South Asia Investor Review

Dr. Mohsen Ali and Dr. Izza Aftab have won Google Research Scholar Award 2021, according to an announcement on Google AI Blog. Dr. Ali is an assistant professor of computer science at the Information Technology University (ITU) in Lahore, Pakistan while Dr. Aftab is an assistant professor of economics at the same university.  Google Research Award Recipients Professors Izza Aftab & Mohsen Ali. Source: Izza Aftab The Google Award is for a joint paper authored by the two  Pakistani professors . It is entitled "Is Economics From Afar Domain Generalizable?". This research deals with the challenges of assessing economic indicators through machine learning. The paper shows how such indicators for a region can be developed from satellite imagery and geo-spatial datasets as an alternative to the on-site collection of administrative data that is done annually or biennially. This data helps design policy interventions, and paints a geo-spatial picture of economic well-being in deve...

State Bank of Pakistan is studying the issuance of central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to the country's central bank chief Dr. Reza Baqir. Recognizing Pakistan's growth potential, the San Francisco-based Stripe, valued at $95 billion, has recently invested in Safepay, a fintech startup in Karachi, Pakistan. Dr. Baqir spoke of both of these developments in an  interview  with CNN's Julia Chatterly.  Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC): China's central bank is testing its  digital currency  in several major Chinese cities. The chairman of the US Federal Reserve has recently confirmed that the US Central Bank is working on digital dollar. The State Bank of Pakistan announced in 2019 that it was developing a digital currency. It seems that the popularity of Bitcoin has triggered serious worries of loss of control of the official financial systems among the central bankers around the world. China's substantial lead in digital currency could put it far ah...

Broadband subscriptions in Pakistan have soared from 2 million in 2012 to 100 million now, according to the country's telecommunications regulator. Ookla, recognized globally for its broadband speed testing, reports that Pakistan's average broadband download speed is 11.35 Mbps, while its upload speed stands at 10.7 Mbps. Thousands of kilometers of new fiber optic cable is being installed and mobile data usage in Pakistan has recently surged to 8,000 petabytes. Smartphone sales are also swelling. All signs are pointing to  Digital Pakistan  becoming reality in the near future.  Broadband Subscriptions Growth in Pakistan. Source: PTA Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA),  the nation's regulator, said in a statement that 87% of the population has access to the internet at the lowest rates. PTA claims the average download speed is 17.7 Mbps, and the upload speed is 11.3 Mbps, higher than the speeds measured by Ookla recently. Ookla found that mobile download spee...

Mansour Abbas, 46-year-old Palestinian leader of an Islamic party, has emerged as the man who can make or break Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ambition of retaining the top elected office in his country. On Thursday, Abbas quoted from the Holy Quran in a primetime speech on Israeli National Television and said he was "a proud Arab and Muslim".  Mansour Abbas, Israeli Knesset Member The recent March 23 vote in Israel was the 4th in 2 years. With no single party or group of allied parties winning a clear majority, this election has also proved inconclusive like the last three. Abbas heads the Raam party that won just four seats in the latest elections for 120-seat Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Netanyahu's Likud party won 30 seats, making it the biggest party -- but a majority of 61 is required to form a government. Netanyahu has urged his former right-wing allies Naftali Bennett and Gideon Saar to "come back home" after the two ran their own l...

Pakistan has about  1.2 million tube wells  extracting 50 million acre feet of water every year for farm irrigation. NASA satellite maps show that Pakistan is among the places worst  affected by rapid depletion of groundwater .  Water Stress Satellite Map Source: NASA  A recent  World Bank report  titled "Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects" lays out the need for better groundwater management in Pakistan. Here are three key highlights of this reports: 1. Improved groundwater management is crucial for a healthy, wealthy, and green Pakistan. Pakistan’s Indus Basin Irrigation System is the largest artificial groundwater recharge system in the world, but the current water management paradigm doesn’t reflect it.  2. Over-abstraction, waterlogging and contamination threaten the crucial role of groundwater as a life-sustaining resource, which has cascading impacts on drought resilience, public health, and environment...

Ever Given container ship that ran aground and blocked all shipping traffic through the Suez Canal, the busiest waterway in the world, has just been re-floated.  The mega cargo ship's captain and the entire crew are Indian, the owners and shipbuilders are Japanese, the operator is German, the insurance company is British, the charterer is Taiwanese and the cargo is Chinese, according to media reports. The ship was reported blown aground by strong winds.  Ever Given Stuck in Suez Canal. Source: Bloomberg The 200,000-ton, 1,312 ft-long, 175 ft-wide cargo ship got stuck in the Suez Canal last Tuesday. About 30% of global cargo ship traffic remained blocked with 50 ships added to the jam every day the vessel remained stuck, As of yesterday, there were $10 billion worth of goods with nowhere to go with more than 300 ships carrying products across multiple industries now stuck in the gridlock. This is a major incident that will undoubtedly be investigated to prevent its recurrence. ...

Sheikh Alam, a Muslim leader of Mamta Banerjee's Trinamool Congress Party, has recently been quoted in the Indian media as saying: "We  (Muslims)  are 30% and they (Hindus) are 70% They will come to power with the support of the 70%, they should be ashamed. If our Muslim population moves to one side then we can  create four new Pakistans . Where will 70% of the population go?"   Quaid-e-Azam's Demand For Pakistan:  TMC leader Sheikh Alam's words today are a reminder of the demand for Pakistan in 1940s. It arose from the majoritarian tyranny of the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress after 1937 elections in India.  Speaking in Lucknow  in October 1937,  Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah  said the following:  "The present leadership of the Congress, especially during the last ten years, has been responsible for alienating the Musalmans of lndia more and more, by pursuing a policy which is exclusively Hindu; and since they have formed t...