Chuyên mục: Economics – Kinh tế

Food and job security: two challenges for Asia Pacific

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ 1 bình luận

Eco-business – Anna Simpson, curator of Forum for the Future’s Futures Centre discusses two mutually reinforcing pressure points that urge sustainable change in the Asia Pacific region.

vietnam farmers peanut

Vietnamese farmers harvest peanuts. Food and job security are among Asia’s most pressing development concerns. xuanhuongho / Shutterstock.com

By Anna Simpson  – Wednesday 10 June 2015
The forest fires that raged across Chiang Mai in March may have dissipated, but the cancer risk for those who breathe in the dust particles year on year has not. Nor has the pressure on contract farmers to meet growing demand for animal feed and ethanol: a factor contributing to illegal slash-and-burn practices. According to one resident, an area more than six times that of Bangkok (which occupies 1,569 square kilometres) of dry corn stalks is set alight after the harvest to make way for the next crop.

A confluence of visible environmental and social crises has led to a surge of awareness of sustainability pressures facing the Asia-Pacific region. The vast human cost to a region that supplies much of the world’s cheap food and consumer goods is increasingly evident. In March, 80,000 Vietnamese workers at a factory making shoes for brands such as Adidas, Converse, Nike and Reebok went on strike in protest against changes to Vietnam’s social-insurance system. In May, a fire at another shoe factory north of Manila in the Philippines killed 72 workers. Tiếp tục đọc “Food and job security: two challenges for Asia Pacific” →

EU Cracks Down on China Solar Cheats

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ 1 bình luận
Doug Young –Jun 8, 2015

Renewableenergyworld.com – A crackdown has officially begun on Chinese solar panel makers who skirted a deal to avoid anti-dumping tariffs in Europe, with word that the EU has taken formal action to punish 3 violators. The action will see anti-dumping tariffs imposed on Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ), ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) and ET Solar, reviving a threat they previously avoided by agreeing to voluntarily raise their prices as part of a breakthrough deal in late 2013.

Western solar panel makers in the US and Europe had long complained that they were at an unfair disadvantage to their Chinese peers, which received a wide array of state subsidies through policies like cheap government loans and tax rebates for their exports. Washington responded by levying anti-dumping tariffs on the Chinese companies, while the EU took a more conciliatory approach by signing a deal that saw the Chinese agree to voluntarily raise their prices to levels comparable with their western rivals. Tiếp tục đọc “EU Cracks Down on China Solar Cheats” →

Phát triển ngành công nghiệp môi trường ở Việt Nam

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Hoạt động của ngành CNMT sẽ cung cấp các sản phẩm và dịch vụ môi trường đáp ứng nhu cầu phòng ngừa ô nhiễm và bảo vệ môi trường, bao gồm: các hoạt động đánh giá, phân tích và bảo vệ môi trường; các hoạt động kiểm soát ô nhiễm, quản lý chất thải và tái sinh các nguồn chất thải; cung cấp và vận chuyển các tài nguyên môi trường như nước, các loại vật liệu tái sinh và các nguồn năng lượng sạch; các hoạt động góp phần tăng hiệu quả sử dụng năng lượng và tài nguyên, tăng năng suất sản xuất và tăng hiệu quả kinh tế; các hoạt động thu gom, xử lý các loại chất thải từ tất các hoạt động trong xã hội.

Vacne.org.vn – Một trong những yêu cầu chiến lược, có vai trò then chốt để đảm bảo cho sự phát triển kinh tế hài hòa với các vấn đề môi trường là phải phát triển một ngành Công Nghiệp Môi Trường (CNMT) đặc thù, phát triển song song với các ngành công nghiệp khác. Tiếp tục đọc “Phát triển ngành công nghiệp môi trường ở Việt Nam” →

Global Economic Prospects | June 2015 – East Asia and Pacific

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

East Asia and Pacific

In the East Asia and Pacific region, growth is expected to ease to 6.7 percent in 2015 and remain stable over the next two years, according to the June 2015 issue of Global Economics Prospects. This reflects a continued slowdown in China that is offset by a modest pickup in the rest of the region. A net oil importer, the region is expected to benefit from lower fuel prices, although commodity exporters Indonesia and Malaysia face pressures from lower global prices of oil, gas, coal, palm oil, and rubber. Growth in China is on course to ease to 7.1 percent this year. Regional growth (excluding China) is projected to be 4.9 percent this year, rising to 5.4 percent by 2016 due to strengthening external demand — notwithstanding slower growth in China, less policy uncertainty in Thailand, and easing domestic pressures elsewhere.

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Developing Countries Face Tough Transition in 2015 with Higher Borrowing Costs and Lower Prices for Oil & Other Commodities

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

WORLD BANK Press release
June 10, 2015

Impending rise in US interest rates could reduce capital flows, spur financial market volatility in developing countries 

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2015 – Developing countries face a series of tough challenges in 2015, including the looming prospect of higher borrowing costs as they adapt to a new era of low prices for oil and other key commodities, resulting in a fourth consecutive year of disappointing economic growth this year, says the World Bank Group’s latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, released today. Tiếp tục đọc “Developing Countries Face Tough Transition in 2015 with Higher Borrowing Costs and Lower Prices for Oil & Other Commodities” →