Aid and development
Multilateral development assistance
UN chief hits out at Myanmar election ‘hate speech’
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hit out on Monday at “extreme elements” in Myanmar who are sowing hate speech and bigotry towards religious minorities, days before the country votes in landmark elections. Myanmar heads to the polls on 8 November in what observers are hoping will ...
UN rights envoy raises election credibility fears
The special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar on 29 October told one of the United Nations highest-level bodies that she is not convinced the coming election will be free and fair. Yanghee Lee criticised the candidate scrutiny process for being non-transparent and for seemingly arbitrarily disqualifying ...
Few surprised as Laos fails to win U.N. Rights Council seat
Laos failed attempt to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in a secret vote in New York was greeted with relief on 29 October by a leading Lao human rights group, which urged the communist government to adhere to U.N. rights treaties ...
IMF visits Myanmar for flood recovery and financing talks
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is visiting Myanmar for two weeks to discuss a flood recovery program, which may include emergency financing, sources with knowledge of the meetings said. The IMF delegation arrived on 16 October and has visited flooded areas in Bago Region. Officials ...
Thailand, ADB join hands for Mekong subregion development
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding on 15 October, aiming to support economic development programmes mainly in countries along the Greater Mekong Subregion. Keep reading ...
ADB to double climate financing to US$6b for Asia-Pacific
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao announced on 25 September that the ADB will double its annual climate financing to US$6 billion by 2020, up from the current US$3 billion. ADB’s spending on tackling climate change will rise to around 30 percent of its overall ...
Laos to highlight progress in MDGs in UN forums in New York
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 ...
Mines on Cambodian premier’s UN speech agenda
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 ...
ADB cuts growth forecast
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 risks overheating: IMF
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 ...
