People and government

The Thai government hopes to ease its public debt burden by luring the private sector to invest more in multibillion-baht infrastructure projects, especially in telecommunications and transport, through public-private partnerships (PPPs).  Keep reading ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will revise down its GDP growth forecast for Thailand to lower than 2.9% this year following the country’s slower-than-expected performance in the first half.  However, the new growth forecast, due to be announced on 22 September, will be higher than 2.5%, ...

Scoring only 18 out of 100 on an open budget index compiled by the International Budget Partnership, Vietnam’s budget transparency is deemed “scant” and far below the world average score of 45.   The performance is slightly worse than that of 2012, when the country scored 19, according ...

Local authorities in two villages in a central Lao province have violated the rights of Christians by threatening to jail those who continue to practice their religion after banning their activities last month, a source inside the country said.   Authorities from the villages of Nhang ...

The Vietnamese government has introduced a new rule allowing coast guard forces to use weapons to chase away foreign vessels entering the country’s waters illegally. Keep reading ...

Provincial officials have 30 days to complete the inspection of rice stored at 1,800 warehouses nationwide under a deadline set by the National Rice Policy Committee chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Keep reading ...

Renewed fighting in Shan State is reported to have claimed at least 10 lives even as the government and leaders of armed ethnic groups met in Nay Pyi Taw in their latest attempt to hammer out a nationwide ceasefire accord. Representatives of armed ethnic groups warned ...

Almost US$20 billion in dirty money linked to corruption, crime and tax evasion has left Myanmar in the past five decades, slashing government revenue and driving a thriving underground economy, a money-laundering watchdog said on 9 September. Fraudulent invoicing of trade deals and physical smuggling of drugs, ...

      Talks held between Myanmar’s President Thein Sein and leaders of the country’s armed ethnic groups on 9 September ended with a tentative agreement to sign a nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) next month, according to sources and state media. Hla Maung Shwe, senior advisor of the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace ...

Furious: That’s how Mi Than Shin said she felt when the Union Election Commission (UEC) told her and her colleagues they could not register a political organisation under the name Women’s Party. On April 27, the commission sent a letter to the founding members, who are ...