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Simon Roughneen  Time for Risky Ventures in Timor-Leste?
Posted: 09/06/11 08:00 PM ET  I recently spent a week in Timor-
Leste, my first trip back there since July 2009. Bucking
economic trends elsewhere -- well, in Europe, Japan and the US
at least -- the country has been growing at around 10% per annum
in recent years. This is largely down to offshore oil and gas,
earnings from which make up almost all of the state budget and
mean much-needed cash-to-spend for what is possibly Asia's
poorest country. Timor-Leste does not process onshore -- it
lacks the facilities and the personnel. So, despite the new
money, oil and gas does not mean jobs for any of the estimated
40% urban youth that are unemployed. Some of the money has been
spent on relocating the tens of thousands made homeless during
the country's 2006 near collapse into civil war, but going by
the SUVs and lavish-looking houses built by some Government
personnel, some of the cash might be find