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Briefly

Asian growth outlook bright

BANGKOK (AP) — A United Nations report says Asia’s economic outlook for 2017 is strong despite slowing global growth due to sluggish international trade and investment.

The world economy grew 2.2 percent in 2016, the slowest pace since the end of the 2008 financial crisis. Britain’s plan to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president are adding to uncertainty.

Despite a slowdown in China, Asia remains a “bright spot,” co-authors of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in the report released this week.

Strong consumer demand and government spending helped make up for weak exports, as East and South Asia grew at a steady pace of 5.7 percent in 2016, level with the year before.

“Most economies in East Asia and South Asia, led by China and India, saw robust growth driven by strong expansion of domestic demand,” the report said.

South Asia is the world’s fastest-growing region, with 6.7 percent growth in 2016 projected to reach 6.9 percent in 2017 and 2018. India’s economy is projected to expand by 7.7 percent and 7.6 percent in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Since its exports are small relative to the size of its economy, India is largely insulated from global trade volatility.

South Dakota hopeful in tax case

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota officials are optimistic that a 1992 Supreme Court ruling saying sales taxes can’t be collected from companies not physically present in the state can be overturned.

The Argus Leader reports District Court Judge Roberto Lange ordered on Tuesday that a state-filed lawsuit requiring four out-of-state internet companies remit sales taxes to the South Dakota Department of Revenue be heard in state court. The order follows a legislative passage of a bill last year requiring some out-of-state internet companies to remit sales taxes on purchases in South Dakota.

The lawsuit was filed in state court against Wayfair, Inc. of Boston; Systemax, Inc. of Port Washington, New York; Overstock.com, Inc. of Salt Lake City; and Newegg, Inc. of City of Industry, California. But the companies asked Lange to move the proceedings to federal court, arguing that it belonged there because the issue dealt with a Supreme Court ruling and the Commerce Clause.

The state argued state court was the proper jurisdiction for a state tax issue, and Lange agreed.

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