Via East Asia Forum, a look at how foreign investments in Sri Lanka are made within the tapestry of regional and global power rivalries: When it comes to Sri Lanka’s national security and sovereignty, nothing seems more guaranteed to generate heated discussion than the spectre of foreign involvement in seaport developments. After years of wrangling, […]
Read more »Via Reuters, a report on Ethiopia’s plan to open up its telecom sector: Ethiopia is aiming to award telco licenses to multinational mobile companies by the end of the year, ending a state monopoly and opening up one of the world’s last major closed telecoms markets, three people with direct knowledge of the process said. […]
Read more »Via Forbes, an article on the destruction of PDVSA, Venezuela’s national oil company: How could Venezuela, the country with the largest oil resources in the planet — which received the largest commodity windfall in Latin America’s history and had the highest income per-capita in the region — end up with the worst economic depression, hyperinflation, […]
Read more »Courtesy of STATFOR (subscription required), a detailed look at Gwadar and Chabahar: China’s expansion across South Asia and the Indian Ocean under its Belt and Road Initiative will drive India’s own regional outreach, heightening the importance of New Delhi’s infrastructure projects such as the Chabahar port in Iran. However, the threat of U.S. sanctions and […]
Read more »Via The Economist, a report on Indonesia’s economy: Victoria Opai, a teacher in a remote part of West Kalimantan, Indonesia’s slice of Borneo, is charmed by the new road connecting her school to Putussibau, the nearest town. It is smooth, reasonably straight and cuts through swathes of jungle. It used to take three hours to […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Economist, a look at Nigeria’s economic woes: Long Lines of lorries stretch like tentacles from Apapa port, the largest in Nigeria. Drivers doze in their cabs, feet flung over dashboards; some sling hammocks beneath the chassis. Musa Ibrahim, an ebullient trader, says he has been queuing for two days. He gestures at […]
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