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MANILA, PHILIPPINES (6 October 2022) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $300 million loan to improve the quality of public health services in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guizhou Province, and Shaanxi Province, in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

While health system development has progressed, the PRC faces complex health challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted gaps and development needs in the government-led public health system. The pandemic has shown that health facilities are particularly vulnerable to admission surges that can negatively affect patient care and overburden facilities.

“This project aims to develop model centers of public health excellence in underdeveloped areas,” said ADB Senior Health Specialist for East Asia Najibullah Habib. “These centers will help deliver essential public health functions and reduce the risks of future public health hazards, including those related to climate change, for vulnerable groups. The high-quality training of public health workers supported by the project’s establishment of regional training centers will provide benefits beyond the project sites, including to neighboring countries.”

The Strengthening Public Health Institutions Building Project aims to protect, promote, and restore the health and well-being of residents; strengthen capacity for early warning, risk reduction, and management of health security risks; and strengthen prevention and control of major communicable diseases. Public health institutional capacity and policies will be developed through emergency preparedness and contingency planning, capacity building of the public health workforce, and establishment of modern health management information systems.

The project will also establish an integrated public health ecosystem, which includes an antimicrobial resistance surveillance system, laboratory support for the detection of emerging infectious diseases, training of public health workers, especially women, and the establishment and upgrading of hospital facilities. The project will also enhance international cooperation capability through training to promote gender equality and establishing regional knowledge cooperation programs.

The total project cost is $631 million, with $331 million in counterpart financing from the government. The project is expected to be completed in 2027.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

 

 

 

Source: Asian Development Bank

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (6 October 2022) — The Philippines’ Department of Transportation today signed four civil works contracts totaling $1.87 billion for the South Commuter Railway Project (SCRP). The project, which will lay nearly 55 kilometers of railway segment to connect Metro Manila with Laguna province, is being financed with $4.3 billion in loans approved by ADB in June 2022.

 

The South Commuter Railway Project is part of the North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR) network, which is ADB’s largest infrastructure financing in Asia and the Pacific to date. ADB is also financing construction of the Malolos–Clark Railway Project, which comprises the northern segment of the railway network.

 

“This project will open tremendous opportunities for economic integration across Metro Manila and neighboring provinces and create a significant positive impact on the local economy,” said ADB Deputy Director General for Southeast Asia Winfried Wicklein during the contract signing ceremony held at the Jose Rizal Monument in Calamba City.

 

“It will strengthen the country’s economic recovery, create as many as 35,000 construction jobs and more than 3,000 permanent jobs during the railway operation, and improve access for residents of Laguna province to employment in Metro Manila,” he said.

 

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. witnessed the signing of the civil works contracts, undertaken by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, and delivered the keynote speech at the event. Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Philippines Kim Inchul and Ambassador of Türkiye Niyazi Evren Akyol delivered messages at the ceremony, while Calamba City Mayor Roseller Rizal gave the welcome remarks.

 

Once completed, the South Commuter Railway will provide affordable, safe, and fast public transport, help ease road traffic congestion, and contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Philippines’ climate change agenda. It is estimated that the project will reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by over 284,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually as commuters switch from road to rail transportation. More than 600,000 passengers are expected to use the entire NSCR system daily by 2040.

 

Under the project, 18 elevated and at-grade stations will be built and provide safe access for all, including the elderly, women, children, and people with disabilities. The South Commuter Railway will connect to the future Metro Manila Subway system and be designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. Travel time between Manila and Calamba using the railway will be reduced by over half, from 2.5 hours currently by road.

 

ADB is funding the civil works for the railway viaduct, stations, bridges, tunnels, and depot buildings, while the Japan International Cooperation Agency is funding the rolling stock and railway systems.

 

The project is one of the Philippines’ infrastructure flagship projects (IFP). Other IFPs financed by ADB include the Metro Manila Bridges Project approved in 2021, the EDSA Greenways Project in 2020, the Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project in 2016 and additional financing in 2020, the Malolos Clark Railway Project in 2019, and the Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project in 2017.

 

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

 

 

Source: Asian Development Bank

BANGKOK– Thailand’s central bank governor said yesterday that, the country’s economic recovery would remain intact, despite the global economic volatility.

 

The Thai economy is expected to grow 3.3 percent year on year in 2022, and 3.8 percent in 2023, boosted by improving consumption and the tourism sector, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) Governor, Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, told a business seminar.

 

BOT expects the number of foreign tourist arrivals to reach 9.5 million this year, and 21 million next year, compared with more than 400,000 in 2021, and a peak of nearly 40 million in 2019, before the pandemic.

