Friday, September 21 2018 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
MELBOURNE – In a keynote address on consumer trends and opportunities in China for premium food and beverage brands, Mark Tanner, Managing Director of Shanghai-based China Skinny, has pointed beyond China’s Tier-1 cities.
SYDNEY – India’s Commerce Minister, Suresh Prabhu, has urged representatives of some 25 Australian superannuation funds to invest in India. Prabhu was in Australia to attend the 15th India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) meeting in Canberra.
SHANGHAI – Asia-Pacific is on track to become the world’s largest 5G region by 2025, led by pioneering 5G markets such as Australia, China, Japan and South Korea, according to the latest edition of the GSMA’s Mobile Economy report.
SEOUL – South Korean President Moon Jae-in has held two rounds of talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during a State visit to Russia, culminating in release of a joint statement of 32 ‘concrete’ clauses, focussing on “co-prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and Eurasia”. Moon said in a subsequent press conference that he and Putin “have agreed to increase our dialogue and co-operation for the goal of making it happen for the Peninsula and the Eurasian region as a whole, to enjoy peace and prosperity”.
JAKARTA – In another decisive move, Bank Indonesia has raised its policy rate by 50bps to 5.25%, above market expectations of a 25bps hike. With a cumulative 100bps increase in interest rate since May 17, the central bank has made clear its commitment to guard against IDR weakness.
TAIPEI - Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the appointment of William Christensen as the new Director of The United States de-facto ‘Embassy’ in Taiwan, the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). The Institute reopened earlier this month following a US$250 million refurbishment.
MANILA - The Central Bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) today raised its overnight reverse repurchase rate (RRR) by 25bps to 3.50%, despite soft inflation in May.
“In our view, sustained peso weakness nudged the central bank to hike the policy rate,” ANZ Bank says in a research note. The BSP had marginally lowered its inflation forecast for 2018 to 4.5% from 4.6% earlier.
For 2019, the BSP now expects inflation to average 3.3%, slightly lower than its May projection of 3.4%. It also expects inflation to peak in Q3 2018.
WASHINGTON – BBVA Banking Group says incoming data reaffirms its baseline scenario of moderate to high GDP growth and higher inflation for the United States in 2018 & 2019, with the U.S. Federal Reserve poised to raise rates twice in the second half of 2018 and possibly three times in 2019.
NEW DELHI - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the minutes of a meeting held from June 4-6 with the overall tone apparently hawkish, says ANZ Bank in a Client Note. Most members of the monetary policy committee (MPC) were confident that the ongoing growth recovery would be maintained.
TAIPEI - Strong gains in Taiwan’s May export orders were broad-based, with strength seen in export orders for electronic products (+14.0% y/y) complemented by the traditional sectors – base metals (+14.8% y/y), chemicals (+22.6% y/y), and plastic articles (+17.2% y/y). Export orders for information and communication technology (ICT) products also rose in May (+4.2% y/y) after three straight months of decline.
HONG KONG - The HKTDC Export Index for the second quarter of 2018 has climbed to a 29-quarter high and indicated positive sentiment among local exporters for the first time in 12 months.
BEIJING - President Xi Jinping has stressed the need to build an elite maritime force “to resolutely accomplish various missions entrusted by the Party and the people”, China’s State newsagency, Xinhua reported.
SEOUL – South Korea’s Foreign Minister, Kang Kyung-wha, said today that the Government aims to declare a formal end to war with North Korea this year, and that it is flexible regarding the time and format.
HONG KONG - Amid the growing uncertainty of the global economic scenario - stemming from the potential escalation of tariff increases initiated by the US - the main central banks have launched a crystal-clear message this week: monetary policies are entering a new phase, says BBVA in a research note.
SEOUL – South Korea’s President, Moon Jae-in, says his Government will cautiously consider suspending joint military drills with the U.S. as a follow-up action to the North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore.
HONG KONG - Institutional investors are eager to play a greater role in financing Asia-Pacific infrastructure, but a number of roadblocks can limit participation, S&P Global Ratings says in a report published today.