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<br>T O P  H E A D L I N E S        8 February 2012 
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<br>1. PRC: Remote communities under spotlight
<br>2. INDIA: Food scheme feeds doubts
<br>3. PAKISTAN: Is the economy held hostage?
<br>4. MYANMAR: Pressure over stalled Myitsone dam
<br>5. PRC: Water project to 'begin operating in 2013'
<br>6. CAMBODIA: Investment in SEZs up 683 percent 
<br>7. PACIFIC: Fishing ban reduced tuna output
<br>8. BANGLADESH: Sustainable development through inclusive growth
<br>9. THAILAND: Speeding up water projects
<br>10. PHILIPPINES: Economic boost from PPP deals to be felt in 2013
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<br>I N  D E P T H  
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<br>1. PRC: Remote communities under spotlight
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<br>Source: Xinhua
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<br>"The Blang ethnic group, scattered over the Myanmar-bordering mountain range, are one of many groups for whom earning 2,300 yuan annually seems like a distant prospect. Nevertheless, these tea-growers are starting to shake off poverty and looking forward to more modern lives. The Blang, whose numbers are estimated at 20,000, have felt the effects of the government's economic policies in recent times. And this is the start of another big year in which officials will aim to boost their income and bring them up to speed with China's social reforms.
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<br>Four years ago, they got access to a television signal for the first time and came to know what they could expect from the nation's breakneck economic growth. As part of a gradual poverty-alleviation process, the Blang ethnic group has gradually learned to grow rubber and start tea businesses since the 1980s. These new farming skills helped people to leave behind lives of hunger, though poverty still lingers. In 2010, 80 percent of the Bulang villagers lived below the poverty line, with an annual per capita net income of 1,704 yuan."
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<br>Full article: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-02/04/c_131391132.htm
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<br>2. INDIA: Food scheme feeds doubts
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<br>Source: The Star
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<br>"Experts are concerned that a scheme to extend food subsidies to more than half of India's population will distort the country's food economy. Once approved, expenditure on the food subsidy would exceed $20 billion per annum. Small wonder, then, there are critics galore of the proposed right to food security law, including India's Agriculture Minister.
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<br>India's Finance Minister is also worried about the additional burden the scheme would cause on the national finances. As it is, the 2011-12 fiscal deficit is set to far exceed the budgeted target of 4.6% of GDP. Coupled with the deficit of the states, the combined deficit may well be over 10% of the GDP. Such a high deficit has raised legitimate concerns about inflation. Besides, the funds spent on entitlement schemes have squeezed the allocations for vital infrastructure projects."
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<br>Full article: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/5/focus/10665728&sec=focus
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<br>3. PAKISTAN: Is the economy held hostage?
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<br>Source: pakobserver.net
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<br>"Poverty in Pakistan is rising in rural as well as in urban areas. Prices are rising in almost all sectors of economy -- not only food, but also electricity and the services sector. The official inflation rate by the end of 2011 was quoted at around 10 percent but that seems to be an understatement.
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<br>The underlying reasons for this economic chaos are many, among them disasters like floods, population growth and missing policy making and implementation of the government. The handling of the floods and the flood victims are an example in case. Until today so many of the displaced by last year's floods have not been resettled, compensated or rehabilitated. In Sindh, rural poverty has reached 38 percent."
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<br>Full article: http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=138240
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<br>4. MYANMAR: Pressure over stalled Myitsone dam
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<br>Source: Asia Times
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<br>"One of the first indications that change was afoot in Myanmar came when President Thein Sein announced last year the suspension of the China-backed, $3.6 billion Myitsone dam slated for the country's remote Kachin state. Now, signs are that the fight is not over as Chinese hydro-power lobbyists go on the offensive to have the mega-project restarted despite extreme environmental risks.
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<br>The Myitsone dam is apparently viewed by Beijing as a bellwether on Myanmar's stance on other major Chinese investments, including the $17.5 billion oil and gas pipelines designed to transport fuel from Myanmar's southern coast to China's southwestern, land-locked Yunnan province. The Chinese press have reported the pipelines create 50,000 new jobs and yield Yunnan economic returns estimated at 33 billion yuan ($5.2 billion) in refined products per year. The pipelines will also allow China to avoid sending its energy imports through the congested Malacca Straits."
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<br>Full article: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NB07Ae01.html
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<br>5. PRC: Water project to 'begin operating in 2013'
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<br>Source: AFP
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<br>"A massive project to divert water from China's south to its drought-prone north -- which has seen hundreds of thousands of people relocated -- will become partly operational next year, state media reported. The South-North Water Diversion Project is one of the country's largest infrastructure projects since the building of the Three Gorges Dam, which involved the relocation of more than one million people.
