Monday, April 6 2020 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
HONG KONG - The outbreak of the new and highly contagious strain of coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan brings with it new doubts about the expected recovery of the global economy, and in particular about the growth of China, the world's second largest economy, says BBVA Bank.
KUALA LUMPUR- Malaysia' s GDP growth inQ4 2019 eased to 3.6% y/y - the weakest in 10 years - on the back of weak external demand.
SHANGHAI - China's smartphone shipments are likely to suffer a year-on-year drop of more than 30% in the first quarter of 2020 due to the novel coronavirus that has led to the shutdown of countless handset manufacturing plants in the country.
HONG KONG - In its 2019 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Transparency International reports that the Asia-Pacific region has not witnessed substantial progress in anti-corruption efforts - but China's global CPI ranking has improved by seven places, while its CPI score improved by two points.
HONG KONG -- China's large-scale e-commerce infrastructure may help the country avoid a contraction in quarterly retail sales as coronavirus stalls household spending, S&P Global Ratings says.
HONG KONG - China's CPI overshot market expectations in January, partially due to the coronavirus outbreak. The 1.4% m/m spike is higher than seasonal increases seen over the past three years.
HONG KONG - Lawyers Baker McKenzie have released a Client Alert for employers needing to take stock of their obligations to employees and any potential impact on their businesses of the coronavirus outbreak, now declared by the World Health Organisation to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
Responses to some frequently-asked questions (listed below) are available on the BakerMcKenzie website at https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2020/01/employer-p...
MANILA - The Philippines' central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) today cut its overnight reverse repurchase rate (RRP) by 25bps to 3.75%.
HANOI - To cater to both Vietnam Airlines and rising Asia-Pacific needs for aircraft Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services, ST Engineering is exploring establishment of an airframe MRO joint venture in Vietnam with Vietnam Airlines and other potential airline partners.
SINGAPORE -- S&P Global Ratings estimates that full-year GDP growth in China will fall to 5.0% in 2020, but the ratings agency expects lost ground to be made up in 2021.
BANGKOK - In a unanimous decision, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) today lowered its policy rate by 25bps to a new record low of 1.00% to support growth. The central bank provided few clues on its next move, other than mentioning that the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, drought and budget bill are the key factors it is monitoring.
JAKARTA - Indonesia's economy ended 2019 on a weak note, with GDP growth moderating further to 4.97% in Q4 from 5.02% y/y in Q3, the softest reading in three years.
HONG KONG -- S&P Global Ratings said today that the novel coronavirus outbreak has already had a severe impact on the transportation infrastructure sector in China. S&P expects the ripple effects on transportation to be more significant and enduring than in the spread of SARS in 2003.
"The outbreak will undermine the credit strength of many Chinese infrastructure operators in 2020," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst, Gloria Lu.
HONG KONG - The immediate impact on China of the current coronavirus outbreak is bound to be larger than SARS for two main reasons - China' s key growth area is now services, not manufacturing as in 2003, and because investor confidence has already been hard hit by the trade war - according to a research report released today by the global financial group, Natixis.
HONG KONG - The Australian economy is expected to gradually improve show growth of 2.1% in 2020, up from +1.8% in 2019, according to n assessment by Natixis, which says that, iGIn addition to infrastructure investments by the Australian government, a slight improvement in the global economy should help put a floor under commodity prices.
TAIPEI -- Taiwan's GDP growth will remain robust in 2020 at 2.1%), while inflation will remain low at 0.6%), according to research by ANZ Bank, which believes Taiwan's Central Bank of China will hold monetary policy rate unchanged at 1.375% through the year.