"The trajectory of growth across Asia, especially in populous India and PRC, will be shaped by the way governments tackle the complexities of urban development, from providing public works to endowing hundreds of millions of peasants who leave the land with the education and skills to thrive in the city. Strategies will need to fit divergent demographic profiles. The working-age population of China will peak around 2015, putting a premium on sustaining growth in productivity to ease deteriorating dependency ratios.

India will be younger for longer. Its working-age population will swell by perhaps 270 million people by 2030. Job creation on a heroic scale, especially in mass manufacturing, will be imperative. Releasing the potential of India's cities holds the key to capitalizing on its young population, a report says. It estimates that urban India will create 70 percent of all new jobs in the country in the next 20 years."

"India plans to set up a $10-billion infrastructure debt fund for long-term financing infrastructure projects across the country. Noting that the scale of infrastructure was a major challenge facing the country, a panel recently made sweeping recommendations after a mid-term assessment of the various infrastructure projects, their funding and regulatory issues governing their execution.

The private sector would have to increase its contribution to $500 billion during the 12th plan (2012-2017) for funding infrastructure projects. Infrastructure deficit has been a major constraint in achieving a growth rate of over nine percent of gross domestic product (GDP) annually and the government and the private sector had to do much more in the next five years in terms of scale."

"Exports of milled rice surged by about 2,360 percent in Cambodia in the first six months of this year compared to 2009, after the government encouraged production. In the past six months, the government has spearheaded a raft of measures aimed at boosting the country's rice-export capacity. Officials updated the national rice policy, doubled Rural Development Bank capital to $36 million and scrapped license requirements for exporters to spur development.

The government hopes to improve the quality of Cambodia's rice to increase exports to foreign markets, such as Europe. The measures so far appear to have had a marked effect. Data showed that just 4,369 tons of milled rice was exported from January to June 2009. But in the first half of this year, Cambodia sent 107,291 tons of milled rice abroad -- an increase of 2,356 percent."

"Indonesia's Vice President Boediono said on Tuesday that Asia-Pacific is still facing tough challenges in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Boediono said that there is extreme poverty in the Southeast Asia and hunger among children in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Besides, he said, there is a gap in accessing basic education in the Asia Pacific and low level of children finishing their basic education in South and Southeast Asia.

Boediono also said that gender imbalance still occurs in regions. Meanwhile, he said, the mother and infant mortality rate is still high in Southeast Asia. Another challenge is that the HIV rate is still high in the sub-region of North Asia and Central Asia. He added that a problem that must be urgently addressed is the low level of forest coverage in Asia."

"The Indonesian government announced it would fund deliveries performed by skilled birth attendants for three million poor women in 2011 in a bid to reduce the maternal mortality rate. Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said many maternal deaths could be attributed to the use of traditional unskilled birth attendants.

Under the current health system, only 5 percent of Indonesia's five million poor pregnant women receive government assistance for deliveries, according to the ministry. The nation is off-track in meeting its target to reduce the maternal mortality rate to 102 per 100,000 live births by 2015, the Indonesia Maternal Health Assessment reports. The current rate is 228 per 100,000 live births, six times the rate in neighboring Malaysia."

"The Kyrgyz Republic's interim government is addressing some of the root economic causes of political instability in the Central Asian nation this year, in particular energy-sector woes. The decree forces government agencies and private companies working in Kyrgyz Republic's energy sector to adhere to a set of criteria known as the Fuel and Energy Sector Transparency Initiative (FESTI).

FESTI promises to publicly report the finances of energy interests and introduce transparent procedures for defining tariff methodologies and setting tariffs, as well as use open and competitive tenders for fuel exports and imports. The Kyrgyz Republic makes most of its energy via hydroelectric power plants. Due to limited reservoir capacity, it cannot store the water to create power during the winter months."

"The government-owned Bangladesh Railway (BR) is presently a neglected medium of transportation. But it could regain its position as a much sought-after means of carrying both passengers and cargoes provided it is run efficiently. With timely reforms, restructuring and addition of capacities, BR could be an invigorated organization discharging cost-efficient services for the economy while operating without losses.

Nearly 85 percent of the public development budget in the transportation sector has been spent on developing road networks. Railways have some in-built advantages. For example, expansion of railway networks involve less land acquisition than for building roads. This is a big plus point in a land-scarce country. Railways are also safer than roads where nearly 2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) is lost annually from road accidents."

"Phnom Penh is seeing its first skyscraper, the 42-floor Gold Tower now nearing completion, not to mention the university and bank complexes mushrooming throughout this ancient city. This changing physical landscape reflects broader developments across the country, which has been experiencing rapid economic growth, the sixth fastest in the world in the decade to 2007, for the first time in its history.

The central challenge is to achieve growth that is durable, equitable and environmentally sustainable. This in turn requires the development of institutions which, while they may be rudimentary, are effective, trusted and clean."

"Indonesia has had a great run these past 12 months. A fast-growing domestic economy coupled with low interest rates has resulted in strong consumer spending, allowing businesses to expand and invest in new plants, acquisitions and equipment. The benign external conditions also helped the domestic sector and enabled Bank Indonesia to keep interest rates steady as inflation stayed relatively low.

Those conditions may now be changing and should prompt the central bank to revisit its stance on interest rates. Inflation in Southeast Asia's largest economy rose to the highest level in 15 months in July, fueled by rising food prices and a government-backed electricity rate increase. Although inflation is still manageable, the sharp rise in food prices is a concern, especially ahead of the fasting month when prices historically trend upward."

"The Pakistan government's policy of preferring external borrowing to run the economy is nudging the country into a debt trap and economic managers of the country should focus on mobilizing domestic resources to stimulate the economy, according to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Zahid Maqbool. He said that Pakistan has added almost $12 billion to external debt during the last two years, as against $2.6 billion in the previous seven years.

With the increase in external debt, the debt servicing liability is mounting leaving hardly anything to spend on improving the country's physical and human infrastructure and reducing poverty. He said the country's total debt-to-gross domestic product ratio has crossed 61 percent during the outgoing fiscal year. Under these circumstances, there is a dire need to make a paradigm shift in our approach from preferring external borrowings to focusing on mobilizing internal resources."

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