The Philippines authorities on August 2 said the country will reimpose a stricter COVID-19 lockdown in and around Manila for two weeks from August 4, as it struggles to contain the number of infections that has soared to more than 100,000.
With ventilators seen as essential to saving the lives of severely ill COVID-19 patients, the massive pricing gap among breathing machines bought by hospitals nationwide has triggered public scepticism.
The Indonesian Finance Ministry announced on July 3 that the country has raised 100 billion JPY (930 million USD) from the issuance of five-tranche Samurai bonds to offset the national budget deficit and fund the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indonesia’s central bank has obtained permission to purchase about 42,000 billion rupiah (166.33 billion USD) worth of government bonds in the primary market in 2020, said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
Singapore is carrying out a wide range of measures to support businesses and labourers directly affected by the acute respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus (nCoV), particularly those in the tourism sector.
Five ministries have universally rejected a proposal by the transport ministry to restrict private investment in the country’s biggest airports and instead hand the job to a single company.
HCM City will prioritise investment in road infrastructure if it receives permission to raise the budget revenue-retention ratio, according to the municipal Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Thien Nhan.
China had funded 10 million yuan (1.4 million USD) for the preliminary planning of a controversial train project in Vietnam that would connect the northern border region all the way through to a busy eastern port, the Ministry of Transport announced on November 25.
Indonesia will stop exports of nickel ore immediately in the context that the world’s biggest nickel ore producer is seeking to promote domestic metallurgy industry, towards increasing the national budget revenue.
The central bank of the Philippines (BSP) on August 8 cut its benchmark interest rate and kept the door open for further easing to buttress the flagging economy.
Expanding the Thailand Future Fund (TFF) and tax reform are two priority policies that will boost development and help to reduce income inequality, Thai Minister of Finance Uttama Savanayana told the Bangkok Post Forum 2019 on August 5.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently reduced its economic forecast for the Philippines to 6.2 percent this year from the previous 6.4 percent.
The Philippines’ GDP growth rate for the fourth quarter of 2018 was edged up 6.3 percent from the same period last year, higher than the previous prediction of 6.1 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on April 4.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam urged medical facilities nationwide to step up preventive health care services and ensure adequate vaccines to prevent the spread of epidemics such as measles and dengue fever.
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