Ceylon tea to repay Iran oil debt

Sri Lanka

Ceylon tea to repay Iran oil debt

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka has said it had exported tea worth $20 million to Iran to partially repay its $251 million oil debts. “So far, $20 million worth of tea has been exported to Iran under the barter trade agreement,” Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s office said after talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. The tea-for-oil deal was agreed upon in December 2021, but exports were delayed by Colombo’s economic crisis that forced then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down in July 2022. The barter allows sanctions-hit Iran to avoid having to use scarce currency to pay for imports while allowing Sri Lanka to pay with tea. Daily Star

Vietnam

Emerging property market

Vietnam ranks behind only India as the most sought-after emerging property market in the Asia Pacific, according to a recent survey by property consultancy CBRE. The survey, which polled investors in the region in the last two months of 2023 about their investment plans for 2024, has Thailand in third place. The most attractive property segments for investors are industrial and office, it said. Growing trade activities in Vietnam have fuelled the need for supply chain management and logistics, and for this reason investors are interested in industrial real estate. Foreign investors are also greatly interested in housing land and are actively searching for properties offered at discounted prices or whose owners face legal and financial difficulties. VN Express

Kuala Lumpur

Traffic up post visa exemption

Passenger traffic at airports throughout Malaysia recorded a double-digit growth in the past two months after the government introduced 30-day visa exemptions for visitors from China and India beginning December 1. Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said that the growth was a good development to drive the tourism sector and would help strengthen the Malaysian economy. “If we can boost our tourism sector, it will help strengthen the ringgit’s value,” he said. Passenger traffic at airports last year was 81.9 million people, the highest since the Covid-19 pandemic. Compared to 121 destinations in 2022, Malaysia had 147 flight routes worldwide. The Star

Thailand

Luring airlines to smaller cities

As many as 30 airlines have signed up for the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) four-day “Air-mazing Thailand” campaign to explore the potential of selected airports and untapped markets in the country. The campaign, which runs from April 2 to 5, will complement the government’s policy of promoting tourism in second-tier provinces and making Thailand a global tourism hub, Tourism and Sports Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol said. “The big three airports (Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and Phuket) are packed with passengers and flights, so we aim to divide international arrivals,” she said. “This should bring tourism revenue to other provinces as well as reduce congestion at airports in big cities.” The Nation

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