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India
GDP growth to be more than projected 8.5% in FY11: Montek
The Planning Commission on Tuesday said that the 8.8 per cent growth during the quarter to June is on expected lines and the economy will grow by more than the projected 8.5 per cent for this fiscal.
"It (GDP growth) is on expected lines. The overall GDP growth in this fiscal would be slightly better than 8.5 per cent as projected earlier," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters here.
He said that though the growth rate of the manufacturing sector is likely to be low during the rest of the year, the agriculture sector will register good performance.
The government is targeting an 8.5 per cent growth in GDP for the fiscal 2010-11. "IIP (Index of Industrial Production) growth for the rest of the year will be slow slightly on base effect, though it will remain in double digits overall," Ahluwalia said.
IIP had grown by 7.1 per cent in June, after being in double digits for previous months. Ahluwalia, however, said that the farm sector will have positive results during the next few months.
"The base effect would have opposite effect on agriculture unlike the case with industrial growth," he said. As per data released today, the economy grew by an impressive 8.8 per cent during the quarter ended June on the back of robust manufacturing growth, as against 6 per cent in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.
Agriculture and allied activities grew by 2.8 per cent, higher than 1.9 per cent in the year-ago period.
Source: Deccan Herald
Pakistan
LSM registers 4.84 percent growth in Pakistan
The Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) posted a healthy growth of over 4.84 percent during the financial year 2009-10 as compared to the last year.
The LSM sector growth was recorded at 205.98 points during the period against 196.48 points last year according to provisional statistics of Quantum Index Numbers of Large Scale Manufacturing Industries, issued by the Federal Bureau of Statistics.
Major share in this growth has been contributed by the indices monitored by Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (BoS), which witnessed 9.49 percent growth from 209.66 points to 229.56 points.
The Ministry of Industries index also presented a positive growth of 3.16 percent during last year by going up from 193.33 points in 2008-09 to 199.45 points in 2009-10, the data revealed. However the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) index declined by 7.68 percent by falling from 159.22 points in 2008-09 to 146.99 points in 2009-10.
On Month on month basis, LSM indices witnessed a growth of 4.55 percent by growing to 212.86 points in June 2010 against 203.60 points in June 2009, the data revealed.
Source: Pakistan Times
Sri Lanka
Lanka geared to handle global shipping industry
Port development projects have the highest level of private public partnerships in developing resources at national level. The other sectors need to take a cue from the shipping industry in developing different sectors to contribute to the overall growth, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Dr. Anura Ekanayake said. He was speaking at a seminar on “Sri Lanka: Connecting to compete - Port of Colombo - What are the prospects/threats?” held yesterday in Colombo.
The private sector should match the facilities provided by the long-term infrastructure projects which benefit the public. These facilities could be made use to generate employment opportunities with the setting up of factories and workplaces to create economic activities, Ekanayake said.
In today’s knowledge economy information is the key. The most important aspect of information is it should be timely, accurate and reliable. These factors are necessary for the money making proposition, Dr. Ekanayake said.
Sri Lanka Port Authority Managing Director Capt. Nihal Keppetipola said there will be tremendous growth opportunity for the shipping industry due to port development projects.
Source: Daily News
Bangladesh
Operators to see new spectrum prices
The telecom regulator will introduce guidelines to set the spectrum price per mega hertz (MHz) for telecom, internet and other operators.
However, spectrum-based service providers oppose such a change, as they now pay only the yearly spectrum fees.
Under the new move, the regulator will impose new prices on per MHz spectrum as an allocation fee, which the commission earlier did not charge. In other words, the operators will be charged for how much spectrum they own, along with the yearly fees.
The telecom operators will pay the new spectrum prices from next year when they will renew their licences, or a unified licensing regime will be introduced.
Under the unified licensing regime, the operators will be able to provide multiple services, such as mobile, landline and internet, with one licence.
Telecom operators, internet service providers, and radio and television operators are the major users of spectrum, which is important in wireless communications and is mathematically related to wavelength. The amount of use depends on the number of customers.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has already taken a move to reorganise spectrum management.
"We can't provide free spectrum anymore," said Zia Ahmed, chairman of BTRC. In line with the new guidelines, the operators will have to pay for per MHz spectrum, he added.
Source: Daily Star
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