Manufacturer global

The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) said that most of its major production indexes related to oil and gas extraction and petrol production exceeded its first quarter projections and are higher than they were in the first quarter of 2008. The oil equivalent extraction volume was 6.43 million, one percent over the projection and 14 percent more than in the same period of 2008. PVN exported 4.3 million tonnes of crude oil, five percent over its first quarter projection, 37 percent of its 2009 target and 17 percent more than one year ago. This was also three percent more than in the fourth quarter of 2008. Total service revenue (not including that from crude oil, condensate, gas, electricity and nitrogenous fertilizer) was estimated at VND14.4 trillion, 83 percent of the first quarter projection and 21 percent of the VND70.2 trillion 2009 target. Although this is lower than the target, it is 2.1 percent higher than the same period of 2008 and it accounted for 28 percent of PVNs … [Read more...] about PVN Impervious to Global Recession

In a paper for next Saturday's meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors, the World Bank said that the sharp global contraction is affecting both advanced and developing countries. "Global GDP will decline this year for the first time since World War II, with growth at least 5 percentage points below potential," said the report. World Bank also said that global industrial production by the middle of 2009 could be as much as 15 percent lower than levels in 2008. World trade is on track in 2009 to record its largest decline in 80 years, with the sharpest losses in East Asia. It also warned that international financial institutions cannot by themselves currently cover the 270-700 billion dollar shortfall-- that includes public and private debt and trade deficits - for these 129 developing countries, even at the lower end of the range. The World Bank noted that only one quarter of vulnerable developing countries have the ability to finance measures to … [Read more...] about Global economy to shrink in 2009 for the 1st time since WWII

(CPV)- If labour-intensive exports are "footloose" and resource exports are volatile, then what are the conditions for a globalized economy to succeed, or at least to secure a toehold, in the most rapidly expanding segment of Asian (and global) trade, parts and components? Clearly labour force skills and mobility are essential to the health of an industry where production processes are highly specialized and technology can change wit hgreat rapidity. However, there are other factors also at work. One Asian economy with which Vietnam is directly and contemporaneously comparable, in terms of the broad HDI measure of economic welfare, is Indonesia and Vietnam are similar in other ways, too: each is a labour-abundant, low-income country with a relatively low-skilled labour force, substantial natural resource wealth both in oil and gas and in agricultural lands suitable for export-oriented plantation agriculture, and a large export-oriented labour-intensive manufacturing sector. Each has … [Read more...] about Coping with global stress: Lessons from Indonesia

Strong growth is projected at 7.3 per cent against last year's 8.8 per cent pulling developing countries out of the "Great Recession" of 2008/09. Still, the 2011 regional growth outlook is subject to downside risks, notably from the return of high food and fuel prices, sluggish recovery in rich nations, a deluge of volatile capital inflows and the after-effects of natural disasters, although the regional economic impact of Japan's recent earthquake and tsunami will be less severe than might have been initially expected, notes the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) flagship publication, the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2011. "The Asia - Pacific region emerged from the global financial crisis as a growth driver and anchor of stability of the global economy," said UN Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Dr. Noeleen Heyzer. "It now has the historic opportunity to rebalance its economic structure in favour of itself … [Read more...] about Asia – Pacific to remain global economy driver in 2011

(CPV) - Although international prices of food, energy, metals, minerals and raw materials have fluctuated dramatically over the past five years with major social and economic impact in Asia and the Pacific, the volatility has tended to conceal the longer-term trend of rising commodity prices which has even deeper consequences. Since the late 1990s, prices of food, beverage, energy, raw materials, metals and minerals have been rising, ending the long-term trend of declining prices during much of the second half of the 20th century, according to the ESCAP Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific 2012. The average annual growth rates for prices of commodities since the turn of the century have ranged from 1.8 percent for beverages to 17.4 percent for metals and minerals. The commodity market boom has been driven mainly by the surge in Asia's manufacturing-led economic growth which has fuelled the demand for a broad range of primary products. The price of crude petroleum rose … [Read more...] about Risks and opportunities as Asia manufacturing boom drives up commodity prices