The current global economic uncertainties have made international business and trading more challenging. There are more and more trade protectionism measures imposed which make movement of goods and services more difficult. These measures are aimed at safeguarding the local industries and hopefully to sustain the competitiveness in the global market. Exports are affected hence more focus now is given to domestic market. Big markets like China, India and Indonesia may not need to rely solely on exports for their economic growth but rather increasing private consumption and spending but for some economies which have exports account for more than 100% of its GDP, like Malaysia and Singapore which are smaller markets,, slowing exports may lead to slower economic growth though it is also important to revive the domestic market to offset whatever slow in exports.

Even China is revising its economic growth downward to 7.5% in 2012, mainly due to Eurozone instability and US slow recovery. The country realizes that they cant rely heavily on exports and foreign direct investment but need to stimulate the domestic consumption to sustain its growth. China however is still hunger for energy and mineral resources due to its huge volume of infrastructure development as well as manufacturing so imports are expected to register more rapid pace as against exports.

The growth sector is in Asia, with not only China leading the way, but markets like ASEAN and india are also growing albeit as slower rate, as againt the developed economies. More investments are coming to Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar as well as India. Indonesia with 240 million population is opening its market to foreign investors, likewise Vietnam has been doing the same thing for the past decade.

China is leading the world's economic growth in 2012 albeit slowdown in its economy. Despite the economic growth is forecast at 7-8 percent in China, it will continue to offer multiple opportunities to foreign business community. The Government realises that they can no longer rely solely on exports and foreign direct investment for its sustainable growth due to global uncertainty especially in Euro Zone and the US, but acknowledge that domestic consumption will fuel the engine of growth for many years to come.

Chinese has been well known as a society that loves to save. In fact, China has one the highest saving rates in the world. That's the reason why Chinese consumers can purchase cars and houses in cash rather than depending on bank loans or mortgages, something that is used to be non-existence compared to today. The Government is putting up efforts how to stimulate domestic consumption through various programmes, including increasing the income level of the poor people and improving the social security. If these reforms successful, China will be able to continue to prosper.

The year 2012 is another challenging year, both politically and economically, and in which both are inter-dependence. Political stability is required for a nation to prosper economically and likewise economic stability is needed for a stability in politics. This year witnesseses Euro Zone struggles to manage sovereign debt crisis of several of its members and the economy in the US is still in its recovery mode amid positive indication of positive growth in domestic consumer spending and unemployment rate.

The Arab Spring, on the other hand, has impacted the Arab world in particular with crisis still persist despite efforts by various quarters to manage the situation. Situation gets worsen in some countries due to differences of different factions which are unable to find common solution. This unstability has affected the economy and people starts to feel the adverse effects of the conflicts.

Regardless of what has happened and what will be happening, international business continues though at slower rate. Asia is the focus of attention, amid the uncertainty in Euro Zone and the US. China leads the pack of Asian countries in sustaining the world's economic growth though it is expected that the 2nd biggest economy in the world is also expected to post slower growth this year, but at least its domestic growth is still relatively strong due to increasing demand from its 1.3 billion population and the increasing purchasing power. India is also expected to be registering steady growth this year, followed by ASEAN member economies that are increasingly contributing to the growth of world's economy.

Happy New Year 2012. Hope new year will bring more prosperity and good health to all of us.

The world enters new year with uncertainty in the global economy. The Euro Zone crisis persists despite various measures undertaken to cool off the heat. The US economy continues to slow down albeit some indications of recovery toward 2011 year end. Asia is also feeling the heat from both regions, though world economic growth in 2012 is expected to be very much compensated by the yet steady growth in Asia, in particular China, India and ASEAN member economies.

So many things are happening which would not help global economy to recover faster than expected. The uprising in the middle east and the abnormal climate changes which caused floods, earthquake and snow storm have affected the people daily life and at the same time has risen the cost of living esp food. There are many people who lost their jobs and struggling to earn a living.

Hope that economies all around the world unite to explore ways how to curb the rising of food prices which are a neccessity. Food security has increasingly becoming an important issue to address, taking into account the increasing number of people on the earth as well as the unstable weather that has caused destruction of agricultural farms and land. Need to act fast or otherwise one day more havoc to the social wellbeing.

It has been awhile since my last posting. Everybody is still in Hari Raya mood and the celebration will continue for the whole month of September. What I can see everytime Raya comes is that there are so many types of kuih Raya or cookies sold in the bazaar or market or even high end supermarkets and shopping malls. When I was small, I remember my parents will start making Raya cookies as early as the first week of Ramadhan or fasting month but nowadays that they have catch up with age, most of cookies are bought by the children that have grown up working and have less time to make their own Raya cookies.

My thought is that these Raya cookies shall not only target for Hari Raya but can also be promoted throughout the year as normal cookies that can be enjoyed by the locals as well as foreigners and tourists. These Raya cookies can also be exported overseas and I believe that with proper market research, Raya cookies can go beyond local borders. I have seen some of local entrepreneurs that able to export Raya cookies and this can also serve as another source of revenue for small and medium size entrepreneurs.