IMF Staff Country Report-Malaysia: Selected Issues
March 11, 2019--CORPORATE SAVING IN MALAYSIA
A. Introduction
1. IMF analysis suggests that Malaysia's current account (CA) surplus is higher than
warranted by medium-term fundamentals and desired policies. National income account data up to 2015 suggest that private non-financial corporations could be a significant contributor to the
CA surplus, followed by private financial firms.
Given the importance of private non-financial corporations in Malaysia's national saving, staff undertook an analysis of saving to understand the
history and identify the drivers.
view the IMF Staff Country Report-Malaysia: Selected Issues
Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia and the Caucasus
March 11, 2019--Story Highlights
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure projects are expected to cut trade costs and enhance foreign investment in Central Asia and South Caucasus countries.
A key issue for countries is how to maximize BRI benefits and minimize risks of unsustainable debt, and environmental and social costs.
Analysis of BRI projects is difficult because no comprehensive dataset exists with project costs, financing terms, and other conditions.
The massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) plans to build roads, railways, seaports and other trade infrastructure in dozens of countries in the Eurasian continent. The BRI aims to connect Asia to Europe, and the initiative has steadily expanded economic corridors and projects as far as Africa.
Funds likely to launch commodity derivatives schemes by early FY20
March 11, 2019--The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will amend the Mutual Fund Amendment Regulations of 2018 and the Portfolio Management Amendment Regulations 2016 enabling mutual funds and portfolio managers to participate in the agri and non-agri commodity derivatives segment (CDS) within a month.
The regulator will then notify the same after intimating the finance ministry, a person aware of the development told ET. Sebi approved MF and PMSes' participation at its board meet on March 1.
HKEX to launch futures contracts for MSCI China share index
March 11, 2019-- Global index publisher MSCI and the Hong Kong stock exchange said on Monday they will launch futures contracts on the MSCI China A Index to provide a hedging tool as international investor interest in Chinese mainland shares surges.
The license agreement between MSCI and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX), which will launch the new product, comes less than two weeks after MSCI announced it would quadruple the weighting of Chinese shares in its global benchmarks later this year.
ASX Investment Products Monthly Update-February 2019
March 8, 2019--February 2019 saw growth in Assets under Management in ETPs (up 5.2%), mFunds (up 4.7%), and A-REITs (up 4.0%) and Infrastructure Funds (up 5.2%) and a decline in Assets Under Management in LICs & LITs (down 0.4%) on a month on month basis.
Total Assets Under Management of all Investment Products increased by 3.8% over the month of February 2019, from 289.12bn at 31 January 2019 to 300.20bn at 28 February 2019.
view the ASX Investment Product Summary-February 2019
IMF Working Paper-China's Evolving Exchange Rate Regime
March 7, 2019--Summary:
China's exchange rate regime has undergone gradual reform since the move away from a fixed exchange rate in 2005. The renminbi has become more flexible over time but is still carefully managed, and depth and liquidity in the onshore FX market is relatively low compared to other countries with de jure floating currencies.
Allowing a greater role for market forces within the existing regime, and greater two-way flexibility of the exchange rate, are important steps to build on the progress already made. This should be complemented by further steps to develop the FX market, improve FX risk management, and modernize the monetary policy framework.
view the IMF Working Paper-China's Evolving Exchange Rate Regime
BetaShares-Market Trends: March 2019
March 6, 2019--Major Asset Classes*-Oz equities shine
Australian equities were the best performing of our seven major asset classes in February, with good gains across several sectors. Relief that the Hayne Royal Commission report recommendations were not as bad as feared for banks helped the financial sector, while growing talk of lower local interest rates, stronger commodity prices and the weaker $A helped both consumer and resource stocks.
Global stocks also continued their "V-shaped" recovery from late last year, helped by growing hopes with regards to US-China trade talks and dovish rhetoric from the US Federal Reserve. While a range of global growth indicators have slowed, overall growth is still holding up-especially in the US.
China GDP overstated by 12%, new research says from Financial Times China GDP overstated by 12%, new research says
March 6, 2019--Beijing statisticians 'do not have capacity' to correct inflated local figures
China's economy is around 12 per cent smaller than official figures indicate' and its real growth has been overstated by around 2 percentage...
view more
Fostering Competition in the Philippines: The Challenge of Restrictive Regulation
March 4, 2019--KEY FINDINGS
The Philippines' economic outlook remains strong. Nevertheless, limited competition in key economic sectors has been consistently identified as a constraint to the creation of more and better jobs and faster poverty alleviation.
Market competition in sectors critical for firms to enter and thrive is limited, stemming from unequal and discretionary application of policies and overly-restrictive regulations.
Data show that the Philippine economy is more concentrated than other countries in the region, with a higher proportion of monopoly, duopoly, and oligopoly markets.
China warns of 'tough struggle' as it cuts growth target to lowest since 1990
March 4, 2019--China has set its lowest growth target in nearly three decades as premier Li Keqiang warned of "tough" challenges facing the world's second-largest economy.
He set the country's growth at 6.0 to 6.5%, down from a target of 6.5% last year. In 1990, growth sank to 3.9% because of international sanctions sparked by the Tiananmen square protests. Growth in 2018 was 6.6%, the slowest rate since 1990.<>view more