Aid and development

Despite its being a tiny landlocked nation, Laos has made some inroads in its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in providing primary healthcare to Laotian mothers and children in the country’s hinterlands. This will be the message that Laos President Choummaly Sayasone will bring to New ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen will attend the opening of the UN’s General Assembly in New York on 25 September and has vowed to push demining as a development issue, despite it not being on the UN’s agenda. Speaking at the Sokha Hotel, the premier questioned the issue’s ...

As the United Nations meets this week to draw up a new set of sustainable development benchmarks, the era of the body’s landmark Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is coming to a close, with some wondering – in spite of gains – what efficacy such targets ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) cut its two-year growth forecast for the region on 22 September, amid a slow recovery in major industrial economies and weaker prospects for China and India. The Manila-based bank said developing Asia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to slow ...

Myanmar’s economy is showing strong signs of overheating and has become increasingly vulnerable over the past 12 months amid rising macroeconomic imbalances, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). An expansionary budget and limited monetary policy tools will see inflation at 13 percent by year-end, the ...

The World Bank approved a US$400 million interest-free loan to provide financing and technical assistance to help bring electricity to more than 6.2 million people in Myanmar, the bank announced on 17 September. The loan will support Myanmar’s National Electrification Plan and was granted by the ...

The World Bank approved an interest-free loan to Myanmar of US$400 million on 16 September to aid the country’s ambitious National Electrification Plan and its goal of ensuring nationwide access to electricity by 2030. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Bank said the loan would assist expansion ...

Japan pledges to provide Vietnam with 200 million yen (US$1.6 million) in non-refundable aid to buy Japanese used patrol ships for its maritime safety in the 2015 fiscal year, according to a joint statement issued on 15 September following Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s ...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on 15 September that his country will extend 100 billion yen ($835 million) in loans for Vietnam to boost the Southeast Asian economy’s infrastructural development, as Tokyo and Hanoi aim to strengthen ties on the economic and security fronts. Keep reading ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will revise down its GDP growth forecast for Thailand to lower than 2.9% this year following the country’s slower-than-expected performance in the first half.  However, the new growth forecast, due to be announced on 22 September, will be higher than 2.5%, ...