1 World Bank trims East Asia growth forecasts
(Straits Times) The World Bank trimmed its 2016 and 2017 economic growth
forecasts for developing East Asia and Pacific, and said the outlook was
clouded by risks such as uncertainty over China's growth prospects, financial
market volatility and further falls in commodity prices.
The Washington-based lender lowered its growth
forecast for this year for developing East Asia and Pacific countries
marginally to 6.3 per cent from 6.4 per cent. Growth is set to ease from an
estimated 6.5 per cent in 2015, it said.
While developing nations in East Asia - from
Indonesia to China - have benefited from careful economic policies, global
risks are considerable and threaten the region's outlook, the lender said.
Among these are a slowdown in high-income countries, the slump in exports and
financial market volatility.
For China alone, the World Bank is forecasting 6.7
per cent economic expansion this year, unchanged from its October estimate.
Excluding China, the region is projected to grow 4.8 per cent this year, up
from 4.7 per cent in 2015 and 0.1 percentage point lower than previously
predicted.
In Southeast Asia, the biggest downgrades in growth
forecasts were for Indonesia and Malaysia, both commodity exporters.
Indonesia's estimate for 2016 was lowered by 0.2 percentage points to 5.1 per
cent, while Malaysia was cut by 0.3 points to 4.4 per cent. The largest
forecast upgrade was for Thailand, with the World Bank now projecting expansion
of 2.5 per cent this year, up from 2 per cent in the earlier report.
2 Tata Steel UK begins sale process (BBC) Tata Steel
is beginning the formal process of selling its loss-making UK plants, inviting
interested bidders to submit their offers. So far, the only company to have
publicly expressed an interest is Liberty Steel, owned by Sanjeev Gupta. Thousands
of workers in England and Wales risk losing their jobs if a deal cannot be
struck.
The BBC understands that a city investment firm will
agree to buy Tata's Scunthorpe plant. Greybull Capital has been in talks to buy
the business for several months and is expected to invest up to £400m. The move
would safeguard more than 4,000 jobs but workers are being asked to accept a
pay cut and less generous pension arrangements.
Tata is known to want a quick sale. Business
Secretary Sajid Javid said last week after talks in India that Tata had told
him it would allow a "reasonable amount of time" for the sale
process. He added that he expected other interested parties to come forward
once the formal sale process had begun.
Tata Steel directly employs 15,000 workers in the
UK, across plants in Port Talbot, Rotherham, Corby and Shotton, and supports
thousands of other jobs.
3 Tiger numbers rise, first time in 100 years (The
Guardian) The number of tigers in the wild has risen for the first time in more
than a century, with some 3,890 counted in the latest global census, according
to wildlife conservation groups.
The tally marks a turnaround from the last worldwide
estimate in 2010, when the number of tigers in the wild hit an all-time low of
about 3,200, according to the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Tiger Forum.
India alone holds more than half of them, with 2,226
tigers roaming reserves across the country, from the southern tip of Kerala
state to the eastern swamps in West Bengal, according to its last count in
2014.
But while experts said the news was cause for
celebration, they stopped short of saying the number of tigers was actually
rising. In other words, it may just be that experts are aware of more tigers,
thanks to the fact that survey methods are improving and more areas are being
included. But this is the first time tiger counts are increasing since 1900,
when there were more than 100,000 tigers in the wild.
Tigers are considered an endangered species, under
constant threat from habitat loss and poachers seeking their body parts for
sale on the black market. They are also seeing their habitats rapidly shrinking
as countries develop.
The tiger count is based on data from 2014. Here is
the tally broken down by country: Bangladesh, 106; Bhutan, 103; Cambodia, 0;
China, more than 7; India, 2,226; Indonesia, 371; Laos, 2; Malaysia, 250;
Myanmar, no data available; Nepal, 198; Russia, 433; Thailand, 189; Vietnam,
fewer than 5.
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