Category: South Asia

MALÉ, September 8, 2013 (AFP) – The ex-leader of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, faced disappointment Sunday after failing to secure a majority in presidential polls he hoped would seal his return to power 18 months after he was toppled.Nasheed now faces a tricky run-off election on September 28 after he won the first round of […]

NEW DELHI, September 8, 2013 (AFP) – The euphoria which greeted new central bank governor Raghuram Rajan has been unprecedented in India’s normally sober financial world but the honeymoon may be shortlived.In fact, Rajan’s comments suggest he is likely to be “more hawkish”, said CLSA economist Rajeev Malik said. The former top finance ministry advisor […]

MALE, September 5, 2013 (AFP) – The Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives goes to the polls this weekend for a presidential election that will test its young democracy 18 months after a violent change in leadership. Its more than 1,000 islands sit aside the world’s most important east-west shipping channel and its strategic location […]

MUMBAI, September 5, 2013 (AFP) – India’s rupee strengthened and stocks jumped Thursday after new central bank governor Raghuram Rajan outlined a reform plan aimed at boosting investor confidence and stabilising the ailing currency.The rupee climbed to 65.75 against the dollar, gaining nearly two percent from its previous close, on investor hopes the worst could […]

MUMBAI, September 4, 2013 (AFP) – Top economist Raghuram Rajan, renowned for predicting the 2008 global financial crisis, took over as India’s central bank chief on Wednesday as the country faces its worst financial storm in years. Rajan, a former IMF chief economist, replaced Duvvuri Subbarao as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), […]

KATHMANDU, September 4, 2013 (AFP) – After a long drive from across the border in China, the white truck arrived in Nepal’s capital at dawn with a seemingly innocuous cargo of Chinese-made clothes. But hidden in a cylinder inside the vehicle’s front bumper was the latest haul of gold smuggled from Tibet — bars weighing […]

MUMBAI, September 2, 2013 (AFP) – Bollywood producers have long been fond of filming in exotic foreign locations, but the spiralling Indian currency has seen spending on movie sets abroad drop by one third, according to a study released Monday.The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) says that the amount spent on […]

MUMBAI, September 3, 2013 (AFP) – India’s currency fell sharply Tuesday and stocks tumbled nearly 3.5 percent in another major sell-off caused by uncertainty in the Middle East and a new gloomy economic forecast by Goldman Sachs. On Monday, an HSBC survey showed that India’s manufacturing shrank in August for the first time in over […]

NEW DELHI, September 2, 2013 (AFP) – India is considering closing fuel pumps at night as one of a number of “austerity measures” aimed at cutting its ballooning oil import bills, the oil minister said.The government has partially deregulated petrol and hiked diesel prices in an effort to contain the ballooning debt caused in part […]

NEW DELHI, September 1, 2013 (AFP) – India’s biggest refiner, Indian Oil Corporation, increased petrol prices by more than 3.5 percent from Sunday, blaming the falling rupee for the hike. The company also raised diesel prices by just over one percent, it said in a statement issued late on Saturday, after a week which saw […]

WASHINGTON, August 29, 2013 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund declined to comment Thursday on speculation that India, reeling under a currency crisis, may seek IMF assistance.A wave of poor economic news for India — the rupee crashed to a new record closing low Wednesday — has fueled talk that New Delhi might need to […]