"The drilling of millions of deep wells and the extensive use of farm pumps to bring the water to the surface in the past fifteen years in many parts of Asia, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have helped raise food production -- but at a long-term cost of diminished underground water supplies that are emergency stores for the future. By some calculations, as much as 10 percent of the world's food is being grown using underground water that is not being replaced by rain.

In India, the situation is worse because farming is critical to human survival and economic growth. As the water table in many parts of India falls, water shortages will become more widespread and the cost of pumping the remaining underground water to the surface will rise."

"The People's Bank of China, the central bank, has notified all commercial banks that their annual loan quota has been raised to help fund the growth of small enterprises, which have been hit hardest by the credit control measures initiated since last year to curb inflation. Economists and industry analysts said the newly increased loan quota would help small businesses out of capital shortage.

The increase is 5 percent for national commercial banks and 10 percent for local commercial banks, taking into consideration that SMEs make up a larger proportion of their clientele. The loan quota for each bank is set by the central bank annually."

"Child mortality rates are lagging in a number of Pacific Island states according to a just released UNICEF report. Papua New Guinea -- the most populous Pacific country in the study -- was responsible for 14,000 under-five child deaths out of the 15,000 that occurred in the Pacific countries measured.

Pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition are the major causes of child death in the region. But vast inequities in income, geography, gender and ethnicity are essentially what stand in the way of children surviving and thriving. Public health expenditure across the region remains well below the world average on 5.1 percent."

"With eight of the world's 10 largest cities located near rivers or seas and exposed to such climate hazards as flooding, sea level rise, and hurricanes, a United Nations-World Bank report offers advice on how to make these population centers more resistant to the effects of global warming. Mumbai was listed along with Tokyo, New York, Shanghai, Jakarta and Dhaka as cities where millions are at risk of heavy storms and flooding.

The concentration of people in cities increases their susceptibility to damage from the warming climate. The study finds that East Asia is one of the world's most vulnerable areas. Ninety percent of disasters are already weather-related, and more intense and frequent hurricanes and floods are predicted."

"The Philippines, like many countries in Asia, relies significantly on electronics and semiconductors for job growth and export earnings. The sector currently earns around $31 billion annually in exports and employs around 460,000 people. But unlike neighbors Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, the Philippines has never pursued a serious higher-value strategy approach to electronics and semiconductors, preferring instead to rely on the country's status as a cheap manufacturing destination to attract investors.

To shift to a new, higher-value-added strategy, the Philippines needs to make sure that industry works closely with key universities. This also means the Philippine government really needs to beef up its efforts in science and technology education. One of the possible areas the Philippines can explore is chip and firmware design."

"Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam so far this year is over $45 billion, four times last year's figure. The FDI scenario this year shows that foreign investors continue to trust the Vietnamese investment environment though the country is facing challenges like inflation.

Of 35 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, Taiwan is the largest with a total investment of $8.4 billion in 84 projects. Japanese investors consider Vietnam the best place for manufacturing in the next decade, but only 29.2 percent of businesses in the services sector are profitable in Vietnam compared to 69.5 percent in the rest of Asia."

"Trade officials and economists say Cambodia's garment sector is threatened with a slowdown over coming months if productivity does not increase. For the first three months of 2008, garment exports plummeted to $1 billion from $1.99 billion at this time in 2007 and $1.9 billion in 2006.

Economists say better productivity is needed to ward off competition from China and Vietnam, especially since US safeguards against some Chinese textiles are set to expire at the end of the year. Some 326 factories operate in Cambodia after 10 closed last year, employing 360,000 workers."

"China has already won most of the medals in the financial Olympics by avoiding toxic debt investments that have devastated banks in the United States and Europe. Chinese banks hold three of the top six spots among the world's largest financial companies based on market value, even though their shares fell more than 20% in Hong Kong trading since October.

The Chinese banks owe their rankings in part to having avoided almost all of the $480 billion in writedowns and credit-market losses that have sent bank stocks tumbling worldwide."

"The Laos government has agreed to offer more allowances to officials who decide to leave cities and relocate to remote areas to assist in rural development. The government has expressed a desire to address civil servant shortages at the district and village levels. Remote areas are also faced with a shortage of officials with adequate skills and knowledge.

Many officials say lower wages are not the only factor discouraging officials from working in remote areas. Job dissatisfaction and a lack of modern infrastructure, hospitals and entertainment venues were also contributing factors."

"Vietnam is now scrambling to balance fighting inflation while keeping debt-ridden and politically connected SOEs afloat. Behind the inflation figures, Vietnam faces a spiraling debt crisis, with the economy weighed down by the debts of state-owned enterprises.

SOEs, state corporations and other vested economic interest groups aligned with the government have made and apparently are winning their case that tighter monetary policy will not only bankrupt them, but will also cause the country to miss its targeted economic growth rate of 7% for this year. Whether the government's bid to keep businesses afloat rather than restoring broad macroeconomic stability will lead to an economic soft landing in 2009 and restore local confidence in its management is highly uncertain."

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