A November 12 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) examines countries' experiences in addressing labour shortages in elderly care.
In Japan, the number of foreign workers in the sector increased from 5,200 in 2021 to 67,900 in 2025, a thirteenfold rise. The programme assesses workers' professional qualifications and language proficiency. Those who obtain a national qualification certificate can live and work in the country on a long-term basis. Measures are also being implemented to provide training and help foreign workers adapt to living conditions.
In Australia, foreign nationals who have worked in elderly care for two years may become eligible for permanent residency. The number of visas issued for these occupations increased from 190 in 2022–2023 to 1,740 in 2024–2025. Nearly 90% of visa recipients were already living in Australia, mainly on student visas. This enables Australia to recruit international students into sectors experiencing labour shortages.
On November 11, India banned exports of "black mass", a material obtained from battery recycling. Black mass is produced by shredding used lithium-ion batteries. It contains valuable metals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese, which can be recovered and reused.
India has expanded its battery recycling capacity, but domestic facilities face raw material shortages. Previously, some locally available materials were exported, while recycling companies sometimes had to import similar materials from abroad. The ban aims to secure raw material supplies for domestic processors and increase the production of battery materials.
The measure complements a $160 million programme to support critical mineral recycling, approved in September 2025. The government aims to attract investment and reduce dependence on metal imports.
According to an analysis by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), Asian export growth is becoming increasingly dependent on demand for equipment used in artificial intelligence.
In 2025, ASEAN countries, China, Japan and South Korea accounted for nearly half of global exports of semiconductor components, memory devices and computing equipment. In the first half of 2026, these products contributed two-thirds of the region's merchandise export growth.
According to AMRO estimates, if growth in US technology investment slows to its 2024 pace, ASEAN+3 economic growth in 2027 could decline from the projected 4.1% to 2.6%. This is a conditional scenario based on slower investment growth.
An additional risk concerns electricity supply. Building power plants and transmission networks takes longer, meaning that electricity shortages could increase operating costs for data centres. Moreover, if demand for AI falls short of expectations, substantial investments in infrastructure could result in underutilised capacity.
On November 11, the Financial Stability Board published a report on the regulation of Türkiye's cryptocurrency market. Under the new requirements, at least 95% of clients' cryptoassets must be held by specialised authorised custodians. Trading platforms may hold no more than 5% of these assets themselves.
In addition, cryptocurrency trading and asset custody activities will be separated. All accounts and transactions will be monitored through a centralised electronic system.
In 2026, the value of assets held by domestic cryptocurrency companies in Türkiye amounted to approximately $3 billion. Work is underway to license companies and strengthen the protection of clients' funds as part of the full implementation of the supervisory system.
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