Friday, October 18 2019 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
HONG KONG -- With the US continuing to impose additional tariffs of up to 25% on many imported Chinese products, more Hong Kong traders are looking to cushion the impact by actively shifting their production or procurement bases to ASEAN countries -- such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand -- that benefit from the US's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).
PARIS -- In an update of its Coface Barometer report, the global credit insurer Coface says it expects a majority of countries to see an increase in corporate insolvencies this year. "World economic growth is expected to decrease from 3.1% in 2018 to 2.7% in 2019, and then remain stable in 2020," it says.
MELBOURNE - Australian businesses that are active in Asia generate about a third of their overall revenue from the region, up from 25% in 2016, according to new research from ANZ.
HONG KONG - HSBC Holdings today announced the departure of its CEO, John Flint, alongside its results for the half-year to June 30, 2019. S&P Global Ratings views this high-profile exit as a surprise because we consider the results to be solid.
SEOUL - South Korea's President, Moon Jae-in, has warned that South Korea will resolutely respond to Japan's removal of Korea from a whitelist of preferential trading nations.
SINGAPORE --The outlook for the Chinese renminbi will depend mainly on trade and technology tensions with the U.S., S&P Global Ratings said in a report published today, titled "China's Renminbi Moves Beyond 7".
SHANGHAI - China's State Council has issued a plan for a newly-added area to the six-year-old Shanghai Free Trade Zone, touting preferential tax and supportive policies to attract high-tech companies.
BEIJING - The China Aerospace Science and Technology is working with Yantai city and Shandong province to start construction of a port for sea-based space launches before the end of this year.
TAIPEI - While the global economy is experiencing headwinds and higher uncertainty, rays of optimism are appearing in Taiwan, where external factors have
been putting pressure on the economy for some time.
HANOI - With technology and artificial intelligence gradually taking over the traditional banking and finance market, it is inevitable that Vietnam, a country with a population of 96 million and a 70% internet penetration rate, should be golden ground for fintech investors, says a new report from the international law firm Allens.
SEOUL - South Korea's Presidential Office, Cheong Wa Dae, has expressed its intention to continue the momentum of inter-Korean dialogue despite North Korea's latest firing of ballistic missiles.
SHANGHAI - Huawei is accelerating the construction of a computing ecosystem for both its own infrastructure and its partners, according to a report in Caixin.
SINGAPORE -- The pressure on Asia-Pacific sovereign credit metrics should ease in the next few months of 2019, compared with the first half of the year, according to S&P Global Ratings.
BEIJING - A peak Chinese Communist Party Committee headed by President Xi Jinping has pledged support for Shenzhen, adjacent to Hong Kong, in building a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
JAKARTA - After winning the 2019 election, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has a great opportunity to bring the Indonesian economy into a stronger footing, according to a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. It says Jokowi's economic policies achieved mixed outcomes in his first term (2014-2019). "He hasn't delivered a promised 7% economic growth, but steady 5% growth is perceived as a commendable achievement, given slowing global growth, rising uncertainties, and low commodity prices."
BEIJING - China has issued a white paper to expound on its defensive national defence policy and explain the practice, purposes and significance of China's efforts to build a strong military.