On Tuesday, the United Nations launched its biggest appeal ever for $5 billion. This appeal is made to aid 22 million Afghans by preventing them from ‘catastrophe’. The nation is currently on the brink of a humanitarian crisis along with economic collapse. Martin Griffiths, UN humanitarian chief calls this “the largest ever appeal”. It said that it was “encouraging” as there is a high degree of consensus for the increasingly desperate needs of the people of Afghan. The United Nations has announced a pledge conference to follow the appeal. There were indications that other mo
On Jan 8, during a telephonic conversation between Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart Iran’s Amir-Abdollahian, a partnership offer was made. Both nations agreed to supply humanitarian aid to Afghanistan that will include wheat, the COVID vaccines, and medicines. Various bilateral regional and international concerns were discussed by Abdollahian and Jaishankar including Afghanistan’s current situation. The importance of forming an inclusive administration in Afghanistan was emphasized during the call. Iran’s Chabahar port usage was also discussed where India oper
On Sunday, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa request the Chinese government to help South Asian countries weather a worsening financial crisis to help restructure debt repayments. During a meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Rajapaksa made the request in Colombo. According to reports by analysts, despite benefiting from billions of dollars in soft loans for China, the island nation is facing a foreign exchange crisis. It is currently placing the nation on the verge of default. Behind international financial markets and Asian Development Bank (ABD and Japan, China is th
Sri Lanka has been struggling with its economy since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Presently, it is on the brink of bankruptcy and is going through a major financial and humanitarian crisis. The high inflation, increase in food prices, and unemployment, is soared up with the increasing number of Covid-19 cases across the globe. According to a British newspaper ‘Guardian’, the country is on a heavy debt of $7.3 billion loan both domestic and foreign which it has to repay within 12 months. A $500 million international sovereign bond repayment is due in January itself. As f
Singapore’s economy outdid itself in 2021 by showing the highest economic growth in more than a decade. It has shown the steadiest growth despite the recessions followed by the COVID-19 pandemic that hard-hit country’s economy in the previous year. The recession that it faced a year before was the worst one of its entire lifetime, but it grew out of it most efficiently with showing almost 7.9% growth in its economy in 2021. The Ministry of Trade and Industry said that the country witnessed a sharp rise of 7.2% in its economy in 2021, which is the highest since 2010 and even higher than
India on Wednesday welcomed Egypt’s entry as the fourth new member of the New Development Bank (NDB) that was established by the BRICS countries six years ago.The NDB admitted Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Uruguay as its new members in September. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that expansion of the membership by the NDB will help it position as a premier development institution for emerging economies. The BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) set up the bank with an aim to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development
India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has confirmed that India and Russia signed 28 investment pacts on Monday, which includes agreements on steel, shipbuilding, coal and energy. India has also begun to receive S-400 missiles from Russia this month. Shringla described the summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin as "highly productive". He said 28 agreements were concluded which includes increased mutual cooperation to combat threats like terrorism. Asked if India raised the issue of the eastern Ladakh standoff with Russia, Mr. Shr
As per the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index 2021, India has been ranked as the fourth most powerful country in Asia. And the report adds that India could have ranked even better if Covid19 didn’t happen. The country performs best in the future resources measure, where it finishes only behind the United States and China. However, the lost growth potential for Asia’s third-largest economy is largely due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has led to a diminished economic forecast for 2030, the report says. India’s overall score declined by two points compared to 2020. It i
Due to the dangers of the quickly spreading Omicron variant of Covid19, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to lower its global economic growth estimates, the global lender's chief said at the Reuters Next conference on Friday. After being first reported in South Africa in the last week of November, Omicron has spread rapidly to at least 40 countries, including India. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told the conference that a rapidly spreading variant can dent confidence, and in that sense, the monetary fund is likely to see some downgrades of its October projecti
As per the latest development, India and the United States have reached a settlement on 2 per cent equalisation levy or the ‘Google Tax’, which is imposed by India on e-commerce operators. The agreement is similar to the Unilateral Measures Compromise reached among the UK, Austria, France, Italy and Spain with the US last month. As per the settlement, India shall continue to impose the google tax till the implementation of Pillar One or till 31st March 2024. The US, on the other hand, will discontinue the trade tariff actions it had announced in reply to the levy. The Finance Minist