Sunday, January 24 2021 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
HONG KONG - S&P Global Ratings today affirmed its 'AA+' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term issuer credit ratings on Hong Kong., and said the outlook remains stable, reflecting the agency's expectation that Hong Kong's strong economic and financial metrics will allow the Government's creditworthiness to withstand fallout from prolonged social tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic over the next one to two years.
HONG KONG - The global finance group Natixis has updated its estimates of debt dynamics in China, finding that total debt, as a percentage of GDP, rose as much as 11 percentage points of GDP in the first quarter of 2020, to 258% of GDP from 247% at the end of 2019. Natixis says most of the increase came from the corporate sector (excluding LGFVs), which resulted in a 7% jump to 129% in corporate debt as a percentage of GDP in Q1 2020.
SEOUL--South Korea's National Security Council held an emergency meeting hours after North Korea demolished an inter-Korean liaison office in the border city of Gaeseong. The council expressed "strong regret" over the North's unilateral destruction of the building, which was established with the signing of the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration.
SEOUL- South Korea has launched a national project to develop self-driving ships by 2025, powered by a smart autonomous system incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), big data and sensors.
HONG KONG - ANZ Bank has revised its 2020 GDP growth forecasts for Asia to reflect the intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 on growth is starting to ease, ANZ says, but the ensuing recovery will be weak, despite an unusually large policy response.
"We expect the output gap to be negative at end-2021 and cannot rule out the possibility that trend growth will be reset at a lower level," ANZ says.
BEIJING - China's State newsagency, Xinhua, is quoting local authorities as saying the city of Beijing has so far built 21,086 5G base stations.
"The number of 5G users in the city has exceeded 3.1 million since the city officially kicked off 5G commercial use in 2019," Xinhua reports.
NEW DELHI - Global ratings agency Standard and Poors has affirmed India's 'BBB-/A-3' rating and says the outlook is stable. "While risks to India's long-term growth rate are rising, ongoing economic reforms, if executed well, should keep the country's growth rate ahead of peers, " S&P says.
BEIJING - China's imports fell more than expected in May. due to shrinking commodity imports and reduced trade flows from its major markets including EU and the US.
BEIJING -- China's Caixin media group is reporting that China's top banking regulator has issued assurances that Hong 's Kong's linked exchange-rate system is stable, and that the city's unique strength as an international financial center will not be weakened under Beijing's pending new national security law.
HONG KONG -- The COVID-19 outbreak should slow China's economic growth to just 1.2% this year, prompting a rapid expansion in credit, says ratings agency Standard and Poor's.
"This will escalate China's debt-to-GDP ratio, which we estimate will rise 24% to 273% in 2020," S&P says, pointing out that while GDP slowdowns typically lead to credit expansion in China, S&P believes this crisis may be different in terms of how aggressively China may restore debt discipline.
HONG KONG -- While regional growth will probably contract in 2020 -- worse than the 1997 Asian financial crisis -- this is not the beginning of another Depression, says Trish Nguyen, Senior Economist, Emerging Asia, with the global financial group Natixis.
NEW DELHI -- Moody's has downgraded India's foreign and local currency long-term issuer ratings to Baa3, the lowest investment grade rating. The rating outlook is maintained at negative, reflecting 'deeper stresses in the economy'.
BEIJING - China's State newsagency, Xinhua, is reporting that Chinese authorities have released a master plan for Hainan free trade port, aiming to build the southern island province into a globally-influential free trade port by the middle of the century.
SINGAPORE -- Seven weeks after the introduction of a third stimulus package to mitigate economic shock brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Singapore Government has unveiled a fourth fiscal package worth SGD 33 billion.
GUANGZHOU - China's EHang, a drone operator that has pioneered the use of self-driving "air taxis" for sightseeing trips in China, is seeking to move into air cargo transportation.
BEIJING - Chinese business media is reporting that US reaction to proposed new security laws for Hong Kong does not strike at Beijing to the degree that some had feared earlier, such as unravelling Phase One of the US/China trade deal.