 

Thailand welcomed 4.38 million tourists in the first eight months of the year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

 

Sethaput said, the headline inflation growth would stand at 6.3 percent this year, before declining to 2.6 percent in 2023, within the annual target range of 1-3 percent.

 

Fueled by surging energy and food prices, Thailand’s consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 7.86 percent year on year in Aug, the highest level since Jul, 2008, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

 

 

Source: Nam News Network

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (5 October 2022) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $500 million loan to help promote food security, provide social protection for vulnerable groups, and support employment in Uzbekistan amid the economic impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

 

ADB’s Building Resilience with Active Countercyclical Expenditures (BRACE) Program will provide critical financing to the Government of Uzbekistan as it implements its $1.2 billion countercyclical development expenditure program. The government’s program focuses on strengthening food security and price stability, providing direct social assistance to low-income families, senior citizens and other vulnerable groups, and supporting the unemployed and returning migrant workers.

 

“Just as Central Asia was emerging from the pandemic, the region is faced with the economic impacts of the war—making life particularly tough for vulnerable people,” said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov. “The BRACE Program is aligned with the Government of Uzbekistan’s strategic priorities and will help to improve economic resilience while contributing to social protection and inclusion.”

 

The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic shock triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine are severely impacting Uzbekistan. These include higher trade costs, rising inflation, more unemployment and reduced remittances. This cuts the purchasing power of low-income households, weakens private consumption and results in rising poverty.

 

The BRACE Program will support government measures to ensure adequate supply of food at stable prices, such as wheat imports, and exemptions of essential food products from value-added tax and customs duties. It will also help the government maintain social assistance payments to more than 8.9 million vulnerable people until December 2022.

 

ADB will also administer technical assistance for monitoring and evaluation support financed through a $400,000 grant from the Technical Assistance Special Fund.

 

“This program will contribute to the government’s efforts to contain inflation within reasonable limits through fiscal interventions,” said ADB Principal Public Management Specialist Navendu Karan. “It will provide resources to boost local employment and entrepreneurship, and help to stabilize trade with other members of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program region and Europe.”

 

Double-landlocked Uzbekistan is a member of CAREC which promotes economic growth and sustainable development through cooperation among its 11 member countries. CAREC has helped to increase road and railway efficiency, streamline border-crossings, boost trade, and improve access to energy for millions of people across the region.

 

Uzbekistan joined ADB, which acts as the Secretariat for the CAREC Program, in 1995. The bank has since committed loans, grants, and technical assistance of more than $10 billion to the country.

 

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

 

 

Source: Asian Development Bank

SINGAPORE– The purchasing managers’ index (PMI), an early indicator of manufacturing activity, dipped 0.1 points in Singapore, from the previous month, to post a marginal contraction at 49.9.

 

This is a first-time contraction for the overall manufacturing PMI, after 26 consecutive months of expansion, the Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management (SIPMM), which publishes the PMI on a monthly basis, said yesterday.

 

Singapore’s electronics sector PMI decreased by 0.2 points from Aug, to 49.4 in Sept. This is the second month of contraction for the electronics sector.

 

Sophia Poh, vice president of industry engagement and development at SIPMM, said, the overall manufacturing sector ended the third quarter with a slight drop, amid continuing contraction in the electronics sector.

 

Global markets are still grappling with the macroeconomic risks of high inflation and quantitative tightening, as well as, geopolitical uncertainties, she added.

 

The Straits Times quoted Chua Hak Bin, head of research at Maybank, as saying that, the contraction in electronics manufacturing on the back of slumping global demand will depress economic growth.

 

He said, the upcoming third-quarter GDP estimate by the Ministry of Trade and Industry may show Singapore’s GDP growth shrinking 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, after a 0.2-percent contraction in the second quarter. This implies the economy of Singapore is in a technical recession.

 

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

ULAN BATOR– Mongolia’s central bank, said today that, it had purchased 15 tonnes of gold from entities and individuals, so far this year, registering a one percent increase on an annual basis.

 

As of Aug, the Bank of Mongolia’s average gold purchase price had been 184,565 Mongolian tugriks (55 U.S. dollars) per gram, the bank said in a statement.

 

Purchasing gold is one of the key ways for the central bank to increase foreign currency reserves and ensure the country’s economic stability, it said, noting that, the country’s forex reserves had shrunk because of such factors as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

 

Central banks across the world typically hold gold as part of their foreign exchange reserves.

 

The Mongolian central bank plans to purchase at least 24 tonnes of gold in 2022.

 

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK