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Booming service industries can be a powerful engine of economic growth and job creation for developing Asia, but the sector’s true potential remains blocked by restrictions and red tape, a new ADB report shows. “A slew of regulations restrict competition and hamper development of the services sector, affecting everything from the corner shop to mobile telephones,” said Changyong Rhee, ADB’s Chief Economist. “These barriers need to be dismantled so that everyone, particularly the region’s poor, can seize the opportunities of growth.” Services now account for almost half of developing Asia’s output, ADB says in the theme chapter of Asian Development Outlook 2012 Update. The sector contributed about two-thirds of the growth recorded in India between 2000 and 2010, and more than 40% in the People’s Republic of China. Services have also been a massive source of jobs, employing 34% of the region’s workers, and thus furthering inclusive growth.   Notwithstanding their large and growing q...

Africa needs engineers as much as doctors to stop people dying needlessly, according to the South African entrepreneur Ivor Ichikowitz. The industrialist says so many more people will survive if sanitation is made more effective, clean water better transported and other projects better maintained - that the importance of engineers to Africa should be put on a par with medical staff. Ivor Ichikowitz is the founder of Paramount Group , Africa's largest privately owned defence and aerospace business, which employs 1,500 people, including hundreds of highly skilled engineers. He said: "Across Africa, poor sanitation systems and environmental defences consistently lead to people requiring medical support, particularly during floods and droughts.  "If we dedicated more engineers and investment to proactively tackling these problems in the first place then we could save many more lives across the continent and doctors could tackle other emergencies." According to ...