Grameenphone announces 7 finalists for Telenor Youth Forum

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Grameenphone yesterday announced names of seven finalists for Telenor Youth Forum (TYF) Grand Finale 2018.

Over 1,400 applications were screened to select 60 applicants who presented their ideas on September 4-5 at GPHouse before the seven spots were filled in the TYF Grand Finale, the mobile operator said in a statement.

The finalists are Tasneem Omar Ava of Brac University, Sameen Alam and Syed Sameen Shahrear of the Institute of Business Administration at the University of Dhaka, Tarek Musanna and Md Nazib Intesar of the Bangladesh University of Professionals, Sabiha Saju Ibne Abedin of the Institute of Business Administration at Jahangirnagar University and Iftekher Mahmud of the Army Institute of Business Administration.

Two winners from the grand finale will head off to Oslo, Norway in December 2018 to attend the Nobel peace prize ceremony.

The Telenor Youth Forum is conducted in partnership with the Nobel Peace Centre every year. This year’s theme for the grand event is “Bright Minds Reducing Inequalities”.

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/grameenphone-announces-7-finalists-telenor-youth-forum-1630423

Bhutan graduates from LDC

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Bhutan has finally graduated from the list of Least Developed Countries (LDC), the United Nations’ Committee for Development Policy has announced. Bhutan has become the second country in South Asia to graduate after Maldives.

Along with Bhutan, Kiribati, Sao Tome and Principe and the Solomon Islands have increased national earning power and improved access to health care and education, making them eligible to exit the group of LDCs.

“This is an historic occasion,” said Jose Antonio Ocampo, chair of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), noting that only five countries have graduated since the UN established the LDC category in 1971.

LDCs are assessed using three criteria: health and education targets; economic vulnerability and gross national income per capita.

Countries must meet two of the three criteria at two consecutive triennial reviews of the CDP to be considered for graduation.

The Committee will send its recommendations to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for endorsement, which will then refer its decision to the UN General Assembly.

Globally, there are 47 LDCs, according to the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

The majority, 33, are in Africa, while 13 can be found in the Asia-Pacific region, and one is in Latin America.

In the 47 years of the LDC category’s existence, only five countries have graduated (Botswana, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Maldives and Samoa)

The CDP said two more countries, Vanuatu and Angola, are scheduled for graduation over the next three years.

Nepal and Timor-Leste also met the criteria but were not recommended for graduation at this time, due to economic and political challenges.

Bangladesh, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar met the graduation criteria for the first time but would need to do so for a second time to be eligible for consideration.

Source:http://www.bhutannewsnetwork.com/2018/03/bhutan-graduates-from-ldc/

Economic prospects for Myanmar favorable, but downside risks intensified: World Bank

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While the economic outlook for Myanmar is looking “favorable,” with growth projected to rise to 6.8 percent in 2018-19 from 6.4pc before, the risks to those prospects have “intensified,” according to the World Bank’s Myanmar Economic Monitor (MEM), which was released in Yangon yesterday.

Lower tourism arrivals resulting from the ongoing Rakhine crisis could weaken tourism spending and demand for related services such as hospitality and transport, feeding into a broader slow down in the economy, for one.

Meanwhile, investor concerns about the reputational risk of operating in Myanmar as well as perceptions of a weakening in the pace of economic reforms could lead to declines in foreign direct investments. (FDI). This would come at a time when the funds are needed to stem a further widening of the current account deficit.

Fewer investments could also result in a slowdown in manufacturing and agriculture, the two sectors which drove a faster pace of growth in the previous fiscal year.

Policy priorities

However, a significant slowdown in growth is unlikely if the policies and government tools installed are deployed wisely. Among the policies in place is the upcoming Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP), a draft of which is now being reviewed by the government.

The MSDP aims to translate the government’s 12-point economic plan and sector plans into “a clear set of policy priorities and has been welcomed as a significant step forward,” according to the MEM.

“The MSDP, which lays out a comprehensive and prioritised policy reform agenda, holds the promise of offering the much-needed unifying and coherent roadmap for reforms for the country,” the report said.

The other priority for Myanmar is to break out of the cycle of low revenue and low public spending. At 15pc of GDP, Myanmar has among the lowest tax collection as a share of GDP in the world.

Myanmar also spends less as a share of the budget on capital projects and on critical priorities such as education and health than other lower middle-income countries.

“In the last three years, budget execution rates have been 92 pc on average and have never risen above 94pc,” the MEM reported.

To break the vicious fiscal cycle of poor tax collection and public spending, the government has options such as reallocating capital spending from less important to priority areas like energy and transport as well as education and health.

The government is also working on reducing its reliance on central bank financing to the more sustainable option of issuing sovereign debt, or borrowing from institutional investors. Since last year in fact, the Central Bank of Myanmar has already wound down its financing of the fiscal deficit, which is also one reason why inflation has tapered to its current level of 5.5pc compared to 7pc the year before, according to the World Bank.

Positive prospects

On the whole though, the prospects are positive. Myanmar is expected to continue building on its new Investment Law and Company Law to enable foreign participation in key sectors such as banking and insurance.

Currently, Myanmar has one of the highest levels of restrictions for FDI on insurance and banking, so further liberalisation “can potentially generate new momentum for driving private sector investment,” the report said.

Meanwhile, global conditions also appear to be supportive of domestic growth. Global growth rose to 3.1pc in 2017 from a post-global financial crisis low of 2.6pc in 2016. So far, emerging economies like Myanmar have gained from higher demand in developed economies.

