Showing 1 - 3 of 3
Robust and risky Asean
Asia focus, Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata, Published on 30/05/2022
» Asian economies are looking ahead with optimism for a recovery in economic growth but with some reservations about the current global dynamics marked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, rising inflation and commodity prices.
Year of Turbulence
Asia focus, Published on 27/12/2021
» Pandemic drags on recovery: In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, many Asian countries had enviable success, avoiding large-scale outbreaks and mass deaths. But the arrival of the more transmissible Delta variant this year and sluggish vaccine rollouts compounded by low availability sent cases surging. Combined with poor monitoring and easy movement among countries, often unofficially, Southeast Asia became a virus hotspot. The ballooning health crisis collided with churning political discontent in the case of Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia. Economically, the new wave of infections, and attendant restrictions imposed to curb the spread, stalled recoveries. After nearly two years of strict border controls, many countries started to loosen up and live with Covid. But the rise of the Omicron variant now threatens to scuttle those tentative reopening plans and usher in a third year of economic anxiety.
Dam victims deserve 'non-spin' response
News, Published on 01/08/2018
» The breaching and subsequent flooding of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Company dam in southern Laos is clearly a disaster. Some 27 people have already been confirmed dead (at the time of writing), while a further 100 remain missing. Numerous villages have been affected by the deluge, with some seemingly beyond recovery.