Saturday, January 22 2022 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
TAIPEI - For a fifth consecutive year, China has blocked an invitation for Taiwan to be given observer status by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. China has again demanded that Taiwan publicly accept it is part of China before it can sit in on the WHA meeting, scheduled for next week (May 24-June 1).
MANILA -- The decline in Q1 GDP in the Philippines marks the longest economic slump in the country's history. GDP growth was minus 4.2% - still an improvement from the minus 8.3% recorded for Q4 of 2020.
KUALA LUMPUR -- Although Malaysia's GDP has continued to decline on an annualised basis in Q1 2021, domestic demand is encouragingly starting to gain traction. Actual GDP growth for the first quarter was minus 0.5% against minus 3.4%in the fourth quarter of 2020.
HONG KONG --Exports are booming, the backlog of orders is piling up, and chips are in short supply as Asia becomes an epitome of global economic recovery -- production capacity falling behind new orders.
HONG KONG -- S&P Global Ratings said today that competition in China's e-commerce is intensifying considerably. Notably, the Alibaba Group plans to invest all incremental profits in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, into the core strategic areas of domestic consumption, globalisation, and advanced technologies.
HONG KONG -China's economic recovery is still solid, with Q1 GDP registering a record-high year-on-year growth rate of 18.3%, according to official figures. BBVA Bank says Chinese authorities are phasing out their policy stimulus.
JAKARTA - Global ratings agency Standard and Poors has affirmed Indonesia's sovereign credit rating at 'BBB/A-2' , but says the outlook remains negative.
SEOUL -- South Korea's preliminary Q1 GDP figures show that the economy is now above its pre-pandemic size. The recovery has gained momentum, helped by robust exports and a turnaround in domestic demand, with first quarter GDP coming in at +1.8% compared with - 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2020.
HONG KONG -- Some of China's banks are likely to miss their deadlines this year to remove or recognise exposure to "shadow" wealth management products (WMPs),says S&P Global Ratings in a report released today.
MELBOURNE - Bass Oil Limited has increased its focus on expansion plans -- with potential Australian acquisition opportunities now on the company's radar for the first time, as well as increased activity in Indonesia. The Company says it intends to leverage its existing profitable production operations in Indonesia to grow via acquisition and exploration and development.
MANILA -- The Asian Development Bank's new venture arm, ADB Ventures, has announced its first two investments. ADB Ventures invests in early-stage technology companies globally that address urgent development challenges in emerging Asia and the Pacific.
HONG KONG -- Healthy demand for milk and other dairy products is pushing up the cost of raw milk in China. Ratings agency Standard and Poors says it believes downstream suppliers will increase imports of milk products, and acquisitions of upstream suppliers will remain a theme.
-With game-changing deposit interest rates of up to 6% p.a., Tonik offers deposit, payment, and card products to consumers through its revolutionary proprietary app
MANILA, Philippines, March 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --
MANILA -- Tonik, Southeast Asia's first digital-only bank, has launches as the first neobank in the Philippines, seting out to fundamentally disrupt the Filipino retail banking industry. It is offering up to 6% deposit rates, along with payment and card products.
TAIPEI -- US-based Cisco Systems Inc. has launched a cybersecurity talent cultivation centre in New Taipei City, underscoring the global networking heavyweight's commitment to working with Taiwan in boosting local capability in the sector.
SINGAPORE -- The global recovery has already matured into an expansion, supported by policy stimulus, a lack of structural damage, vaccine development and central banks committing to tighten later in the cycle. In many economies, unemployment is falling quickly, bankruptcies have been contained and banks are over-capitalised rather than over-loaded with bad loans.
HO.NG KONG -- International trade will slow down by 2030, due to both traditional factors (technology, economic development, trade policies) and new determinants (COVID-19 and sustainability), says a new report from BBVA Bank.