China still needs Australia to power its economic recovery
China and Australia spent much of last year in a tense standoff on trade. But as the recovery of the world’s second largest economy gathers pace, China needs more iron ore and Australia is still its main supplier.
Beijing on Monday reported that China’s GDP grew 2.3 percent last year, averting the recession that gripped much of the world as the coronavirus pandemic spread. GDP in the fourth quarter grew by 6.5 percent, compared with a year earlier.
Of big help was the Chinese government’s decision to invest heavily in infrastructure projects. Industrial output rose 7.3 percent last month compared to a year earlier. And crude steel production hit a record 1.05 billion metric tons for the year, a 5 percent increase from 2019.
The country can’t sustain that kind of output without iron ore, which it needs to make the steel for roads, bridges and buildings. China imported 17 percent more iron ore last year than it did in 2019.
Australia is a big winner of that growing demand, being responsible for some 60 percent of the iron ore that China imports.
“China’s impressive industrial recovery has stoked demand for steel production, and Australia is a major supplier of steel making inputs to China,” said Sean Langcake, senior economist at Oxford Economics.
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Bangladesh economy showed resilience amid covid-19
Bangladesh has been able to avert the economic recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, when many countries across the world have suffered, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.
“It was possible to maintain the normal economic situation in the country as the government took special steps to save human lives and face the economic crisis during the coronavirus pandemic,” she said on Wednesday, while responding to a tabled question from Jatiya Party MP Rawshan Ara Mannan and ruling party MP Kazim Uddin during the prime minister’s Q&A session in parliament.
Responding to a question from Ahsanul Huq, the prime minister said the government had been facing the problem with caution from the very beginning of the pandemic, UNB reports.
“As a result, Bangladesh has been able to relatively show a better success in controlling the spiralling number of Covid-19 cases, death rate and economic losses,” she said.
Responding to Jatiya Party MP Shamim Haider Patwary, Sheikh Hasina said the government had taken various measures to send back Bangladeshi expatriates by creating new employment opportunities for those who have lost their jobs abroad and failed to go back to their job destinations, as they got stuck in Bangladesh due to the pandemic.
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Sri Lanka reopens tourism after 10-month closing
Sri Lanka is welcoming tourists again after keeping the doors closed to visitors for nearly 10 months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The government’s action Thursday is seen as an effort to revive the island nation’s tourism industry, which has been badly hit by the pandemic. Tourism accounts for about 5 percent of Sri Lanka’s economy and before the pandemic employed 250,000 people directly and up to 3 million indirectly.
Under the reopening, visitors must be tested in their country 72 hours prior to their flight, when they arrive at their hotel and again seven days later. They will be allowed to travel in 14 tourism zones in a
“travel bubble,” without mixing with local people. About 180 hotels have been earmarked to provide accommodations for the tourists.
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Will Cambodia’s oil drops be a curse or a blessing?
As Cambodia has now received the first drops of the country’s offshore oil, government officials, scholars and ordinary Cambodians have expressed mixed reactions on how the oil revenues should be used and managed to avoid what is called the “oil curse”.
Siphan said oil exploration and operation was a partnership between the government and private companies and the revenues which will include tax and profits will benefit Cambodians as a whole.
“The revenues will be controlled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance,” he said. “Nobody will interfere into the control [of the oil revenues].”
He said the International Monetary Fund and some other organisations would act as the Cambodian government’s advisors regarding the management of the oil revenues.
Siphan said the oil money would be used to modernise Cambodia
’s education sector in order to strengthen the human resources in Cambodia.
“Secondly, we will use the money to strengthen the welfare and medical services,” he said. “It is the experiment and the determination of our Prime Minister.”
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Fitch sees ‘very dim’ path for gdp growth
Despite several fundamental buffers to cushion against the crisis, Thailand’s near-term growth prospects are “very dimmed” due to substantial losses stemming from the absence of foreign tourist arrivals, said Fitch Ratings.
“It is one of the economies that is most reliant on tourism flows. [Thailand] has been a bit of a poster child for the middle-income trap [countries]. But the stable outlook reflects the rating pressure is not [skewed toward] the down side,” said Stephen Schwartz, head of sovereign rating for Asia Pacific at Fitch Ratings.
Foreign tourist arrivals entering Thailand totalled 6.7 million during the first 11 months of 2020, down 81.2 percent from 36 million registered in the corresponding period of 2019, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry.
Tourist receipts generated from both foreign and local tourists totalled 760 million baht between January and November 2020, a drastic decline from around 3 trillion baht registered in full-year 2019.
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eBay explores potential sale of online marketplace in S.Korea
eBay Inc., a global commerce leader, announced that it will be exploring strategic options for its unit in South Korea.
eBay has started exploring, reviewing and evaluating strategic options for its Korea business, including the potential sale of its online marketplace in South Korea.
