Modi’s challenge: Reviving India’s economy
The economy has grown in the first 100 days under new leadership, but who is really responsible for the current upturn?
Has Narendra Modi made a successful start as India’s prime minister? The stock market is at a record high and business leaders love him, but who is really responsible for the current upturn?
In the first three months of this year, India’s economy grew 5.7 percent, which is its fastest growth in two years.
Modi was not in power in that time, so he was arguably inheriting a strengthening economy. But India’s economy really needs to be expanding at nine percent per year to create enough jobs for the millions of young people joining the labour force every month. And it looks like Japan is willing to help. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised to invest $30bn into India over the next five years.
Modi recently visited Japan for five days of building bridges and defensive alliances. The short story is that Japan and India want to counter China’s clout in the region. Modi did not mention China by name, but in refering to and criticising an expansionist mindset, it is pretty clear who he was talking about.
To look at the progress which new Prime Minister Modi has made in his short time in office, and India’s relationship with Asian economic powerhouse, Japan, Al Jazeera’s Nidhi Dutt reports.
We also explore the India-Japan relationship with Prashant Sawant, an economist at Maplecroft, who joins Counting the Cost from Bristol in the UK.
Angola’s sovereign wealth fund
Resource-rich Angola is Africa’s second-biggest oil producer after Nigeria. It opened a sovereign wealth fund a couple of years ago with $5bn in funds – which is not much compared to those at the top of the list.
In the top three, Norway has a sovereign wealth fund worth nearly $900bn; followed by Abu Dhabi with $773bn and Saudi Arabia with $737bn. The Gulf states often go after big ticket items – football teams, major retail stores, and property, among others. So what will Angola do with its cash?
Counting the Cost’s business editor Abid Ali spoke to the chairman of Angola’s sovereign wealth fund, Jose Filomeno Dos Santos, about where his comparatively small nation sees itself in the next decade.
Grounded: Iran’s air industry
Iran’s airline industry – like so many industries in the country – is hit by sanctions. So Iran has worked at developing its own planes and has been successful. However, four planes have crashed in the last 12 years, which has grounded the indigenous industry.
Soraya Lennie joins us in studio this week. She has spent almost two years reporting for Al Jazeera from inside Iran, and knows the realities of sanctions on society there.