Sunday, April 21 2024 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
TAIPEI - Taiwan’s export orders rose by 2.5% on-year in the first quarter of 2015 to a record high of US$107.36 billion, bolstered by strong global demand for electronics, machinery and information communications technology products.
BEIJING – The State-owned China Daily newspaper says China has cut the number of restrictions on foreign investment for the new pilot free trade zones in Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian - and also for the zone in Shanghai.
BEIJING – China’s State Council has released a circular on “trial procedures for a national security review of foreign investment in all free trade zones in Shanghai, Tianjin, and the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian”. The circular clarifies standards for conducting security reviews of foreign investment that may affect national security or involve sensitive investors, acquisition targets, industries and technology as well as other areas.
BEIJING – ANZ Bank sees China’s State Council decision to launch three more Free Trade Zones - in Tianjin, Fujian and Guangdong – and to expand the scale of Shanghai’s FTZ as a highly strategic initiative with the new FTZs framed from a global perspective. The ‘Belt and Road’ initiative mentioned in the announcement suggests the original Shanghai-driven initiative in 2013 has now escalated to the national level, ANZ says.
LONDON - A small coastal tanker is hijacked by pirates in Southeast Asia every two weeks on average, according to a new report from the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau (IMB).
HONG KONG – HSBC says there are three main reasons why Beijing is so keen to move to full RMB convertibility as early as this year. These are:
BEIJING - The US Treasury Department’s latest monthly report on its bond holdings reveals that Japan has overtaken China as the top foreign holder of US Treasury securities, a position it last held in August 2008. According to the report, the holdings of China (typically the #1 holder of Treasury debt), decreased by 1.2% to US$1.22 trillion from January, while Japan’s only fell 1.1%.
MUMBAI - The Asian Development Bank is projecting that India will grow by 7.8% in FY2015-2016 and by 8.2% in FY2016-17, overtaking China. The International Monetary Fund also expects growth in India to overtake China in 2016.
TAIPEI – Tsai Ing-wen, Chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has been officially nominated by the DPP as the Party’s Presidential candidate. It will be her second tilt at the Presidency- she was defeated in the 2012 election by President Ma Ying-jeou, who is constitutionally unable to run for a third term.
HANOI – ANZ Bank is maintaining its GDP growth forecast for Vietnam at 6.5% y/y for both 2015 and 2016, but says it sees upside risks to its growth outlook on the back of better than expected Q1 growth.
HONG KONG – HSBC is predicting that higher grade commodities - like nickel and zinc - and 'finer foods' - such as meat, dairy and sugar - will outperform in terms of future commodity pricing as Emerging Markets development continues.
HONG KONG – With extremely weak import growth suggesting that China’s Q1 GDP growth could have fallen below 7.0%, ANZ Bank is forecasting China’s economy to grow 6.9% in Q1 2015, possibly one of the lowest in six years.
BEJING - China’s public-private partnership (PPP) model of investment - which calls for more private involvement in infrastructure building and public utility projects, with the government saying it wants innovative alternatives to boost infrastructure investment - “has fallen far short of expectations in practice,” according to a report by the financial news group on Caixin.
HONG KONG - In an effort to combat the phenomenon of “parallel trading” – where products are purchased in Hong Kong and resold at a profit in the Chinese mainland – the Shenzhen municipal government has received approval from China’s State Council to issue a new policy limiting its permanent residents to once-a-week visits to the former British colony.
HONG KONG – China’s March export performance has surprised on the downside, contracting 15% y-o-y, compared with consensus and expectations for positive growth. HSBC says the slowdown is bigger than seasonal fluctuations can explain - and points to softer underlying external demand.
SINGAPORE - Without further fiscal reforms, the Indian Government may find it difficult to sustain the increase in public investment spending, according to a new report publishing by ratings agency Standard & Poor's today.