Asia Economy

A new foreign investment law, an open telecommunications license tender and the exchange rate float, all in the past two years, have shown the government’s focused interest on developing the necessary legal, financial, and policy measures for attracting foreign investment and boosting the economy. A budding young labour force, abundant natural resources and a strategic geographic position at the...

Wedged between the world’s two most populous countries, India and China, Myanmar has a young and growing population of more than 60m people and a total of 135 ethnicities. Burmese is Myanmar’s official language, but studies suggest there are as many as 100 different languages spoken within the country. The end of the military junta and the rule of Senior General Thn Shwe brought about the easing...

For those interested in doing business in the Philippines, The Guide offers helpful information, including suggested hotels, phone numbers for key contacts, and facts for visitors. This section also contains a sights and sounds feature on the island province of Coron, a premier destination for tourists.

While other countries in the region may have been taking the spotlight as top performers, the Philippines has been recording steady and continuous growth. Indeed, the country has not had a serious annual drop in GDP since 1985. Going forward, expectations are positive. While the IMF has been reducing growth forecasts in the region, the organisation’s 2014 prediction for the Philippines is staying...

With a complex history marked by successive waves of migration and periods of colonisation and occupation, the Philippines is home to a host of ethnicities and languages across its roughly 1000 inhabited islands. It is the 12th-most populous country in the world, with a population expected to reach 99.43m by 2014, according to the IMF. The Philippines has plentiful natural resources. An estimated...