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Tag: Living

  • Indonesia’s inflation rate at seven-year low

    Indonesia’s inflation rate at seven-year low

    Indonesia’s inflation slowed to the weakest in almost seven years and fell below the central bank’s target, bolstering the case for further interest rate cuts by Bank Indonesia (BI).

    Consumer price gains eased to 2.79 per cent last month from a year earlier, compared with economists’ 3.02 per cent estimate.

    Prices fell 0.02 per cent in August from the previous month, the National Statistics Office said yesterday, adding that the annual rate was the lowest since December 2009.

    “If you ask me now whether there is room for (monetary) easing, the room is more open. But whether it would be used or not, it is up to BI,” Coordinating Minister for Economics Darmin Nasution said after the lower-than-expected data was announced.

    Mr Nasution said BI had wanted to cut the benchmark rate “since last month” but then decided to delay to better introduce its new policy rate, the seven-day reverse repo rate, which stands at 5.25 per cent.

    The authorities have set their 2016 inflation target at 3 per cent to 5 per cent and expect consumer price gains to end the year at around 3.5 per cent.

    “Easing inflation – along with stability in both the current account deficit and exchange rate – has created policy space for rate cuts,” said economist Ng Weiwen at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).

    “The degree of easing will be dependent on the size of tax amnesty inflows.”

    ANZ expects the Indonesian central bank to lower its new benchmark rate by another 25 basis points to 5 per cent as soon as its September meeting, Mr Ng said.

    Indonesia’s 10-year bond yield slid four basis points to 7.07 per cent yesterday afternoon in Jakarta, set for the biggest daily gain in three weeks. Shares fell, with the Jakarta Composite Index extending its drop to 0.9 per cent and set for the lowest close since Aug 15.

    Falling airfares, inter-city transport costs and cheaper food were the biggest factors driving the monthly drop in prices, said National Statistics Office deputy Sasmito Hadi Wibowo.

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  • Electricity Prices May Decline

    Electricity Prices May Decline

    The National Energy Board (DEN) is asking state power company PLN to review its suggestion to formulate a new formula for the basic prices of electricity. The DEN believes a new price formula will bring benefits to the public.

    “Concept-wise, it is good. But PLN must first hold a price simulation to figure out how positive a new price scheme would be for the public. The tariffs could be a lot cheaper,” DEN member Abadi Purnomo told.

    He said the opportunity to lower electricity prices arrives from the abundant power supply generated by coal-fueled power plans, which accounted for 52.8 percent of the national energy mix last year. The second largest portion is gas energy use with 24.2 percent.

    PLN suggested a new price formula that will include energy mix component in the calculaton. Today’s tariffs calculations only refer to the Indonesian Crude Price (ICP), whereas the use of oil fuel for power-generation has declined from 11.7 percent in 2015 to just 6.7 percent this year.

    Another DEN member Sonny Keraf also supports PLN’s proposal. He asks the government to evaluate the current electricity price formula as a way to develop new renewable energy sources.

    A new, cheaper price electricity scheme will trigger industry growth, Sonny said. Industry players have always complained about Indonesia’s pricy electricity rates that prevent them from competing with other nations.

    PLN’s planning director Nicke Widyawati promised to bring their proposal to the DPR.

    Meanwhile, Acting Energy Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said his ministry is reviewing the suggestion.

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  • Philippine growth short of target at 5.8 percent in 2015

    Philippine growth short of target at 5.8 percent in 2015

    The Philippine economy grew 5.8 percent in 2015, short of even lowered government expectations after being hampered by a weak world economy, El Nino and slow government spending in the first half of the year.

    The government initially forecast growth of 7-8 percent for 2015 but later lowered its projection to 6-6.5 percent.

    “Though this is lower than what we targeted for the year, this growth is respectable given the difficult external environment,” Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said Thursday.

    The Philippines has been one of the fastest growing economies in Asia for several years. Despite increased government efforts to raise living standards, the country of more than 100 million still faces considerable challenges including its vulnerability to typhoons and other natural disasters, poverty, corruption and poor infrastructure.

    The economy expanded 6.3 percent in the last quarter of the year, the fastest for 2015. It was up from 6.1 percent the previous quarter but down from 6.6 percent in the same period of 2014.

    Balisacan said growth has averaged 6.2 percent in the past six years, which is the best performance since the late 1970s. The growth has not been due to unsustainable borrowings like in the 1970s and short-lived portfolio capital but fueled by investments that create jobs and increase incomes, he said.

    He said last year’s growth was driven by much stronger domestic demand and government spending that grew 9.4 percent compared to the previous year’s 1.7 percent. Growth in public and private investments more than doubled, primarily led by public construction.

    Service industries were also robust, growing 6.7 percent in 2015 from 5.9 percent in 2014. Industry expanded 6.0 percent while agriculture grew a tepid 0.2 percent.

    Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the Philippines was well-positioned to withstand turbulence in financial markets caused by uncertainty about the strength of the global economy.

    He said foreign exchange reserves are more than healthy at $80.6 billion as of the end of last year, enough to cover 10.3 months of imports and equivalent to more than six times the country’s external short-term funding requirements.

  • Hong Kong’s unemployment rate rises slightly

    Hong Kong’s unemployment rate rises slightly

    Fall in the number of tourists and depreciation in RMB has led to a slight increase in Hong Kong’s unemployment figures.

    According to the latest labour force statistics released by Census and Statistics Department yesterday, the city-stat’s unemployment rate increased from 3.2% in April – June 2015 to 3.3% in May – July 2015.

    The underemployment rate remained, however, unchanged at 1.4% in the two periods.

    Commenting on the latest unemployment figures, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Matthew Cheung Kin Chung, said an unemployment rate of 3.3% is still at a low level but with a unsteady global financial market and decrease in number of tourist, the situation may get worse.

    The hospitality and retail industries were identified as sectors contributing to this latest rise in unemployment rate.

    The hospitality sector’s unemployment rate stood at 4.4% – a 1.4% year on increase, while the retail sector saw a 0.1 % increase in unemployment compared to  April – June 2015.

    Unemployment rate in the retail sector stood at 4.1%.

    Shedding light into the matter, managing director of AMAC Human Resources Consultants Limited Alexa Chow Yee Ping said the retail sector is currently on hiring freeze.

    “Resigned staff will not be replaced, it will be a quiet market until Christmas,” she said.

    The insurance industry was also found to have recorded a 0.4% increase in unemployment rate to 1.9% in July.

    Roy Cheung Wai Leung from the Hong Kong Insurance Practitioners General Union said high office rent has out insurance companies under a lot of pressure to cut manpower.

    “Take Kwun Tong for example, the rent of Grade-A offices in the area has increased from HK$11 per square feet five years ago to $25 now.  Many companies need to save cost and lay off agents with underwhelming sales performance,” he said.

    Economics academic professor Terence Chong  executive director, institute of global economics and finance  at The Chinese University of Hong Kong had a more positive view.

    He said the end of European debt crisis implies less fluctuation in the stock market.

    “The Hong Kong-Shenzhen stock through train which will take place soon will be a boost to the economy although I expect the employment market to remain weak in the forth quarter, the unemployment rate should go no higher than 3.5%,” he said.

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  • Alibaba drive perks up China sperm donations

    Alibaba drive perks up China sperm donations

    Alibaba has used the internet to revolutionise China’s retail, banking and transport markets, and now the ecommerce juggernaut has turned its attention to the country’s sperm shortage.

    Amid spiralling infertility rates, sperm banks across China have been running dry. Worsening environmental conditions and hectic work schedules have taken their toll on male fertility in China, experts say.

    According to a 2012 study by the China Population Association, a state agency, 12.5 per cent of Chinese couples are infertile.

    Enter Alibaba, whose Groupon-like website Juhuasuan markets everything from underwear to insurance. The ecommerce group’s move into boosting sperm donation features a banner advertisement with a phallic cartoon candle exploding into a white cloud, bearing the Chinese character for “semen” in bold lettering.

    “Avid concentration” the ad reads, with a pun on the character jing which in Chinese means both mind and sperm. During the donation drive, Alibaba offered payments of up to $800 for successful sperm donations.

    Posted between July 15-17, the campaign garnered 22,000 new registrants for the seven participating provincial sperm banks — equivalent to nearly a year’s worth of traffic for some of the centres.

    “This exceeded all expectations,” said Wang Zhiqiang, director of the state sperm bank for Guanxi province. “On average, we get about 300 donors a year, but during the three days of the Juhuasuan event, more than 1,000 people signed up. Assuming 20 per cent of them will donate, that is 200 new donors.”

    The mismatch in supply and demand for sperm has prompted donation centres to overcome many taboos in tradition-bound China. In April, the shortage had become so dire in Hubei province that the regional sperm bank turned to Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, to broadcast: “Stop wasting all that tissue paper!”

    “Under-achievers! This is your opportunity! Hubei Sperm Bank is badly in need of sperm,” it said.

    The shortage of sperm donations is partly caused by stringent requirements for donors — roughly one in five is acceptable — but mainly because men in China have “shyness about such topics”, according to Mr Wang. “We mainly try to get recruits by passing out flyers and holding awareness seminars, but we do not get enough qualified men.”

    But Alibaba has made a speciality out of taking dysfunctional markets and overcoming everything from supply bottlenecks to onerous government regulations to low demand — it has done so in areas such as finance and taxis.

    Matching sellers with the masses of online traffic is the company’s speciality, usually combining with a bit of fun, marketing savvy, big data and, most importantly in the case of sperm donation, anonymity.

    “People feel shy and embarrassed when we meet them face-to-face,” said Mr Wang. But he said that marketing via the internet added a layer of privacy that makes previously forbidden topics acceptable.

