Friday, May 26 2017 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
HO CHI MINH CITY – Ratings agency Moody's has affirmed Vietnam's B1 issuer standing and revised the country’s rating outlook to positive from stable. It says the positive outlook is based on expectations that “strong FDI inflows will continue to enhance economic performance”.
SINGAPORE - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team has reported that risks to the City-State’s growth outlook arise mainly from external sources. “Notwithstanding the recent recovery of trade, economic and geopolitical risks have risen and could affect Singapore’s highly open economy,” it says.
BEIJING – The Chinese wind turbine generator maker, Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. Ltd,. Has announced plans to purchase a wind farm project in Australia for AUD110 million (US$81.5 million), vying for a greater presence in the international market.
BEIJING - China's central State-owned enterprises will be the major force driving the Belt and Road initiative, the top State-owned assets regulator says. "The SASAC will encourage central SOEs to deepen c-ooperation with economies along the initiative in sectors such as equipment manufacturing, technology exports, standard-setting and management to advocate mutual benefits," Xiao Yaqing, Chairman of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), said.
HO CHI MINH CITY - After years of deleveraging, Vietnam is turning back to the old formula for growth – increasing dependency on leverage, according to a new report by global asset manager Natixis, pointing out that economic growth is not rising as much as credit expansion.
BANGKOK – Thailand’s Investment Promotion Act has been amended to broaden the scope of exemption of import duties. The former Investment Promotion Act granted exemption of import duties only for materials used for manufacture for re-exports.
BEIJING - China’s export growth in April was half the pace shown in March, indicating softening momentum in the second quarter. April’s export growth slowed to 8% y/y after surging 16% y/y in March, in line with the new export orders sub-index which dropped to 50.6 in April after having improved for three consecutive months.
BEIJING - China’s forex reserves rose for the third month in a row in April. Data from the People’s Bank of China shows reserves climbing to US$3.0295 trillion at the end of April, up from US$ 3.0091 trillion a month earlier and up 0.7% month on-month.
NEWPORT, California - By focussing so intensely on U.S. political developments, investors risk missing a silent shift in what has arguably been the strongest driver of global reflation in the last five years: Chinese credit. This driver is now moving sharply in reverse.
MANILA – ANZ Bank is tipping Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to raise its policy rate by a cumulative 50 basis points this year, starting from the third quarter, and by 75 basis points in 2018.
JAKARTA – First quarter GDP in Indonesia has undershot market expectations, with both private consumption and investment continuing to grow at the same pace as in the previous quarter. On the positive side, exports materially strengthened. Government spending also rose, following two consecutive quarters of contraction.
SHANGHAI - Shenyang Machine Tool, based in Liaoning province’s namesake provincial capital, will receive a major support package from China Construction Bank and the Shenyang branch of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administrative Commission (SASAC), the agency that oversees big State-run companies and is one of Shenyang Machine Tool’s major stakeholders.
BEIJING - Chinese insurance giant Ping An is launching a US$1 billion global fund to invest in financial and healthcare tech. Jonathan Larsen, a veteran of Citigroup, will head the fund – dubbed Global Voyager – as Ping An’s chief innovation officer.
BEIJING - The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has given a green light to its first loan to India, granting US$160 million to a power project endorsed by New Delhi. The funds will be used to strengthen the power transmission and distribution system in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, which is part of the Indian government’s Power for All program, the AIIB said in a statement.
HONG KONG – the Hong Kong Stock Exchange plans to introduce physically settled CNH (offshore Renminbi, or RMB) and US dollar (US$) Gold Futures contracts in the third quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approval.
SYDNEY - Australian Vintage Limited (AVL), parent company of wine brands Tempus Two, McGuigan and Nepenthe, today signed an agreement with Vintage China Fund L.P., a new partnership established by the founders of China’s largest online wine retailer, YesMyWine.