In a recent statement, eBay has explained that “the company is considering options that would maximize value for its shareholders and create future growth opportunities for the business, “ as reported by Bloomberg.
Currently, eBay has 183 million active buyers and 11 percent of its annual revenue comes from South Korea.
Although, the online marketplace benefited from an increase in the number of shoppers as the world moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s growth has been slower than its competitors, including Amazon.
The company will not make any further announcements on the process until a decision is made by the eBay board.
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Malaysia’s central bank holds key rate steady
Malaysia’s central bank left its key benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday but kept the door ajar for more monetary stimulus as the country grapples with fresh lockdowns and surging coronavirus cases.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) kept its overnight policy rate at a record low of 1.75 percent. Five out of 15 economists in a Reuters poll had expected the move, but a majority had forecast a rate cut.
Malaysia’s central bank said its current monetary stance is “appropriate and accommodative”, expecting fresh coronavirus restrictions imposed last week to have a smaller impact on the economy than last year’s national lockdown.
But it said it remained committed “to utilise its policy levers as appropriate” to aid a sustainable recovery, flagging the potential downside risks from any further surge in coronavirus cases or delay in vaccination roll-outs.
“Given the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, the stance of monetary policy going forward will be determined by new data and information, and their implications on the overall outlook for inflation and domestic growth,” BNM said.
The benchmark stock index KLSE rose 0.64 percent and the ringgit strengthened 0.15 percent after the central bank announcement.
Malaysia suffered its first economic recession in over a decade last year as COVID-19 hit.
Although the economy showed signs of rebounding in the third quarter as coronavirus curbs eased, a worsening outbreak prompted the government to impose fresh lockdowns in the capital and five states last week.
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Nepal requires rs 665 bn to revive economy
The National Planning Commission (NPC) has projected that the country needs Rs 665 billion to rescue its economy weakened by the pandemic.
The projection comes after an analysis of impact of the pandemic and damage it has caused to the economy in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2019/20.
It has also brought the relief and recovery strategy on the basis of this analysis. The strategy covers pandemic control and relief, employment, continuity of projects, development of new system, and promotion of self-sufficiency. The strategy has been divided into short-term, medium-term, and long-term section, NPC Vice-Chair Prof Dr Pushpa Raj Kandel said.
The short-term relief and revival would cost as much as Rs 239 billion. Similarly, the medium term will require Rs 285 billion, and Rs 133 billion will be needed for the long-term.
Review of major economic indicators, expenditures and progress of the first four months of the current fiscal year, 2020/21 was done at the 48th meeting of the National Development Problems Resolution Committee under the chairpersonship of the committee
’s chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on January 15.
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China’s economy picks up, bucking global trend
China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in more than four decades last year, official figures show, but remains on course to be the only major economy to have expanded in 2020.
The economy grew 2.3 percent last year, despite Covid-19 shutdowns causing output to slump in early 2020.
Strict virus containment measures and emergency relief for businesses helped the economy recover.
Growth in the final three months of the year picked up to 6.5 percent.
“The GDP data shows the economy has almost normalised. This momentum will continue, although the current Covid-19 outbreak in a couple of provinces in northern China might temporarily cause fluctuation,” said Yue Su, principal economist for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
China’s mainland share markets as well as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng posted modest gains on the latest figures, which exceeded economists’ expectations, according to a Reuters poll.
However, Covid-19 was still a major drain on growth in 2020, with nationwide shutdowns of factories and manufacturing plants forcing economic growth down to its slowest rate for four decades.
China’s manufacturing sector appears to have recovered, with Monday’s data showing a 7.3 percent increase in industrial output.
Exports have also led the way. Data last week showed Chinese exports grew by more than expected in December, as coronavirus disruptions around the world fuelled demand for Chinese goods.
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India’s economy has seen the worst, barring another covid wave
Barring another wave of COVID-19 infections, the worst is over for India’s economy and policymakers may soon have more room to support a recovery, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its January bulletin released.
“Recent shifts in the macroeconomic landscape have brightened the outlook, with GDP in striking distance of attaining positive territory and inflation easing closer to the target,” the RBI said in an article on the state of the economy.
“If these movements sustain, policy space could open up to further support the recovery,” it added.
The RBI slashed interest rates early last year to cushion the shock from the coronavirus crisis, but has left rates unchanged in recent months, cautious of rising inflation.
The RBI expects India’s economy – Asia’s third-largest – to contract by 7.5 percent in the current fiscal to March, but analysts believe it is likely to escape recession and see modest growth in the current quarter.
Growth will be mostly consumption driven, the RBI said.