VIENTIANE Joel Armia Jets Jersey , March 24 (Xinhua) -- Lower global oil prices are an opportunity for developing countries like Laos to pursue timely structural reforms as the region's economic integration continues apace, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).


ADB senior country specialist for Laos Mr Shunsuke Bando said Tuesday the low prices leading to subdued inflation provided the chance for an oil-importing country such as Laos to reduce its current account deficit and wind back costly market-distorting fuel subsidies.


Laos' inflation rate is projected at 3.5 percent in 2015, down from 4.2 percent in 2014 and 6.4 percent in 2013.


Mr Bando made the comments at a press conference in Vientiane to mark the publication of the Asian Development Outlook 2015, officially released on Tuesday in Hong Kong.


The report, which looks at national and regional economies across Asia, sees steady growth of 6.3 percent across Asia underpinned by reform for developing countries Connor Hellebuyck Jets Jersey , recovery in their more advanced peers and reductions in commodity prices.


Speaking at the press conference, ADB Country Director for Laos Sandra Nicoll welcomed Laos' continued economic expansion and recommended policymakers take advantage of the opportunities for macroeconomic reform presented while reducing the nation's fiscal deficit.


"The Lao PDR Economy remains a strong performer in the region with a GDP growth above 7 percent for the ninth consecutive year in 2014, though fiscal tightening and weaker global demand for minerals moderated the pace from 7.9 percent in 2013 to 7.4 percent," Ms Nicoll said.


She said weaker global demand for Laos' mineral exports and fiscal tightening would feed into a lower projected growth rates of 7.0 percent in 2015 and 7.2 percent in 2016.


Meanwhile the nation's expanding power generation sector was expected to be a major positive contributor along with growth in services, she said.


"The outlook for 2015 for the Lao PDR economy remains solid as service sectors continue to contribute strongly."


"However, the main challenges are to reduce expenditure to drive the fiscal deficit down to a more sustainable 3 percent of GDP and to rebuild the foreign reserves which are currently low Michael Hutchinson Jets Jersey , leaving the country vulnerable to adverse shocks."


She also highlighted opportunities to encourage further growth as policymakers implement those measures agreed to by the country and its international trading partners.


"Lao acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2013, so by continuing to implement the measures required that will put the country in a good position, especially with the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community coming soon."


Also speaking at the press conference, ADB Senior Economics Officer for Laos Soulinthone Leuangkhamsing said while minerals and energy where major contributors to growth and revenue, opportunities existed to improve productivity, skills and punctuality of Lao workers to foster growth elsewhere in the economy to compete with those of neighboring countries.


He said more than 70 percent of Laos' working age population remained involved in agriculture on permanent or seasonal bases.


NEW DELI Dustin Byfuglien Jets Jersey , May 11 (Xinhua) -- With arms wide open, Sugreev Singh was pouring tea back and forth between two pots. The brownish milky fluid drew a smooth arch in the air as it ran from one pot to the other.


Singh, a "chai wala" or tea seller, was performing alone in a stall in New Deli, capital of India. Business was good, but he rarely had to stop to collect money. Most customers just scanned a code on the stall and transferred money with their mobile phones.


Less than a year ago Nikolaj Ehlers Jets Jersey , Singh, like most Indians, knew nothing about mobile payment.


What is less known is that India's leapfrog from cash to mobile payment, skipping debit and credit cards, was made possible through cooperation with China's e-commerce giant Alibaba.


Now more than 200 million Indians, most of whom don't even have a bank account Bryan Little Jets Jersey , are paying with their mobile phones.


COPY FROM CHINA


In early 2016, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Indian e-commerce company PayTM, or Pay Through Mobile, had an eye-opening trip to China.


Strolling on the streets of Hangzhou, east China Jacob Trouba Jets Jersey , Sharma was surprised to see QR codes everywhere. A QR code is a cryptic matrix of barcodes that contain scannable information.


Sharma saw almost every shop, vendor or parlor had a QR code printed on a slip of paper. People, many of whom walk around without any cash or credit card, are so used to paying by scanning the code with a mobile phone.


At the moment, PayTM hit a bottleneck in rolling out digital payment in India as they had to provide business owners with costly machines to collect money. Sharma and his engineers had never thought that a code on a piece of paper could do the trick.


Sharma then copied this business mode to India with the help of PayTM's business partner Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba Dmitry Kulikov Jets Jersey , whose Alipay is one of the most popular mobile wallets in China.


Sharma wouldn't have expected that the cooperation put him in the best place to benefit most from India's upcoming financial reform.


In November, the Indian government decided to scrap 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes, removing four-fifths of the country's paper money. The move was designed to curb corruption. But it had the side effect of catapulting India's transition to digital payment, such as mobile wallets.


"We happened to have the technology, the talents and the money" when the policy came out Cheap Mathieu Perreault Jersey , Sharma said. The number of PayTM's users exploded, ranking it as the top mobile wallet in India and among the top four in the world.


As more Chinese high-tech companies become globally known and respected, they are gaining followers throughout the world, especially in developing countries who import their business modes and technologies to c.