Another day, another crisis, another war

An economic crisis, exams postponed because there's no money for paper and ink, war, and more in Asia

Sri Lanka’s economy is in dire straits, so much so that authorities didn’t have enough money to buy paper and ink for school tests for nearly three million of Sri Lanka’s 4.5 million pupils. Exams were postponed indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka asked India to co-invest in a joint venture for a Port City and a Special Economic Zone, despite China promising a US$ 14 billion investment.

In Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan had a bit of a reprieve with the country’s Parliament delaying a no-confidence motion until March 28.

Australia was unnerved by a leak that China was opening a military base in the neighboring Solomon Islands and Japan has decided that economics triumphs politics after all. A government spokesman said that Russia’s Sakhalin oil and gas projects, in which the Japanese government and companies hold stakes, are important for its energy security.

But Japan’s top oil refiner Eneos Holdings is expected to withdraw from Myanmar's natural gas mining business, amid growing criticism that the project has funded the country's military, which has suppressed human rights.

South Korea’s President-elect, Yoon Suk Yeol, is now asking for Chinese help with its nuclear missile loving neighbor, North Korea.

Further west, Saudi Arabia found itself the target of missiles allegedly fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. A Saudi Aramco oil refinery has reported damage and oil prices, already high thanks to Putin’s war, have spiked even higher.

Read on for more….

Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan papers run out of newsprint as economic crisis worsens

Two major Sri Lankan newspapers are suspending their print editions because of a lack of paper, their owner said, the latest casualties in the island nation’s economic crisis.

The South Asian nation of 22 million people is facing its worst economic meltdown since independence from Britain in 1948 after its foreign reserves hit rock bottom. School tests for nearly three million of Sri Lanka’s 4.5 million pupils were postponed indefinitely last week after the authorities failed to source enough paper and ink.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka bets big on $14 bn China-backed Port City, wants reluctant India to invest

China has invested $1.4 billion in the strategically located project. But the Rajapaksa govt wants India to invest in the potential metropolis, which is Sri Lanka's first SEZ. Sri Lanka is struggling to cope with a debilitating economic crisis with inflation soaring, food and fuel shortages and fears of a sovereign default looming on the horizon.

But unmindful of the crisis, in a not-so-quiet sea-front corner of capital Colombo, construction is afoot to pursue an ambitious dream of the Rajapaksa government: The tiny Indian Ocean island nation is building the Port City of Colombo (PCC), hoping to make it a financial hub like Dubai and Singapore.

Pakistan

NA session adjourned without tabling of no-trust motion against PM

The much-anticipated session of the National Assembly with a crucial no-confidence motion — filed by the opposition against Prime Minister Imran Khan — on the agenda was adjourned till March 28 (Monday) without tabling of the resolution.

Australia

Solomon Islands reassures an anxious Australia as it works on a China security deal

A Solomon Islands government statement said Friday that Honiara was in the process of "diversifying the country's security partnership including with China." Australian officials voiced their concerns about a potential security arrangement between Beijing and Honiara after leaked documents, purporting to be a draft of the security pact, circulated on social media.

Japan

Sakhalin energy projects in Russia are important for Japan -Japan govt spokesman

Japan aims to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, but Sakhalin oil and gas projects, in which the Japanese government and companies hold stakes, are important for its energy security, Japan's top government spokesman said on Friday.

Shell and Exxon Mobil have announced plans to exit the Sakhalin-1 and 2 oil and gas projects in Russia's Far East, respectively, in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation".

Japan's Eneos to pull plug on Myanmar gas business

Japan's top oil refiner Eneos Holdings will withdraw from Myanmar's natural gas mining business, Nikkei has learned, amid growing criticism that the project has funded the country's military, which has suppressed human rights.

It was a project funded by Japan's government and companies, but it became difficult for the project to continue after Mitsubishi Corp. announced in February that it would withdraw from the project.

South Korea

South Korea's president-elect asks China to join hands to tackle North Korea

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to work together to tackle issues related to North Korea, his spokeswoman said, a day after Pyongyang fired a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile.

"Yoon stressed that public concerns have grown big as tensions escalate following North Korea's serious provocation," the spokeswoman said after the president-elect and Xi held phone talks.

Saudi Arabia

Reports of huge fire at Aramco oil facility in Saudi Arabia

A huge plume of smoke could be seen above an oil facility in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on Friday, according to multiple media reports, shortly after Yemen’s Houthi group said they would be issuing a statement on a military operation.

A Reuters source said that a Saudi Aramco facility had been hit in an attack, while the Associated Press cited videos of a raging fire at the oil depot. Brent crude rose $1.20, or 0.7%, to $119.92 a barrel just after the news, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.04 , or 0.9%, to $113.34.