Supported by faster growth rates for output and new orders, the Nikkei Myanmar Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, rose to 55.5 in April from 53.7 in March, implying a strong level of expansion in Myanmar’s manufacturing sectors.

Higher global demand, if it continues, will also bode well for the Myanmar agriculture sector. Last year, demand for locally-produced rice and other crops helped to accelerate the country’s GDP.

Source;https://www.mmtimes.com/news/economic-prospects-myanmar-favorable-downside-risks-intensified-world-bank.html

Bangladesh on way to be a gadget-making hub

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The availability of workforce at a competitive wage, growing domestic market demand and a favourable policy are some of the key factors that make Bangladesh an attractive hub for high-tech manufacturing, according to a survey.

In its report, International Data Corporation (IDC) found success stories of local and international manufacturing companies, such as Walton and Samsung.

Global tech leader Samsung has started producing mobile phones in Bangladesh following in the footsteps of three local firms—Walton, Aamra Companies and Symphony—and a China-Bangladesh joint venture, Transsion Holdings, it said in the report.

The Singapore-based firm also showed evidence of the support provided by the government in driving the growth of the high-tech industry in Bangladesh.

The government has reduced duties on import of raw materials for the tech industry, exempted 100 percent value added tax on rents along with providing cash incentives and 100 percent tax discounts, it said.

“Population is the main strength of Bangladesh, home to around 80 million people under 25 years of age,” according to the IDC report launched yesterday.

Gadgets and laptops worth around $1.5 billion are sold in the country every year; about 34 million mobile handsets worth $1.18 billion and laptops worth $300 million were sold last year, IDC found.

The youths are giving a boost to the sector, where the gadget and laptop market is growing at around 12-20 percent every year, said Zarif Munir, partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group.

The officials of the group presented the findings of the report as one of the partners of the survey, at a programme held in the ICT Division in Dhaka.

The IDC is a premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services and events for the information technology, telecom and consumer technology markets.

Local companies are not lagging behind foreign peers. Walton has already completed production and shipment of laptops to Nepal, a major stride for a Bangladeshi company, the IDC report said.

Huawei Technologies, the largest telecom equipment maker based in China, has been investing to provide high-quality ICT infrastructure and network enhancement services in Bangladesh, the report reads. Another Chinese giant, Xiaomi, also plans to set up a plant in Bangladesh in the next two years, the IDC said.

“We have a huge local market and scopes are there to export tech products to the neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and even India’s seven-sister states,” Mustafa Jabbar, telecom and ICT minister, said at the report launching ceremony.

He said the government is developing 28 high-tech parks, all of which would be ready for use in the next two years.

“Some of the parks have already started manufacturing and exporting different ICT products.” Smartphone penetration in Bangladesh stands at about 30 percent now and will hit 80 percent in the next few years, he said.

The government is giving tax holiday and cash incentive to assemblers with high quality infrastructure support and now seeking global leaders’ investments, said Zuena Aziz, secretary to the ICT Division.

“Some developed nations, including China, are shutting down gadget plants due to the rising cost of production,” said Rezwanul Haque, CEO of Transsion Bangladesh and the former general secretary of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association.

The government has developed 79 economic zones spanning over 30,000 hectares and foreign companies will get all-out support if they want to invest in Bangladesh, said Kazi M Aminul Islam, executive chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority.

Source:https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/bangladesh-way-be-gadget-making-hub-1630471

ADB opens new Bhutan office

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Asian Development Bank (ADB) Vice-President Mr. Wencai Zhang together with the Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and Finance Minister and ADB Governor Namgay Dorji joined an inauguration ceremony of a new ADB office in Thimphu on July 3, hailing the move as a significant moment in the ADB-Bhutan partnership, the Manila-based bank has said.

“The new office will meet our country operations needs and ensure that our growing personnel and resources will match Bhutan’s developmental aspirations in the Twelfth Five Year Plan and beyond,” Zhang said. “Moving into this new office signifies a long-term commitment in ADB’s partnership with Bhutan.”

Zhang paid courtesy calls on the Prime Minister and Finance Minister in which they discussed the country’s development challenges and ADB’s role in addressing these. Despite Bhutan’s impressive economic performance, its economic growth has been driven mainly by a few sectors, particularly hydropower and its related construction. Bhutan needs to continue and enhance efforts to broaden its economic base to sectors that generate employment, particularly to address the increasing youth unemployment problem.

Since the start of operations in Bhutan in 1982, ADB has invested more than $700 million in sovereign and nonsovereign operations and provided more than $50 million of technical assistance to Bhutan.

“ADB’s finance helps improve the life quality of people,” said ADB Bhutan Country Director Kanokpan Lao-Araya. “We aim to contribute to the strong foundations on which Bhutan is building a vibrant economy.”

ADB has started preparing a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) 2019–2023 to support development priorities in the Twelfth Five Year Plan, which will be finalized and endorsed by the new government after the general election. Prior to the finalization of the new CPS, ADB will prepare a Country Operations Business Plan (COBP) 2019–2021. The COBP will support priority areas, such as better access to finance for the private sector including small and medium enterprises and cottage and small industries, among others.

During the day, loan and grant agreements were signed for the two projects approved to date by ADB’s Board of Directors in 2018. One is a $10-million loan to help improve urban infrastructure and services of the secondary towns of Samdrup Jongkhar, Sarpang, and Trashigang. The other is a loan and grant package totaling $53 million to promote growth in and around the country’s major border city of Phuentsholing by developing a township area adjoining the city protected by new defenses against floods and riverbank erosion.