 2008, reviving hopes that industrial production would speed up and arrest an economic slowdown. Growth in coal, power and cement, three of the six industries that make up the core infrastructure sector, aided the healthy growth in February as compared to 7.6% a year ago.

However, in the April-February 2007-08 period, infrastructure growth remained lower at 5.6% compared to 8.7% a year ago due to less than five percent growth in the four preceding months this fiscal. The infrastructure sector had grown by a poor 4.2% in January 2008."

"The question of health is increasingly associated with Indonesia's wider economic worries. An estimated 13 million children under the age of 5 are considered malnourished, raising a host of questions, including the role played by the state in the provision of adequate and healthy food to its citizens. In the health sector, malpractice, negligence and accidents have been noted for a long time, and there have not been any effective remedies because these healthcare deficiencies have not been properly defined nor have standards been established.

The government recently announced that more than 60 million people will be targeted in a special poverty eradication program to be initiated this year. It is expected to include a social program focused on education and insurance for low-income families, an empowerment program for rural people and a small-scale business program. There must be strict accountability and transparency in order to avoid corruption. Moreover, strict visible standards must be stated with mechanisms for reporting malpractices and speedy remedies to avert calamities of death and starvation."

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