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Tag: Monetary

  • Vietnam Jan-Feb FDI inflows up 9.8 pct to $2.58 bln

    Vietnam Jan-Feb FDI inflows up 9.8 pct to $2.58 bln

    Vietnam received $2.58 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in January-February, up 9.8 percent from the same period a year earlier. FDI pledges, which indicate the size of future FDI disbursements, were more than 2.5 times higher than the same period last year, climbing to $8.47 billion, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said in a statement on Tuesday.

    Of the pledges, 81.8 percent are to be invested in manufacturing and processing, while 5.6 percent would go to real estate, the ministry said.

    Hong Kong was the top source of FDI pledges in the period, followed by Singapore and South Korea.

    The Southeast Asian country reported a record high FDI inflows of $19.1 billion last year, up 9.1 percent.

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  • Malaysia’s economy likely to slow in April to June 2019

    Malaysia’s economy likely to slow in April to June 2019

    Malaysia’s economy is likely to grow at a slow rate in April to June 2019 in view of the decline in the Leading Index (LI) in December 2018, according to the Statistics Department. Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the monthly change of LI decreased 1.4% to 117.3 points in December 2018 from 119.0 points in the previous month.

    “The declined in six out of seven components have weighed down the performance of the LI with the significant decreased by two components namely real imports of other basic precious & other non-ferrous metals and number of housing units approved, which posted negative 0.5% respectively,” he said in a statement.

    The annual change of LI also registered a negative growth of 1.7% in December 2018.

    The LI is designed to monitor the economic performance for an average of four to six months ahead.

    Meanwhile, the Coincident Index (CI), a measure of current economic activity, was unchanged in December 2018.

    The increased in real salaries & wages in manufacturing sector (0.2%) and real contributions to EPF (0.1%) were offset by the decreased in capacity utilisation in manufacturing sector (-0.2%) and Industrial Production Index (-0.1%).

    The annual change of CI grew at 3.6% as in the previous month.

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  • Vietnam per capita income matches Malaysia’s 20 years ago

    Vietnam per capita income matches Malaysia’s 20 years ago

    Vietnam’s recent economic achievements notwithstanding, much effort is needed for it to close the gap with other countries, a minister has said. Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said at a conference Wednesday that while Vietnam’s GDP per capita had surged by 27.4 times in the last 30 years to almost $2,590 last year, Malaysia had achieved this figure 20 years ago.

    Thailand had done so 15 years ago and Indonesia 10 years ago.

    The main limitations of its economy were low labor productivity, economic efficiency and competitiveness, and the country also faced the risk of being stuck in the middle-income trap.

    According to the 2018 Vietnam Annual Economic Report, average productivity per worker was VND60.73 million ($2,600) in 2017, lower than that of China, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia.

    Currently the country also faced challenges like the U.S.-China trade war, the minister said.

    For these reasons, institutional reforms were necessary to achieve a more sustainable economy, he noted.

    Macroeconomic stability and high economic growth with innovation in science and technology were imperative.

    The private sector had to remain one of the pillars of the economy in future, Dung said. “If Vietnam doesn’t catch the 4.0 train, the gap between it with other countries will become wider. Vietnam needs to narrow that gap.”

    Vietnam’s GDP has grown at 6.8 percent a year on average for the last 20 years, and the economy has grown 39 fold in the period to $245 billion last year.

    Growth last year was 7.08 percent, the highest in a decade.

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  • Oil prices fall on worries fuel demand to stall amid slowing global growth

    Oil prices fall on worries fuel demand to stall amid slowing global growth

    Oil prices declined on Thursday amid lingering concerns over slowing global economic growth that may limit fuel demand and after a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories. International Brent crude oil futures were at $60.89 a barrel at 0352 GMT, down 25 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement, having closed down 0.6 percent in the previous session.

    U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.40 per barrel, 22 cents lower from their last settlement.

    “Crude oil came under further pressure as concerns of faltering global growth remained at the forefront in investor’s minds,” ANZ Bank said.

    The prospects of future oil demand are getting clouded by the global growth worries, analysts said.

    “With the IMF downgrading 2019/20 and the continued rhetoric from Davos reiterating that they expect global growth to slow down over the next two years, is providing selling pressure in oil,” said Hue Frame, portfolio manager at Frame Funds in Sydney.

    Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its world economic growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020, due to weakness in Europe and some emerging markets.

    Meanwhile, world leaders and top executives are meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week to discuss how to steer policy amid worries of slowing economic growth, damaging trade wars and Brexit.

    Oil market sentiment was also weakened by an increase in U.S. crude inventories after refineries cut output, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Wednesday.

    Crude inventories rose by 6.6 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 18 to 443.6 million, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 42,000 barrels, the API said. Refinery runs fell by 152,000 barrels per day.

    “Sharp production cuts by OPEC+ have kept crude oil futures supported however as market reports indicate for a marked output reduction in Dec 2018,” said Benjamin Lu, analyst at Phillip Futures.

    “Though oil prices have demonstrated for higher upside potential in the first quarter of 2019, mounting economic challenges will continue to impede exponential gains in the longer term,” Lu added.

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  • HKMA grants stored value licences to eight more issuers including PayPal

    HKMA grants stored value licences to eight more issuers including PayPal

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Friday that it had granted stored value facilities (SVF) licences to eight more issuers including Paypal Hong Kong Limited, bringing the total to 13.

    “We are pleased to see companies with diverse backgrounds offering a variety of SVF products which will enhance retail payment convenience in Hong Kong,” said Howard Lee, Senior Executive Director of the HKMA.

    The implementation of a supervisory regime by the HKMA will strengthen public confidence in using stored value products and services which, in turn, will encourage innovation in the local retail payment industry, Lee said.

    The other issuers granted licenses are 33 Financial Services Limited; Autotoll Limited; ePaylinks Technology Co., Limited; K & R International Limited; Optal Asia Limited; Transforex (Hong Kong) Investment Consulting Co., Limited; and UniCard Solution Limited.

    The city’s de-facto central bank granted the first batch of licenses to SVF issuers such as Alipay Financial Services (HK) Limited in August.

    The Payment Systems and Stored Value Facilities Ordinance started operation on Nov. 13 last year and provided a one-year transition period for application for SVF licences.

    Upon the expiry of the one-year period, it will be illegal for any person, unless being exempt, to issue or operate SVF without a license, the HKMA said.

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