June 2018 Indonesia Economic Quarterly: Learning more, growing faster
June 5, 2018--The Indonesian economy continued to expand at a robust pace in Q1 of 2018, lifted by strong investment. Real GDP growth edged down to 5.1 percent in Q1 2018, slightly less than the 5.2 percent in Q4 2017.
Higher global commodity prices spurred stronger investment, especially in machine, equipment, and vehicles. As a result, gross capital fixed formation grew the fastest in more than 5 years. Higher growth in machinery investment also led to a further pickup in imports, which grew more than twice the pace of exports, and acted as a drag on growth.
The current account deficit narrowed in Q1, as the services trade deficit shrank sharply. The current account deficit narrowed to 2.1 percent of GDP in Q1, from 2.3 percent of GDP in Q4 of last year, partly on stronger foreign tourist arrivals.
view the World Bank June 2018 Indonesia Economic Quarterly: Learning more, growing faster
Source: World Bank
ETFGI reports assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed in Japan reached 311 billion US dollars at the end of April 2018
June 5, 2018--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm on trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed in Japan reached US$311.06 Bn at the end of April 2018. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed in Japan reached US$311.06 Bn at the end of April 2018
In April 2018, ETFs and ETPs listed in Japan gathered net inflows of $968 Mn, the lowest inflows since October 2017
April 2018 also marked the 6th consecutive month of net inflows into ETFs/ETPs listed in Japan
view more
Source: ETFGI
IMF Working Papers-Inequality in China-Trends, Drivers and Policy Remedies
June 5, 2018--Summary:
China has experienced rapid economic growth over the past two decades and is on the brink of eradicating poverty. However, income inequality increased sharply from the early 1980s and rendered China among the most unequal countries in the world. This trend has started to reverse as China has experienced a modest decline in inequality since 2008.
This paper identifies various drivers behind these trends-including structural changes such as urbanization and aging and, more recently, policy initiatives to combat it. It finds that policies will need to play an important role in curbing inequality in the future, as projected structural trends will put further strain on equity considerations. In particular, fiscal policy reforms have the potential to enhance inclusiveness and equity, both on the tax and expenditure side.
view more
Source: IMF
China Revives Its Push to Make the Yuan Go Global
June 5, 2018--Yuan strength, rising foreign reserves give officials room
China's currency accounts for just 1.7% of global payments
After more than two years on the back-burner, there are signs that China is once again focusing on its efforts to increase the yuan's status in global finance.
Since May, initiatives from the central bank and government have included:
Starting full operation of a new phase of an international payment system, extending its running hours
view more
Source: Bloomberg
ETFGI reports ETFs and ETPs listed in Asia Pacific ex-Japan gathered net inflows of 5.29 billion US dollars during April 2018, the highest amount in two years
June 5, 2018--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm on trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that ETFs and ETPs listed in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) gathered US$5.29 Bn in net inflows during April 2018, the highest monthly amount in two years. Year-to-date net inflows for 2018 reached US$13.91 Bn at the end of April, compared to US$6.23 Bn in net outflows at this point last year. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Net new assets gathered by ETFs/ETPs listed in Asia Pacific ex-Japan were $5.29 Bn in April
April 2018 marked the 6th consecutive month of net inflows into ETFs/ETPs listed in Asia Pacific ex-Japan
Assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed in in Asia Pacific ex-Japan increased by 1.58%, or $2.83 Bn, during April, to $182.16 Bn
view more
Source: ETFGI
BetaShares launches Australian Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (ASX: CRED)
June 4, 2018--BetaShares is pleased to announce the launch of the BetaShares Australian Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (ASX: CRED), a low cost, intelligent core portfolio building block for Fixed Income.
CRED is designed to provide investors exposure to a portfolio of investment grade, fixed-rate Australian corporate bonds, which, at the time of writing, is offering investors the highest income levels available from all Australian Corporate Bond ETFs trading on the ASX*.
view more
Source: BetaShares
Cryptocurrencies decided as future trading commodity
June 4, 2018--The Trade Ministry's Futures Exchange Supervisory Board (Bappebti) has decided cryptocurrencies would be future trading subjects or commodities at the bourse, even though Bank Indonesia (BI) does not recognize such currencies as payment instruments.
"The Bappebti head has signed a decree to make cryptocurrency a commodity that could be traded at the bourse," said head of Bappebti market supervision and development bureau Dharma Yoga as reported by kontan.co.id on Sunday.
view more
Source: thejakartapost.com
IMF Staff Country Reports-Thailand: Selected Issues
June 4, 2018--THAILAND: FISCAL POLICY AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH1
A semi-structural model is used to simulate the impact of fiscal structural reforms on economic growth, inflation, current account balance, and public finances. Simulation results indicate that
structural reforms enabling higher infrastructure investment, stronger labor participation, and more efficient taxation can raise growth significantly and contribute to addressing domestic and external imbalances.
A. Introduction
1. Thailand's cyclical and structural challenges have contributed to its high current account surplus and are expected to impact growth in the short and long term. During 2013-15, growth slowed down significantly. While the export and tourism sectors have since
regained strength, other sectors of the economy have yet to take part in this renewed dynamism. Consumption and investment have remained sluggish, partly due to high household debt and a slow trickle down of growth to household income. This has resulted in a high current account
surplus. At the same time, rapid population aging will soon become a drag on potential growth, as it has an impact on the size of the work force and productivity growth.view more
Source: IMF
GDP grows 7.7% in Q4; India retains world's fastest growing economy tag At 7.7%, it is a seven-quarter high; full-year growth falls to 6.7%
June 1, 2018--Backed by government spending and investment, the economy grew at a seven-quarter high of 7.7 per cent in January-March. But this did not prevent GDP growth, at 6.7 per cent in 2017-18, from falling to its lowest rate in four years of the Narendra Modi government.
The fourth-quarter growth rate prompted the finance ministry to say the economy would clock 7.5 per cent growth in 2018-19, the upper range of growth projected by the Economic Survey.
view more
Source: business-standard.com
MSCI nod gives foreign investors chance to share China's market dividends
June 1, 2018--With the inclusion of China A-shares on a key global index, a step has been made for more foreign investors to increase exposure to China's capital market and share its growth dividends.
Global index compiler MSCI included 226 China large-cap A shares on its MSCI Emerging Markets Index at the close of trading Thursday.
view more
Source: chinadaily.com.cn
If you are looking for a particuliar article and can not find it, please feel free to contact us for assistace.