"The gleaming new terminal 3 at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport is the latest striking symbol of a newfound economic confidence in Indonesia. A decade ago Indonesia was the sick man of Asia. Today, Indonesia is the stand-out performer in Southeast Asia. While its neighbors, including Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, are all going backwards, Indonesia looks to have weathered the global financial storm.

Indonesia's relatively slow recovery from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, combined with prudent macroeconomic policies, have helped it escape some of the worst excesses of the recent boom years experienced by its main trading partners. While Indonesia's exports are down nearly 20 percent on last year, the country is far less export dependent than its neighbors, especially Singapore. The export share of Indonesia's GDP is less than 25 percent."

"The success of the global fight to eradicate poverty is largely contingent on welfare policies related to swiftly aging populations, particularly in the developing world where a majority of old people live below the poverty line, say experts. The elderly in the developing countries are particularly vulnerable because unlike in the developed world, aging has been a rapid process, leaving little time for the governments to design policies to tackle the challenges.

While lower death rates are positive indicators of improving health standards, especially in relation to infectious and parasitic diseases, the elderly in the developing countries are now exposed to other chronic and degenerative diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, diabetes and heart ailments. In addition, rural-urban migration patterns are putting a massive strain on family structures. Since not all families can provide the required level of support to the elderly, it is important to evolve a combined approach involving families, communities and governments."

"The economic downturn has hit Pacific Island nations particularly hard because many were already dealing with challenges, New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully said. The recession has reduced the value of exports, trust funds and investment, caused tourism to fall, unemployment to increase and remittances sent home to drop.

Transport infrastructure, energy, fisheries and the environment are key aid areas, but trade remained the key driver for economic development in the Pacific. An Australia-New Zealand study on the implications of the recession on the Pacific is under way and expected to be completed before the Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns in August."

"Hundreds will be left without work next month with the closing of Phnom Penh's Stung Meanchey dump, an icon of poverty that has become an unlikely safety net for some of the city's poorest inhabitants. The site, which opened in 1965, is the main source of income for about 1,000 families. Despite a 50 percent drop in the price of recycled goods since last year, every week new people are arriving at the dump because it can still provide enough to live.

In April, the municipality approved a proposal that would turn the dump into a source for methane gas that could potentially provide electricity for 3,000 families. In order to collect the gas, a joint German-Cambodian company will cover the landfill with soil and plant trees on top. Yet news that the dump will be closed has instilled fear, rather than relief, in the people who depend on it. The 1,000 tons of trash that arrive each day will instead be trucked to a new site located about 15 kilometers outside of the city, where no scavengers will be allowed."

"Debt defaults by Asian companies so far this year have risen to the highest level since Asia was hit by the 1997-98 financial crisis and will likely rise even higher as the global recession hurts the region's export-dependent economies, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Thursday. Defaults are lagging indicators of economic performance and expectations of further rise in companies failing to pay debts indicate continuing economic difficulties.

Hardest hit have been companies in sectors ranging from automotive, forest products and building materials, and capital goods to those in metals, mining, and steel, and the financial sector. Transportation is another sector facing ratings pressure due to weakness in the shipping and airline sub-sectors."

"The lights are on again in Kabul. And that's no small change. For years, residents of the Afghan capital endured shortages of electricity, with power sometimes rationed to only a couple of hours a day. But things are now looking a little brighter. A new 442-kilometer Uzbekistan-Kabul power transmission line, carrying 150 megawatts of electricity, or half of Kabul's electricity needs, started working on May 18.

A parallel line will soon be built along the Uzbek-Kabul route to double the amount of electricity the Afghan capital receives, effectively providing all, or nearly all, the electricity Kabul currently needs. A line from Tajikistan is being constructed now, and another is planned to enter Afghanistan from Uzbekistan's western neighbor Turkmenistan."

"Philippine microfinance institutions have started to submit themselves to assessment by international rating firms in a bid to improve operations and attract investments from abroad. Ratings would help investors make up their minds whether to invest in a microfinance institution or not. Wholesale funders would also get a sense of this institution's creditworthiness.

While attracting foreign investments is the main goal of securing a rating, independent scrutiny of banks' operations would help them improve their services to clients. Other Asian countries have taken to ratings earlier than the Philippines. Cambodia, for instance, needs ratings because its microfinance institutions depend largely on international investors."

"To speed up the development of infrastructure projects, highly needed in Asian countries, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have agreed to set up Asia's first major multi-country Islamic infrastructure fund. The Islamic infrastructure fund is expected to reach $500 million, and will contribute sharia-compliant equity investments in 12 Asian countries.

The 12 countries are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Most of the countries are in need of additional spending on infrastructure to accelerate economic growth, but the state of their infrastructure is frequently below that of the Asian average, according to the two development banks."

"Companies operating in Vietnam will not have to sell their foreign currencies to banks this year, the central bank said. The State Bank of Vietnam had considered forcing firms to convert their foreign currencies into dong to alleviate a shortage of dollars due to hoarding by companies expecting the local currency to depreciate.

The dong has faced pressure because of a dollar shortage, partly because Vietnamese people are hoarding the US currency. Bankers said on Monday that residents would need to see central bank action to ensure a stable exchange rate so that they would not need to keep dollars as a hedge against a possible speedy devaluation of the dong."

"The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said today they have agreed to share access to their trade finance programs to support trade between companies in Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Banks are important export-import intermediaries, so the agreement to link the more than 100 financial institutions that participate in the ADB and IDB Trade Finance Facilitation Programs is expected to bolster trade between their respective regions.

The trade finance facilitation programs provide loans and guarantees for export-import operations. ADB and the IDB recently expanded their respective programs to $1 billion in response to a decline of trade finance in the broader market."

"Laos will promote the production of biofuel in the wake of imported fossil fuel price fluctuations over the past year, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines. The government is planning to encourage the transport sector to use biofuels and hopes this form of energy would constitute about 30 percent of total fuel consumption by 2020.

The government recognizes that investors need a clear policy if they enter this area of business, as some countries are against biofuel production in the belief it could cause a food shortage. Many companies have expressed interest in growing jatropha as a raw material and building processing plants in Laos. But the drop in global fuel prices and the ongoing financial downturn has delayed investments."

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