1 Asia at risk as economies delay the inevitable (Bettina Wassener in The New York Times) Economists say the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep pumping money into the American economy is only a temporary reprieve for Asia — one that could tempt policy makers in the region to put off the structural changes they believe are essential to improve long-term growth prospects across the region.
For much of the past five years, Asia has been feasting
on the money that flowed in as investors, leery of low yields in the West,
poured into the region. Deprived of urgency in attracting inflows, many countries
spent much of that time doing very little to lower hurdles to investment, cut
back on red tape or reduce the dominance of state-owned businesses, analysts
have long complained.
Many now fear that the continued flow of cheap cash and
signs of renewed vigor in China could prompt still more delays. Asia’s emerging
economies are, on the whole, better positioned than they were during the
financial crisis that shook the region in 1997 and 1998. More debt is now in
local currencies, rather than dollars, meaning that weakening local currencies
do not bring a painful increase in debt servicing costs, analysts say. The
region’s banks are more robust than they were in the 1990s. And foreign
exchange reserves are higher than they were then.
Still, some analysts say, many of the region’s
developing economies need more overhauls to ensure that the capital inflows
that have become increasingly important for growth in recent years keep coming.
The issues vary from country to country. Infrastructure shortfalls, for
example, are most pronounced in Indonesia and India. India’s investment in the
power sector, for example, has failed to keep up with the nation’s growing need
for electricity — its generating capacity is only about one-quarter that of
China’s.
Though the UAE
has the handicap of an adverse climate, yet there is room for residents to
improve their lifestyles. According to another study of 15 countries with
similar geography, GDP and per capita income, conducted by University of
Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and released in 2012,
the UAE was at the bottom with a life expectancy of 76.3 years.
However,
irrespective of which survey reflects the UAE situation most accurately, the
unanimous verdict would be that people generally live up to their 70s. This
despite the improved healthcare available in the country, not to mention
residents’ capability to get even more superior medical treatment abroad. There
is an important lesson to be learned from countries like Switzerland and Japan.
Though among the world’s most developed economies, their citizens tend to
exercise self-restraint in their diets. Also, both tend to use public
transport, the bicycle and walk, which ensures exercise.
Japan has
another record as the country with the lowest adult obesity while obesity is a
ballooning phenomenon in the UAE. The UAE would be better off emulating these compatriots
than the US where the average life span is 77.85 years.
"They call it a meme on the Internet," he said, adding that people who used the phrase did not seem quite sure what they meant by it except that they would like more free time and less stress. It was also not clear if people knew the trade-offs, he said.
The jobs will
be cut from the business by June 2014 and are part of a sweeping restructure
announced by the telco in May. The reduction equates to approximately 6 per
cent of the Telstra Operations workforce. Telstra's restructure will see its
operational activities reorganised into five groups, three of which - networks,
IT solutions and customer service delivery - would be new. In July the telco
announced it would also be cutting 170 jobs as it shifts part of its back
office operations to India.
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