“Post pandemic, India has emerged much stronger in international trade and international exchanges. I believe that the target of a $5 trillion economy by 2030 is not only achievable but we can get there before that,” Puri said.

The import ban, though a necessary measure, will also impact the government’s revenue as luxury items are usually taxed heavily. The move was expected, especially when the government has failed to raise funds for its foreign exchange reserves. The talks with the IMF and other bilateral lenders in Gulf have yet to produce results.

Teledensity and internet users are fast expanding, Modi said, adding that mobile manufacturing units in India have expanded from just 2 to over 200 and the country is now the world's biggest mobile manufacturing hub.

“Although these facts are unpleasant and terrifying, this is the true situation,” he said, mincing no words while describing the state of the economy, which has all but collapsed

For months, the government has been in talks with the IMF not only for the revival of the $6 billion bailout package but also for extending the program's scope to $8 billion and period. After coming to power in April and promising to prioritize the economy, the new government led by Shehbaz Sharif now appears reluctant on tough measures, possibly due to the prevailing uncertain political environment

Last month, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said India hopes to become a permanent exporter of wheat, shipping as much as 15 million tons this year, compared with about 7.2 million in 2021-22. Officials are pushing the World Trade Organization to relax rules so that India can export from state reserves, Goyal said

The Indian government has decided to supply this quantity of urea immediately to Sri Lanka at the request of the Colombo despite a ban on the export of urea from India. Sri Lanka is the only country after Nepal to receive such assurance

The extension of exemption will help Afghan traders. Earlier, New Delhi also provided 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to the country in the grip of a humanitarian crisis

Overall, the ties between the two countries are growing in all important domains, including security cooperation, climate change, food security, and energy sectors. In September 2021, two countries launched the US-Bangladesh Energy Taskforce, an initiative to help advance energy cooperation among the stakeholders of both countries

The government on Thursday announced a temporary ban on foreign tours of its employees and deferred the implementations of large projects relying on heavy imports as part of measures to save dollars, reported The Daily Star

In recent months, several prominent people in Pakistan, including officials and businessmen, have been advocating the resumption of trade ties with India which, they said, could greatly help the country’s ailing economy

With the improvement of the Covid-19 situation worldwide, the global apparel supply chain is also recovering fast. As a result, exports from Bangladesh are growing at a faster clip

With the commencement of the Upper Tamakoshi hydropower project (456MW) last year, Nepal is expected to have around 600MW-800MW of surplus electricity this year. And, this will grow in the coming years as many small hydro projects are nearing completion

The new government, which came to power only last month, has squarely blamed former prime minister, Imran Khan, for the mismanagement of the economy. Ismail said Khan had left the fastest growing inflation in the history of Pakistan, and took record loans during his tenure, reported The Express Tribune.

Revenues from tourism contribute almost 70 percent of the country’s total GDP. In a recently released growth prospect, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected the Maldives to grow by 11 percent, mainly because of the rebound in the tourism industry