Monday, May 12 2025 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
BEIJING - China's State newsagency, Xinhua, says Chinese national flags will be flying in more places in the country, including compounds of Party and State organs, schools and public cultural facilities.
BEIJING - Chinese media group Caixin reports that Huawei Technologies has confirmed supplies of its self-developed flagship chipset will stop after September 15 under US sanctions barring major chipmaking partners from working with the telecom giant.
MANILA - GDP in the Philippines contracted by 16.5% y/y in Q2, reflecting the full extent of COVID-19 containment measures implemented during March-April. In a research note, ANZ Bank says a recent resurgence of infections and re-imposition of mobility restrictions could delay the recovery.
NEW DELHI -- In a unanimous decision, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today kept its policy repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged at 4.00% and 3.35%, respectively. Acknowledging that growth will contract in FY21, the central bank noted that policy space is available for further action, but only when inflation has durably reduced.
BEIJING - China's Minister of National Defence, Wei Fenghe, on Thursday took a phone call from US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper "upon invitation", China's State newsagency, Xinhua, reported.
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong is facing a deeper economic quagmire owing to a third wave of COVID-19 infections, with the global financial group, Natixis, lowering its forecast for Hong Kong GDP in 2020 from minus 4% to minus 7%. Natixis says negative consumer sentiment implies that Hong Kong's unemployment rate could deteriorate from 3.3% in 2019 to between 7% and 8% in the second half of 2020.
BANGKOK - In an attempt to support the business sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand's Cabinet has approved in principle relaxation of the capital-to-loan ratio requirement of 1:7 under the Foreign Business Law for non-financial institutions (e.g. companies conducting leasing, credit card, personal loan, and nano finance businesses).
BEIJING - The latest outbreak of COVID-19 in China's port city of Dalian was most likely to have been caused by contaminated imported seafood, said Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
China's top epidemiologist was quoted by the media group Caixin as saying that the outbreak had largely been brought under control, with the new case count declining to single digits for three straight days despite a spike nationwide.
WASHINGTON - The global banking group BBVA says that GDP in the United States dropped by 32.9% in the second quarter, marking the steepest decline in over-the-quarter growth since 1937. It says that the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases since mid-June has lowered the likelihood of the "V-shaped" recovery, and that economic and health outcomes will be interwoven in the near future.
SINGAPORE - The blend providing Hong Kong's comparative advantage, making it unique in the global economy and financial system, cannot be replicated -- and has propelled its economy for decades. Now, however, these advantages are at risk of erosion, says Standard and Poor's in a report released today.
WASHINGTON - Due to the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy faces a deep recession this year, with partial and uneven recovery expected in 2021, says Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
BEIJING -- China's GDP rebounded sharply by rising 3.2% y/y in Q2, easing growth pressure in H2. To achieve 1.8% y/y 2020 growth, China will only need to reach around 4.5% growth in H2, according to a research note by ANZ Bank.
BEIJING -- After a nearly six-month shutdown, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) has issued a directive calling for resumption of the domestic tourism trade in all regions with a low coronavirus risk.
NEW DELHI -- India has joined the international and multi-stakeholder initiative, the Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) on artificial intelligence as a founder member. This body is supported by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
HANOI - Following ratification by Vietnam of the European Union - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the European Union, - Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), expansive preferential markets access for goods traded between Vietnam and the EU will begin from August 1.
HONG KONG -- As Chinese officials step up their rhetoric towards reducing USD reliance, some positive developments can be detected in the international use of RMB, global financial group Natixis says in a new research report.