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<br>Construction on the 1,430-kilometer central route began in 2003 and will only be operational in 2014. The western section, meanwhile, has yet to see the light of day. Critics say the $79 billion project could be a huge waste of resources that risks creating new water shortages and sparking environmental disasters. They also point to the human cost of mass relocations to make way for the canals."
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<br>Full article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gWawYOvILghz9_HAiRv2PAVD4cJQ?docId=CNG.5f7e680a7478fbc2aaf2aa8acde7d611.451
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<br>6. CAMBODIA: Investment in SEZs up 683 percent 
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<br>Source: Phnom Penh Post
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<br>"The total values for investment projects in Cambodia's Special Economic Zones (SEZ) increased about 683 percent year-on-year in 2011, according to a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia. Several of the 2011 investments included electric equipment assemblers, something hailed by economists as Cambodia’s ascent up the manufacturing value chain.
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<br>While SEZs near Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville have seen considerable investment since the country began developing the areas in 2005, the majority of the SEZs -- situated on the Thai and Vietnamese borders -- have not attracted substantial industry developments. Cambodia has 21 of the preferential tax zones."
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<br>Full article: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012020654325/Business/investment-in-sezs-up-683.html
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<br>7. PACIFIC: Fishing ban reduced tuna output
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<br>Source: Islands Business
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<br>"High fuel price and fishing bans have reduced the 2011 Pacific tuna output. The spiraling cost of fuel products and the purse seine fishing ban in pockets of the Pacific Ocean have cut down frozen tuna landings. The ban does not include hand line fishing, a method that employs the traditional hook and line to catch sashimi-grade tuna stocks. The two-year ban in pockets of the Pacific Ocean should have lapsed last December, but a meeting that would have discussed the matter had been cancelled and moved to March.
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<br>Owing to the ban, foreign fishing vessels have dominated the unloading of frozen tuna in Port Moresby to supply the canneries. Thousands of workers in the tuna fishing industry have lost their jobs. The Philippines wants the ban on purse seine fishing in the Pacific Ocean lifted."
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<br>Full article: http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=130/focusContentID=27165/tableName=mediaRelease/overideSkinName=newsArticle-full.tpl
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<br>8. BANGLADESH: Sustainable development through inclusive growth
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<br>Source: Financial Express
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<br>"Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman said Monday sustainable development is possible when the growth process is inclusive and the fruits of economic and social development are enjoyed by all the population. The BB Governor said the present government has taken a number of steps to achieve economic growth. He said the country's inclusive growth policy has provided around 87 percent of the adult population with access to formal financial services.
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<br>The Governor said Bangladesh Bank has been promoting financial inclusion by undertaking a number of initiatives to bring the unserved and under-served within the umbrella of the financial system. These initiatives include sharecropper financing schemes, Ten Taka accounts for farmers and students, online and mobile banking, directing banks to open bank branches in rural areas, green banking, and banking automation."
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<br>Full article: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=97263&date=2012-02-07
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<br>9. PHILIPPINES: Economic boost from PPP deals to be felt in 2013
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<br>Source: Business World
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<br>"The economic impact of the public-private partnership (PPP) program in the Philippines will not be felt until next year despite government hopes that 2012 growth could be driven by the big-ticket infrastructure projects, according to Finance Undersecretary Sevilla. Moreover, construction will likely begin only in the summer of next year to take advantage of good weather, he explained, adding that this includes a schoolbuilding project recently opened to bidders.
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<br>The Education department announced its PPP project -- involving the design, financing, construction and maintenance of 9,332 classrooms -- last month. After the schoolbuilding project, the government plans to offer the Health Department's P900-million Vaccine Self-Sufficiency Program."
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<br>Full article: http://www.bworld.com.ph/content.php?section=TopStory&title=Economic-boost-from-PPP-deals-to-be-felt-in-2013&id=46154
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<br>10. THAILAND: Speeding up water projects
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<br>Source: asianewsnet.net
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<br>"The Thai government is accelerating its water-resources management and flood-prevention projects worth a combined 350 billion baht ($11 billion) to ensure that the country is ready to cope with this year's rainy season, according to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. She said the government's policy was to prevent flooding in high-value economic areas and industrial estates.
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<br>During the floods late last year, more than 1,000 factories in seven industrial estates in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani provinces were submerged, causing massive damage to the country's supply chains for the automotive, electronic and other industries. The overall damage was estimated to be 1.4 trillion baht."
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<br>Full article: http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=27342
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<br>D E V B l o g s R O U N D U P   
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<br>Some 80,000 ultra poor families of Bangladesh will be included in the mainstream of development as the government launched a project to ensure their food and livelihood security, according to officials. They said the women under the project will be given training in various vocational activities and gender issues which would help them upgrade their position in society. The project titled 'Food and Livelihood Security' will be implemented in Chapainawabganj, Natore and Naogaon districts by June 2014.
<br>http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=484799&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24
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