"The Thai government is facing a tough task in trying to push forward investment projects to accelerate economic recovery. The next round of stimulus measures is necessary to prevent further severe impacts from the recession. The government plans to spend Bt1.43 trillion ($41.7 billion) in the next three years. However, the extent to which the stimulus package will help boost the economy remains uncertain.

The Thai economy might contract by 6 to 7 percent in the first quarter of this year, following the fourth quarter last year, which contracted 4.3 percent. The business sector is now pinning hopes on the government to be able to implement infrastructure and other projects to boost job creation. However, the question remains where the government will find the funding."

"Indonesia's commercial banks are risking harm to the country's business community by stubbornly refusing to cut their lending rates, a senior Bank Indonesia official said, in an effort to jawbone down bank rates. The lending rate currently has decreased by only 20 basis points, while the deposit rate has fallen by 130 basis points.

He warned that with 70 percent of commercial financing coming from banks, economic growth would stall without expanding credit. The banks have been locked in an interest rate war for weeks for depositors, decreasing spreads over their lending rates despite continuing cuts in the benchmark BI lending rate."

"Although Viet Nam has been exporting rice for 20 years, it still does not have a detailed strategy on rice development. Troubles in rice management occur every year. One expert feels that Viet Nam always strives to reach three goals at the same time: ensuring national food security, fulfilling rice export goals and ensuring the benefits of farmers. It is necessary to define which of the three is the top priority as all three targets can't be met at the same time.

He has suggested that the government assign the Northern and Southern Food Corporations to take responsibility for food security. If the two corporations report volumes of rice big enough for food security, the government should allow enterprises to export rice with no limitations."

"It is estimated that up to 70 percent of all marriages in Tajikistan are unregistered. In this poor and predominantly Muslim country many people, especially in the countryside, simply go to the local mullah for a 'nikaah,' or Islamic marriage. The practice became especially widespread during Tajikistan's brutal civil war in the 1990s. In the decade since the fighting ended, the wave of unregistered nikaah marriages has been followed by a corresponding wave of "talaaq" or Islamic divorces, leaving thousands of Tajik women and children destitute and completely unprotected by the law.

'I was pregnant with my fourth child when my husband left me,' says Marhaba. 'Look at this shack me and the children have to live in now. They can't even go to school, because I can't afford it and they don't have birth certificates.' "

"PRC will invest at least 62.8 billion yuan ($9.2 billion) over one and a half years in 11 national research programs to achieve breakthroughs in key technology development, the government said. Areas covered by the programs included advanced numerically controlled machine tools, trunk-line aircraft, a new-generation broadband wireless mobile communications network, and high-end central processing units and software.

The programs also focused on the development of large oil and gas fields, advanced nuclear power stations that use pressurized water reactors and high temperature gas-cooled reactors, technology for the treatment and control of water pollution, transgenic products, new drug development, and the treatment of major infectious diseases."

"Asia's tiger economies have suffered some of the sharpest declines in output during the global recession, and some fear that, because of their dependence on exports, they will not see a sustained recovery until demand rebounds in America and Europe. However, their doughty resilience should not be underestimated. They came roaring back unexpectedly fast after the Asian crisis of the late-1990s.

Thanks to a large fiscal stimulus and the healthier state of private-sector balance-sheets in most economies, domestic spending (consumption and investment) should revive earlier in emerging Asia than elsewhere, rising by perhaps 7 percent next year, up from 4-5 percent this year."

"Nobel laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus has said microcredit could safeguard many retrenched employees from the effects of deepening recession through self-employment. Microfinance has so far been immune to the global economic crisis at a time when big banks sought bailout packages to survive, although they had extended loans to borrowers against collateral.

The microcredit system is a driver of employment, savings and women's empowerment, he said. According to a survey, disbursed microfinance rose about 30 percent in 2007 from a year ago. Microfinance takes up 14 percent of total domestic credit."

"Dwindling water supplies and deteriorating water quality are driving innovations in water treatment technologies. Nanotechnology is a key player since it can improve applications ranging from large-scale seawater desalination systems to community based arsenic removal units to household water filters.

But some argue that nanomaterials could have unknown health and environmental impacts, and that they should be strictly regulated. Such concerns are particularly relevant for developing countries, which have large potential markets for nanotechnology-based water treatment but may not have the capacity to cope with any unforeseen adverse effects."

"Thailand's food exports are expected to remain in good shape despite the global economic crisis, with shipments estimated at 780 billion baht ($22.7 billion) this year driven by frozen processed chicken, frozen shrimp, and processed fruits and vegetables, officials say.

Despite concerns among food exporters about the baht's continuous appreciation, Thai food exports are expected to remain competitive given better food safety and the traceability of Thai food products."

"As the economic crisis batters the world, many experts have started a debate on economic models. The Chinese economy seems to be more robust than others despite the financial tsunami. Although China has not been immune to the global economic crisis, its capacity to cushion the impact appears stronger than that of Western economies, as well as Japan and the 'Asian Tigers.'

But what exactly is the Chinese model? The Chinese model is a composite or mixed economic system. Its features include a mixture of ownerships, a combination of foreign and domestic demands, and the balance between the State and the market."

"The Indonesian government is considering ending the controversial contract worker scheme passed in 2003, which has increasingly been used by companies to hire workers outside the boundaries of the country's tight labor laws that make it almost impossible to fire employees.

When the law was passed, it was envisioned that it would give employers the flexibility to outsource certain noncore jobs to contractors who had the ability to remove workers they found to be substandard. However, because it is so hard for Indonesian businesses to hire new workers, and even more difficult to get rid of them, local companies seized on the outsourcing loophole to move millions of people off the permanent employee books."

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