Tuesday, February 19 2019 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
NEW DELHI – India’s Government is expected to announce a decision soon to relax foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations to boost the food processing sector, which has attracted already US$8.7 billion in foreign investment.
PARIS - Global risk insurer Coface’s Political Risk Model currently ranks Asia above the world average in terms of political risk, behind the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Although political risks in Asia have remained broadly stable relative to other parts of the world, some exceptions are notable, Coface says. “These risks could cloud the outlook for some economies going forward.”
BEIJING - President Xi Jinping has underlined the importance of self-reliance in food security, the real economy and manufacturing as China faces rising unilateralism and trade protectionism internationally, China Daily reported.
RESTON, Virginia - Demand for graduate management education was stable in 2018 compared with 2017 according to findings of the annual Application Trends Survey from the Graduate Management Admission Council. Applications to business school programmes in the Asia-Pacific, European, and Canadian markets were up over 2017 while programmes in the United States reported a drop in volume.
MELBOURNE - Berthing of the 8,063 TEU-capacity OOCL Seoul at Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) has signalled the city’s growing ability to match the performance of Sydney and Brisbane in accommodating larger-capacity vessels now being introduced into key Australian container trades.
SINGAPORE – In the third 2018 quarterly edition of its Asia Economic Outlook, ANZ Bank says the growth environment has become more challenging as the year has progressed, impacted by a combination of slowing global trade and country-specific issues.
BEIJING - S&P Global Ratings today affirmed its unsolicited 'A+' long-term and 'A-1' short-term sovereign credit ratings on the People's Republic of China. It said the outlook is stable, reflecting its view that China will maintain its robust headline GDP growth and improved fiscal performance in the next three to four years.
HONG KONG – the French banking group Natixis believes Hong Kong is set to embrace higher lending rates. It points out that low lending rates in Hong Kong have not been confined to the era of the global quantitative easing – that they have also stayed at an ultra-low level even after the FED started its hiking cycle.
SINGAPORE - S&P Global Ratings has expressed concern that rising crude oil prices, tight implementation of retail fuel-pricing policies and possible government intervention will impact Indian and Indonesian oil companies -especially the national majors.
STRASBOURG - The European Parliament has adopted a Report on EU-China Relations during a plenary session in Strasbourg, France, in part calling on the European Union and its Member States to urge China to refrain from military provocation towards Taiwan, and endangering peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
HONG KONG – With China retaliating against the U.S. announcement of tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports - by imposing 5% to 10% tariffs on U.S. imports valued at $60 billion effective September 24 – ratings agency Standard and Poors is predicting what it calls “the shock arising from this escalation by both sides” to eventually have a larger proportionate impact on the U.S. economy than on China's.
HONG KONG - With the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s Export Index dropping from 54.1 in the second quarter (2Q18) to 35.8 in the third quarter (3Q18) due to the ongoing China/US trade dispute, Hong Kong exporters are being urged to diversify into emerging markets such as Southeast Asia.
NEW DELHI - India plans to construct 100 airports at an estimated cost of US$60 billion over the next 10 to 15 years, according to Civil Aviation Minister, Suresh Prabhu, who says the airports will be build through public-private partnerships.
India’s aviation sector is one of the fastest-growing in the world, recording 50 months of double-digit traffic growth.
SINGAPORE - Coal producers in Southeast Asia could find themselves facing more difficult funding conditions as the region grapples with the environmental effects of climate change - despite strong underlying demand for coal to meet growing energy demand – ratings agency Standard and Poor’s says in a report published today.
JAKARTA – In a detailed assessment of recent moves by Indonesia’s Central Bank, ANZ Bank says the over-arching message from a recently-concluded investor trip is that IDR stability is contingent upon an adjustment in Indonesia’s real economy.
NEW YORK – Speaking on the eve of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Taiwan’s Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, has renewed Taiwan's plea to participate in UN meetings, activities and mechanisms.