"The devastating earthquake that struck PRC on Monday has raised concerns over the stability of dams and infrastructure in the afflicted mountainous area, while landslides have blocked a river that flows to the region. More than 13,000 people have been confirmed dead and 25,000 remain missing or buried by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake.

Heavy rains could compound the damage by hindering rescue work, triggering mudslides and adding to pressure on weakened dams. The dramatic shelf where the Tibetan plateau collides with the Sichuan basin is ideal for hydropower, while doubling the challenges of building roads, bridges and railways."

"Surging oil prices have kicked off a debate in Azerbaijan about spending practices and inflation that analysts say highlights dangerous pitfalls in the country's budget planning. State revenue has risen 42-percent over the past year. Parliament recently revised Azerbaijan's state budget to accommodate rising oil and gas revenues.

The government has indicated two priorities for the new budget: various government infrastructure projects and the armed forces. Infrastructure spending now accounts for close to $2 billion (a 53.3 percent increase from the original 2008 budget), while military spending increased by 31.8 percent to close in on $2 billion. By comparison, expenditures on education, health care and other social welfare categories increased by a mere 10 percent."

"The only way to ease food price fluctuations and secure domestic supply is by increasing food production through intensive planting and encouraging existing infrastructure to increase productivity. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Although Indonesia is the world's largest crude palm oil producer and was once known as a country self-sufficient in rice production, the nation is experiencing rice and oil palm seeds shortages.

In response, the government has launched the use of hybrid seeds, which are slated to have three times the productivity of conventional seeds. Indonesia also lacks access to more sophisticated fertilizers, which are needed to increase productivity. Land availability for agricultural or plantation activities is also a problem. Finding new land for plantations is made problematic by many incidents of land being owned by multiple bodies."

"After 16 years of reforms, the number of dollar billionaires in India has grown (India has 53, more than any other nation in Asia, and more than 100,000 millionaires). The middle class has expanded to somewhere around 200 million or 250 million people, but the majority remain either poor or very poor, with 700 million living on less than $2 a day. Poverty has decreased since reforms began, but slowly, dropping from about a third of the population who were estimated to be living on less than $1 a day in 1991, to around a quarter of the nation today.

If the extremes have always been present, the gulf between the two Indias is growing visibly wider. Inclusive growth remains an aspiration that the government acknowledges it has yet to achieve. It is unclear whether an economic model in which two-thirds of the population do not yet share in many of the benefits of growth is sustainable."

"After the recent increase inf the minimum wage and reform to the labor law in PRC, Viet Nam has become even more attractive despite recent inflation. A lot of enterprises that were experimenting with a smaller operation in Viet Nam years ago are now planning to move part or all of their Asian operations into Viet Nam, particularly the manufacturing sector.

But being cheap is not good enough in the long run. Labor costs are on the rise and without the right skill level to support that cost increase, Viet Nam may lose its attractiveness sooner rather than later. Abundant unskilled labor only benefits certain industries. Viet Nam has one of the highest literacy rates in the world and that is a great competitive advantage enabling further training programs with the right focus."

"An impressive rebound in agriculture production, which contributes one-third of the national output, is perhaps the most optimistic development this year in Nepal. Revival of the wholesale and retail sectors, the largest contributors to GDP after agriculture, and robust growth in tourism, which has a wide range of multiplier effects, are some other good news for the chronically yawning economy.

Similar growth is expected in the transport and communication sector, another heavyweight in the GDP and financial sector, which has lately recorded massive expansion. However, the overall performance of the non-agriculture sector is likely to remain mixed. The shrinking manufacturing sector, the largest employer after agriculture, is the main worry."

"Malaysia is prepared to offer palm oil in exchange for rice to any rice-exporting country as part of efforts to stabilize domestic supply, a Cabinet minister said. Such barter deals could help Malaysia build up its rice stockpile. Malaysia is the world's second-largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia, and imports nearly 27 percent of its rice needs annually. It hopes to cut rice imports to 14 percent by 2010.

Malaysia has been actively scouting for rice from the international market to increase its buffer stocks to volumes equivalent to three months of requirements, compared with current levels that are sufficient only for 15 days. The government earlier announced it would cap prices of high quality grades of locally grown rice from June 1 to stabilize rice prices and supply."

"More than growth, exports and the current account balance, rising inflation is 'the issue' facing Asia today. Just about every Asian economy is witnessing a resurgence of inflation. Viet Nam, where inflation is running at close to 20 percent, tops the league. PRC's inflation, at close to 9 percent, is the highest in 11 years. The inflation facing Asia is all the more pernicious for the fact that it is driven in part by higher food prices, particularly for rice and wheat.

Unfortunately, the policy options to tackle the problem are not straightforward. Artificial fixes like price controls create other problems, like high fiscal costs. High interest rates to curb inflation tend to trigger capital inflows, which add further to liquidity -- as well as complicate exchange rate management. Asian countries thus need to seriously rethink their inflation management. Allowing faster exchange rate appreciation is one underexploited option that China and India, in particular, should consider."

"For a poor farming family in central Java, supplying the prized cow or goats with drinking water takes priority over washing themselves. The dry season can last up to six months and families are often forced to buy their water from private companies at a price so high they cannot afford to waste it on bathing themselves. Up to 75 percent of people in Klaten lack private toilets or washing facilities.

The first priority is water for cooking and drinking. The second is providing water for their cattle and other livestock. They don't have money to spend on water for toilets or washing. UNICEF is building rainwater catchment tanks for 1,500 families in seven villages in Klaten to provide them with a safer, closed water storage system. But as part of the project, the families involved must agree to build their own private toilets."

"As sharply rising consumer prices threaten to push more people into poverty, the central bank in the Philippines has called on banks to lend more to the poor. Some 229 banks were now into microfinance?provision of small, non-collateralized loans to the poor to help them start a business.

The country's micro-borrowers were also becoming net savers, with total deposits reaching P2 billion as of the end of 2007. Not only have they been liberated from the cycle of poverty, they are attaining financial security for themselves and their families."

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