Deutsche Bank posts three-fold rise in profit

Germany's largest bank,
Deutsche Bank, said Wednesday
that its third quarter profits
had more than tripled, adding to
good news from peers as they
recover from the Lehman
Brothers debacle.
The bank said that according to
preliminary estimates, net profit
was 1.4 billion euros (2.1 billion
dollars), up from 414 million
euros in the same period a year
ago.

Asian leaders to tackle crisis

Asian leaders meet here this
weekend to discuss ways to
deepen economic ties further in
order to sustain the region's
rebound from the recent global
downturn, diplomats and
analysts said.
With parts of the region still
reeling from natural disasters,
the leaders are also expected to
grapple with ways to improve
rescue capabilities and facilitate
the delivery of humanitarian aid,
they said.
The annual Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
summit and related meetings
with key regional partners will
kick off Friday at this elite beach
resort in Thailand amid tight
security.
The Asean summit involving
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam will be followed by
talks with Australia, China, India,
Japan, New Zealand and South
Korea.
Asia's quick rebound from the
global recession compared with
the United States and other
Western economies is expected
to set the mood for talks on
further freeing up the flow of
trade, investment and people
across the region.
"Asia is poised to take on a
bigger role on the global stage
after the dust from the
economic crisis has settled," a
senior Southeast Asian trade
official told AFP.
"Integration is the key to
unlocking Asia's full potential.
Furthermore, the recovery
needs to be sustained for the
long term, so the right policies
must be put in place early."
Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia
expert at the Singapore
Management University, said
Asean's newly ratified charter
"provides more accountability on
progress for economic
integration."
Integration "is one means of
buffering the vulnerability of
Asean toward economic changes
globally," Welsh said, adding
however that achieving it will be
an "uphill battle."
Central to the integration
efforts is Asean's goal to
establish a single market and
manufacturing base by 2015, and
expanding trade and economic
links to include its major regional
trading partners such as China
and India.
"Asean is well on its way to
integrate into one regional
community by 2015 in line with
its charter," the grouping's
Secretary-General Surin
Pitsuwan told reporters in
Bangkok on Wednesday.
He said that within the past
decade, the bloc's combined
export value jumped three-fold
to 1.7 trillion dollars from 576
billion dollars. Trade within the
region of nearly 600 million
people also increased four-fold,
he said.
In the same period, Asean's
trade with Japan and the
European Union also increased
three-fold, with China and
Australia it had multiplied 10-fold,
and with India it had jumped six-
fold, Pitsuwan added.
Singapore Foreign Minister
George Yeo said in remarks
published Wednesday that one
key issue will be how to increase
Southeast Asia's links by air,
land, water and information
technology with emerging Asian
powers China and India.
"If we Asean, in our own
integration, make sure that our
links connect to theirs, not only
will Asean be linked to China and
India -- we'll also link China and
India together," Yeo said in an
interview with Singapore's
Straits Times.
He said the Asean leaders will
task a group to study the
details of expanding the links.
The environment will also be a
major topic, with Asean leaders
expected to issue a statement in
support of global talks in
Copenhagen in December for a
new climate change treaty,
other diplomats said.
Asean and its partner nations
are also expected to issue
statements on food security
cooperation and disaster
management.
As in previous Asean summits,
military-ruled Myanmar's
continued detention of
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi
is likely to come under the
spotlight.
A campaign to have her and
other political prisoners freed will
take on special significance as it
coincides with Asean's launch
during the meeting of a body
aimed at promoting human rights
in the region, analysts said.
It also comes at a time of a
major policy shift by the United
States to re-engage the junta
despite opposing some of its
policies and maintaining sanctions.
S

Warning sounds overslow ADPWB report foresees sluggishgrowth ahead, stresses economicreforms

The World Bank has warned that
Bangladesh's GDP growth and
poverty reduction rate may slow
further in the current fiscal year
because of sluggish exports,
remittance inflow and investment
amid global recession.
Against this backdrop, the WB in
an economic update said the
first priority is to expedite
implementation of annual
development programme (ADP)
and economic reforms to cope
with the situation.
The report -- Bangladesh
Country Economic Update -- was
released yesterday at a press
conference at the WB Dhaka
office.
"In the short term the best
thing the government can do is
to really implement its
development programme --
that's the no 1 priority," said
Sanjay Kathuria, lead economist
for Bangladesh, while releasing
the report.
Kathuria also said the impression
is that the pace of economic
reforms has been quite slow in
the last few months. "If we can
start by getting back on the
track, accelerating these
reforms is needed to help boost
business optimism," he said.
WB acting Country Director
Robert L Floyd said Bangladesh
would get over $3 billion
between FY2010 and FY2013
under the next country
assistance strategy of the donor
agency.
The country got $2.69 billion
during FY2006-FY2009 under the
assistance strategy.
The report predicted that the
GDP (gross domestic product)
growth rate might be 5.5
percent in the current fiscal
year.
It also said the rate could be as
high as 6 percent if a sustained
global recovery leads to strong
export and if the performance
of energy sector improves.
The GDP growth was 5.9 percent
in the last fiscal year, a slight
drop from the 6.2 percent
growth achieved in FY2008.
The report, however, warned
that the growth might slow
further in FY2010, pointing to
slower growth in exports and
remittances in the second half of
FY2009 and a mixed private
investment outlook.
Private consumption, accounting
for around 75 percent of GDP,
may also decline because of
lower agricultural and remittance
growth. The investment rate has
remained flat in recent years
due to growing infrastructure
constrains and high interest
rates.
The report predicted that the
impact of the global financial
crisis on poverty would be more
significant in 2010 than in 2009.
"Prior to the crisis, Bangladesh
was on target to cut poverty by
nearly 11 percentage points
between 2005 and 2010. With
the impact of the crisis, the
poverty rate is now projected
to fall by about 9 percentage
points. This translates to around
2.4 million additional poor in
2010," the report said.
The estimated impact is also
uneven in different regions of
the country, with more
industrialised and integrated
regions (Dhaka, Chittagong and
Sylhet divisions) likely to
affected more by the crisis.
The report applauded the
improvements in Bangladesh's
debt indicators in the period
between FY2002 and FY2009,
which were due among other
things to fiscal adjustments and
rising GDP growth.
It said sustaining these
improvements would require
stronger efforts to mobilise
domestic revenues as well as a
higher quality of expenditure,
especially on the ADP.
"Also, slow ADP implementation
can hurt both growth and
poverty reduction."
The report warned that
inflationary pressure may
reemerge if the liquidity
overhang in the banking system
continues and international
commodity prices rise.
Senior Economist at WB
Bangladesh office Zahid Hossain
said the country suffered less in
the global economic crisis
compared to other countries. He
said investment has been almost
stagnant for the last three
years. One of the main causes is
high interest rate, and weak
infrastructure, especially in gas
and power sectors.
He said there has not been
remarkable improvement in public
investment in gas and power
sectors for the last several
years. ADP allocation in these
sectors should be increased, he
suggested.
SH