Economy and commerce
Investment
China offers $7.2-billion fund to support projects in Asean, other nations
China’s Belt and Road Initiative will release 10 billion renminbi or $1.5 billion next month to finance development projects in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including the Philippines.The amount is a part of the initial 50 billion renminbi or about $7.2 billion in funding ...
China’s New Silk Road
Xi calls it the “project of the century,” a decades-long drive to grease the wheels of trade with massive infrastructure spending; Morgan Stanley estimates it will total $1.3 trillion by 2027. The Belt and Road is at the core of China’s foreign policy strategy and ...
Myanmar-Thailand highway branded ‘ecological and social disaster’
Community and conservation groups in Myanmar have branded a planned highway linking a port project to Thailand an “ecological and social disaster”, saying it would uproot indigenous people from their homes and farms. Critics said an environmental and social impact assessment for the road project, ...
Cybercrime surges above $120-bn in Southeast Asia
THE RAPID growth of Bitcoin-related scams and other cybercrimes has prompted the United Nations to urge member countries, including Thailand, to step up their legal safeguards against potential economic losses. Cybercrime-related losses worldwide top US$600 billion (Bt19.6 trillion), said Julien Garsany, deputy regional representative of ...
Pearson signs MoU with Thailand’s EEC
Digital education company Pearson has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor to develop and implement BTEC-based programs for learners in EEC provinces. Keep reading ...
How Chinese money is changing Sihanoukville – ‘No Cambodia left’
Inside a lavishly decorated casino, where chandeliers hang from the ceiling, cigarette smoke lingers in the air and platters of mango are served to gamblers, a game of baccarat is getting heated. Cards are slammed down, US$100 bills are brandished and Chinese tourists shout excitedly. Keep ...
Cambodians wary as Chinese investment transforms their country
As boom-mounted cameras swept the horizon, a drone hovered above more than 50,000 party faithful who had begun streaming noisily through the Cambodian capital well before dawn, dressed in white shirts and caps, and waving blue flags. Keep reading ...
Reckoning With Human Rights Violations in Thailand's Extraterritorial Investments
The intensive growth of Thai investments in ASEAN countries in recent years has demonstrated significant potential opportunities to expand markets and provide access to transboundary supply chains, raw materials, as well as the natural resources of the neighboring countries. []A pattern of links between malpractice of ...
Investors Dissatisfied With Government’s Lack of Direction on Economy
Impatient with the sluggishness of the economy, local investors are losing confidence in the pace of economic reform and blame it on a lack of direction by the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government after two-and-a-half years of its administration. Keep reading ...
Myanmar will ask China to downsize project, minister says
Myanmar will seek to reduce the scale of a China-led special economic zone project in its western state of Rakhine, Planning and Finance Minister Soe Win said in an exclusive interview. Keep reading ...
