Asia Municipal Bond Issuances likely to become more popular: S&P
SINGAPORE - Bond issuances by local and regional governments in Asia could start to become more acceptable to investors, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
Friday, March 29 2024 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
SINGAPORE - Bond issuances by local and regional governments in Asia could start to become more acceptable to investors, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
JAKARTA - Exports from Indonesia fell 16% y/y in February, with Jan-Feb exports down 11.9% y/y ytd. Non-oil exports fell 9.2% y/y through the first two months of the year.
JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia has kept rates on hold in March, in line with market expectations, but ANZ Bank believes the forward-looking macroeconomic landscape provides scope for additional rate cuts this year.
BEIJING - Fonterra Group, New Zealand’s largest dairy exporter, has completed a tender offer for a US$553 million deal to buy an 18.8% stock in Chinese baby formula maker China Beingmate Baby and Child Food Co, to help boost its presence in the Chinese dairy industry.
BEIJING - A new study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has concluded that China has overtaken Germany to become the world’s third-largest arms exporter, yet its 5% share remains small compared to the combined 58% from the US and Russia.
BEIJING - Less than one hour after Liang Hui China’s "lianghui" (joint sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) closed with a press conference held by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, a message appeared on the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) website saying that Qiu He, deputy Communist Party head of Yunnan Province and member of the National People’s Congress (NPC), had become the subject of an inquiry into “serious discipline and law violations”.
HONG KONG – China’s Premier, Li Keqiang, said today that Beijing has sufficient policy ammunition to counter disinflationary risks and to maintain GDP growth above the bottom line. Commenting on the statement, HSBC said it believes this implies that more easing measures will be deployed in coming months.
PHNOM PENH - While exports in the Greater Mekong 5 (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) have increased over the last two decades, the pace of growth in exports has slowed significantly since the 2007-08 Global Financial Crisis – except for Cambodia, where exports have grown at a faster pace in the post-crisis period.
HONG KONG - China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) economic activity indicators for January-February, including industrial production, retail sales and urban fixed asset investment (YTD) were below both market expectations and their levels of last year-end, indicating that growth deceleration continues despite a number of recently enacted monetary easing measures, such as January’s cut in the Required Reserve Ratio (RRR), February’s interest rate cut and other unconventional measures, reports BBVA Bank.
~~BEIJING - Despite being blocked in mainland China since 2009, Twitter is launching a Hong Kong office in an attempt to target Chinese advertisers who plan to expand overseas. Head of sales for emerging markets Peter Greenberger says: “This is the first market we’ve gone into where we’re targeting outside of the country.” The main targets will be “big advertisers looking to reach overseas.”
SINGAPORE - The days of easy credit, with low interest rates and ready availability of funding, appear to be coming to an end for banks in Southeast Asia, says Standard & Poor’s. "High levels of household indebtedness in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia might leave these banking systems vulnerable to rising interest rates and asset quality pressure," says S&P credit analyst Ivan Tan. "However, we believe banks have sufficient financial buffers to withstand these challenges."
BEIJING - In order to address the issue of mounting local government interest repayment pressure on their debts, China’s Central Government has ordered a swap plan totalling RMB 1 trillion (US$160 billion) of low-yield municipal notes to replace legacy liabilities. Speculation in Chinese domestic media regarding the plan had expected the swap to be for RMB 3 trillion - total liabilities for local government are estimated by brokerages to exceed US$3 trillion.
RANGOON - Myanmar is set to attract strong FDI inflows as the economy gears up to play economic catch-up, but the need for more imports for the country’s development, alongside a stronger USD environment, will ensure that the kyat continues to depreciate against the USD, according to ANZ Bank.
HONG KONG - Standard & Poor's latest Global Sovereign Borrowing report projects that the 129 sovereigns it rates will borrow an equivalent of US$6.7 trillion from long-term commercial sources in 2015 – a fall of 5.7% in long-term commercial debt issuance compared with 2014.
BEIJING - China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s press conference in Beijing at China’s "lianghui" (joint sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) revolved around three major points: 1) China’s pledge to support Russia in the face of Western sanctions; 2) Criticisms of Japan over “its recalcitrance over World War II history”; and 3) Making clear that China views the U.S. as an equal, not a superior.
TORONTO – Australia can leverage its doorstep position into the fastest-growing world economies of India and China, to drive a new era of uranium exports into Asia according to Dr Vanessa Guthrie, Managing Director of Toro Energy, one of Australia’s most advanced uranium project developers.