"While emerging markets were hit hard by the global crisis, the financial system in countries such as China, India and Brazil was relatively unscathed. But participants in this year's DAVOS meeting have thrown cold water on the notion that somehow emerging markets would be able to lift the world out of its current torpor through their own power. How to find growth for growing populations, therefore, may pose a particular challenge for developing economies as long as developed economies are in convalescence.

Many nations are adopting a more protectionist stance towards trade and investment. For authorities in developing economies, therefore, the challenge will be how to maintain the momentum for policies that seem at odds with the West's retreat from the free-market frontier."

"The member states of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific have adopted the Dhaka Declaration with an aim for halving poverty and hunger by 2015. They also agreed for making the voices of hardcore poor, the disadvantaged women and marginal groups stronger and ensuring empowerment of the local governments for effective administration of policies and programs for rural development.

According to the Dhaka Declaration, there will be intensive efforts to provide the poor with land, water, ICT and financing facilities, and decentralized good governance. Accountability will be prioritized to ensure people's participation in rural development activities. Capacity of national rural development institutions will be enhanced to make them centers of excellence."

"China is responding to the world economic crisis by building the most extensive high-speed national rail system on Earth. This project, which will make the high-speed lines the core of a fully integrated rail system, will transform its enormous economy. China is finally building the integrated, strategically planned, national network, proposed by its first great republican leader, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, a century ago.

To carry out investment on this scale, Beijing has brought provincial and local governments into the planning, as well as the state-owned enterprises which have interests in expanding the rail system. The national pension fund and other such funds are also investors, and the government also issues special rail bonds. Private sector investment is also being developed, but the government plays the central role in funding and allocation."

"Indonesia has announced its list of 93 power plants to be built under the second 10,000-megawatt (MW) power generation scheme. Of this figure, 5,770 MW or 57 percent will go into the Java - Bali grid, while the rest will go to the other islands across the archipelago.

Constructing all the power plants will require US$15.96 billion in investment. The second 10,000-MW project will also include the construction of 3,490 kilometers of power transmission lines, requiring $383 million in investment."

"The emergence of Asia as the global manufacturing hub has drawn greater attention to the need for quality infrastructure that ensures smooth flow of trade. Catching up on the infrastructure front thus becomes a key trade enabler. So, how does the quality of Asian infrastructure compare with the best global benchmarks and what needs to be done to meet the growing needs?

An assessment of the quality of Asian infrastructure based on the 'Global Competitiveness Report 2008-09' brought out by the World Economic Forum and a survey of perceptions of world business leaders offer interesting highlights. The numbers show that the overall quality of Asian infrastructure was just about two-thirds of G-7 countries. Only in two of the five major infrastructure sectors, namely seaports and airports, did Asia fare marginally better."

"Workers throughout Papua New Guinea are looking forward to the new wage increase approved by the National Minimum Wages Board. The board approved the new hourly rate of PGK2.29 (US$1.18) effective January 21 that is to be reflected in this month's pay. It is estimated that the country has 350,000 workers, with 50 percent of them unskilled who will benefit from the increase.

The previous minimum wage was $11.31 a week. There are also some unprecedented features in the new measures, including a review of wages after 12 months and exemption provisions, especially to loss-making companies and agriculture where commodity prices were volatile."

"The Lao economy grew last year despite the global financial crisis at a rate of 6.4 percent, the second highest in East Asia after China. A sustained demand for Lao exports combined with a strong tourism industry, which was boosted by higher public expenditures on domestic infrastructure for the 25th South-East Asian Games in Vientiane in December 2009, helped cushion the country's economy compared to other nations.

The mining sector alone, in particular copper and gold, contributed about 2.5 percentage points to growth in 2009, while manufacturing, construction and agriculture sectors each contributed 1 point to the growth. However, not all is rosy. Economists warn the country has a number of challenges to meet to ensure growth is sustainable. Experts are urging the government to shift the base of economic growth toward agricultural processing industries and services, including tourism."

"In December 2009 China's Central Economic Work Conference announced policy initiatives of hukou (household registration) reform and the absorption of migrant workers into small-medium cities. Although the renewed national strategy can certainly be seen as a welcome sign to address this fundamental issue, the majority of migrants are clustered in metropolises such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The local governments in these cities will need to devise their own coping strategies to deal with the pressure and tension over limited infrastructure and resources.

With no realistic prospect of settling down, migrants are guest workers. They often spend as little as possible in cities and send the bulk of their income back home. This is clearly at odds with efforts to boost domestic demand in order to address imbalance and keep growth in a more sustainable fashion. More fundamentally, the current (mis)treatment to migrants hinders labor mobility and adversely affects productivity growth."

"Vietnam's banking system is not capable of meeting the foreign currency demand of residents, compelling them to engage in black market trading, a central bank official said. A dollar shortage at banks means companies have to pay more for US dollars on the black market so that they can pay for raw materials and foreign goods.

Most of the time, individuals who need dollars to go abroad cannot get them from the banks even though they are allowed to buy up to US$7,000. Commercial banks also struggle to meet the demands of businesses for dollars, let alone individual customers."

"India's central bank has shifted gear from the ultra-loose monetary policy used to help the economy rebound, but it will go slow in hiking interest rates to ensure growth stays on track, analysts say. Late last week at a policy meeting, the central bank left borrowing rates at record lows to support continued expansion of Asia's third-largest economy.

Analysts say India's central bank is trying to achieve a delicate balance of curbing inflation -- which has accelerated in the past few months to 7.31 percent -- while not choking growth. Even though central bank governor Duvvuri Subbarao forecast strong economic expansion in his policy statement, he said he did not want to remove monetary stimulus too fast because the recovery is yet fully to take hold."

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