    “Online, when they don’t have to face a human being, they are more comfortable, and this is a major reason why this project is a success,” he said, adding: “We don’t know whether they will actually come in or not.”

  • Ikea Korea in pricing highlight

    Ikea Korea in pricing highlight

    The costs of couches and wardrobes bought by Ikea Korea, the native unit of Swedish furnishings big, are 15-20 per cent larger than these in different nations, a ballot exhibits.

    The survey by native shopper advocacy group Shopper Analysis confirmed that the worth of 126 merchandise bought within the nation averaged 522,717 gained (US$471.80), which is 15-20 per cent larger in contrast with the fee in Germany, Japan and the US.

    The typical worth was the bottom in Japan at 437,578 gained, adopted by Germany with 453,737 gained and the US with 455,344 gained. They have been calculated utilizing the overseas trade charges on June 15 and solely embrace merchandise which are bought in all 4 markets.

    Costs of some 100 particular person merchandise bought in South Korea have been costlier that these within the three different nations, the report confirmed.

    A Shopper Analysis official stated that merchandise with worth tags larger than 100,000 gained have been usually bought at a better value than in different nations, whereas low-end gadgets have been cheaper in South Korea.

    Ikea Korea refuted the survey outcomes, saying that it considers a mixture of elements, together with overseas change, inventory and tariff charges, in setting costs in every nation.

    The Swedish furnishings model has been embroiled in numerous shopper grievance instances since its native debut in December. A lot of the complaints have been concerning the worth gaps in contrast with different markets, whereas a map product labeling the East Sea because the Sea of Japan additionally sparked backlash in February this yr amid fraying ties between Seoul and Tokyo.

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  • Spending on luxury falls on mainland China

    Spending on luxury falls on mainland China

    China remained the world’s largest consumer of luxury products last year even though domestic sales fell for the first time due to the government’s anti-corruption campaign and increased spending overseas.

    Chinese spending on luxury goods increased 9 percent to CNY380 billion (USD61.3 billion) in 2014, accounting for 30 percent of global spending, according to Bain & Company’s 2014 China Luxury Market Study.

    However, sales of such products on the Chinese mainland fell 1 percent from a year earlier to CNY115 billion, the consulting firm said on Tuesday.

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  • Coca-Cola to cut 1,600-1,800 jobs globally

    Coca-Cola to cut 1,600-1,800 jobs globally

    Coca-Cola Co. is axing at least 1,600 white-collar jobs globally as part of a cost-cutting push in response to sluggish soda sales.

    To view the full article (note: you must be a Wall Street Journal Online subscriber), visitThe Wall Street Journal Online.

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  • Save no more? Are Japanese turning spendthrift?

    Save no more? Are Japanese turning spendthrift?

    The Japanese spent more than they saved in the 12 months ended March 2014, the first time that’s happened since the data set began in 1955, with the savings rate at a negative 1.3 percent in the last fiscal year.

    “It’s something to keep an eye out for in the medium-term because Japan’s debt has been funded domestically, and very cheaply. But foreign investors would require a more appropriate risk premium,” said Toru Yamamoto, Daiwa’ Securities chief rates strategist.

    Japan has quite a bit of debt, with the country’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) at over 220 percent, one of the highest in the world, financed by the domestic savers and Japanese government bond (JGB) investors at some of the lowest interest rates globally.

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  • Consumers in Malaysia grappling with rising cost of living, GST

    Consumers in Malaysia grappling with rising cost of living, GST

    While most consumers grappled with the escalating cost of living, the Malaysian government’s subsidy rationalisation programme and the impending introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) also took centre stage.

    The government’s decision to reduce subsidies, effective 3 September 2013, was generally aimed at strengthening the nation’s economic position and ensuring that subsidies reached the target groups.

    In 2014, the government allocated about MYR40.5 billion (USD11.61b) for its various subsidy schemes. Out of that amount, MYR21 billion went towards subsidising RON95 petrol, diesel and cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas.

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  • In South Korea, Ikea opens biggest store to lure tiny households

    In South Korea, Ikea opens biggest store to lure tiny households

    Iconic Swedish furniture retailer Ikea built its biggest store in the world to serve South Korea’s shrinking households, targeting millions of people living alone with Korea-only items like super-sized single beds and in-store kimchi rice.

    The store opened on Thursday in Gwangmyeong, less than an hour’s drive or 14 minutes by train from central Seoul, with a sales space nearly as big as the Louvre museum at 59,000 square metres. The previous record-holder at Ikea, known for its inexpensive, self-assembly products, was in Stockholm spanning 55,200 square metres.

    Stiff domestic competition and sluggish spending have made South Korea an unhappy hunting ground for global retail giants like Wal-Mart and Carrefour, who exited years ago. But Ikea’s design appeal to South Korea’s urban crowds, and few big local rivals, leave it well placed, retail experts say.

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