"In mid-July, the Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. (JCR) raised Indonesia's rating to investment grade, which reflects growing confidence in the management of Southeast Asia's largest economy. This is certainly great news for Indonesia, as investment grade rating will boost the confidence of foreign investors in the country, especially since this step is expected to be followed by international rating agencies.

Japanese businesses are generally very eager to invest in Indonesia, given its vast population, relatively cheap labor, increasing GDP level and the strength of its economy, which grew 4.5 percent last year, making it the fourth largest in Asia, despite the global economic downturn. This eagerness is also due to the shrinking domestic market because of an aging society."

"Sri Lanka's economic growth rate is expected to double this year, with the country firmly on the road to recovery after decades of ethnic war, a top International Monetary Fund official said. The island's economy will grow by seven percent this year, up from 3.5 percent in 2009, thanks to improved farm output in the previously embattled north and east, forecast the head of the IMF mission to Colombo.

The strong economic performance meant there would be no difficulty for the IMF in releasing the fourth tranche of a $2.6 billion bailout approved in July 2009. Sri Lanka sought an IMF bailout to avert its first balance of payment crisis after the island's foreign reserves slipped to under a billion dollars last year."

"The Philippines seems to be missing out on trading gains especially as the country's exports to its fellow ASEAN members continue to make up a small share of total outbound shipments. Meanwhile, its Southeast Asian neighbors have become more adept at luring manufacturing investments to take a larger part of the envisioned regional assembly line.

Philippine export sales to the region accounted for just 8.7 percent of total sales to the world in 2009 after peaking at just over a tenth in 2003, according to central bank data. This was little changed from the 7.2 percent share the region accounted for in 1999 when Cambodia completed the 10-member regional bloc. Experts reckon the trade imbalance partly stems from the makeup of the Philippines' export portfolio, which caters more to non-ASEAN members. More importantly, it could also be due to the country's inability to attract investments that would have made it a more active player."

"The PRC government wants to sustain rapid growth this year and next, we are told. It is trying to rein in policy-directed lending and the associated risks to banks. And it is determined to engineer a more sustainable form of growth that delivers greater benefits to workers. Each is a worthy objective. Of course, achieving them will be easier said than done. But the issue is not that realizing any one of these goals is beyond the government's ability. The problem is that China simply cannot achieve all three at the same time.

There is a fundamental inconsistency between them. At some point, choices must be made that will help determine the path that China's economy follows in the years ahead. The starting point is that economic growth is now slowing. This was always going to happen as the surge in spending from the stimulus program began to ebb away. The first challenge, then, is maintaining rapid growth in such an environment."

"In the Vidarbha region of India, Reuters Market Light provides customized mobile alerts to various farmers -- from sowing seeds to marketing agricultural produce. This has changed the decision-making process resulting in improved productivity and augmented incomes of the agricultural households.

ICT-enabled farming is a complex web of activities that is revolutionizing the way content is generated, tailor-made, and disseminated. It is also helping peasants use the information to do smart farming and make informed choices like which crop to sow and when and where to sell their produce."

"Despite a surplus of buyers willing to pay top prices, a labor shortage continues to stymie the garment industry's production capacity and business in Viet Nam. Prices have jumped an average of 15 percent from year to year and some firms are booked with orders through the end of 2010.

Viet Nam exported $5.87 billion worth of textiles and garments in the first seven months of this year, a 17.4 percent rise over the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office. Shipments to Korea saw the biggest hike, some 80 percent. The Southeast Asia market is up 30 percent; the US, 23 percent; and Japan, 15 percent. Many customers turned to the Vietnamese market after China increased its production prices to meet its salary increase policy for employees."

"Inter-ethnic violence in the Kyrgyz Republic disrupted trade, closed borders, and left farmers in the south stranded at one of the most delicate times on the agricultural calendar. In addition, a new customs union connecting Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus created a trade barrier, causing a rise on import tariffs for Kyrgyz produce.

Local experts say the situation could have a long-term impact on farmers. The area is already affected by rising labor costs related to the refugee crisis and the exodus of young men. According to the United Nations World Food Program, 353,000 people in southern Kyrgyzstan are now in need of food assistance."

"PRC's government insist the country needs to improve life for millions of impoverished Chinese, said a Commerce Ministry spokesman. With a population of 1.3 billion, China ranks among the poorest countries per person, with an average income of $3,600 last year, compared with Japan's $37,800.

China's government is in the midst of a marathon effort to spread prosperity from its thriving eastern cities to the poor countryside and west. Leaders are trying to diffuse tensions over a huge wealth gap between an elite who have benefited most from three decades of reform and the poor majority."

"Sri Lanka is well ahead of most countries in breastfeeding and various other health indicators. In fact, a survey by the International Breastfeeding Activity Network has placed Sri Lanka at the top in terms of breastfeeding in Asia. Ninety eight percent of child births in Sri Lanka take place in hospitals and 79 percent of infants receive breast milk within the first hour of birth.

To ensure that healthy children are raised in Sri Lanka, many reforms to ensure a proper environment for mothers to breastfeed their infants, especially in hospitals, have been carried out by the department of Health Services."

"Planning Commission Principal Advisor Pronab Sen said there was no need to redefine the poverty line as it would bring more people under the deprived category and make it difficult to implement welfare schemes. The government had appointed a committee to re-evaluate the poverty calculating method following widespread criticism of the planning commission for producing unrealistically low poverty estimates.

The committee, which was largely focused on rural areas, raised the rural poverty line from a person spending Rs.12 per day to Rs.13.8 per day while the definition of an urban poverty line of Rs.18 per day was retained. These poverty lines are defined on the basis of the money required to maintain the prescribed daily nutrition intake which is 2,400 calories in rural areas and 1,200 calories in urban areas."

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