China’s exports surge as economy rebounds from ‘zero covid’
China’s exports surged in March as the world’s second-largest economy continued to rebound from Beijing’s harsh “zero-COVID” pandemic policies.
Total exports soared 14.8 percent year on year, customs data showed on Thursday, the first rise in six months and a sharp rise from March last year, when lockdowns crippled the economy. Imports fell a smaller-than-expected 1.4 percent.
he trade figures soundly beat the expectations of economists, many of whom had predicted further declines in exports. Analysts polled by the Reuters news agency had expected exports to fall 7 percent, after falling 6.8 percent in the January-February period.
China abruptly ditched some of the world’s strictest COVID curbs in December, unleashing a wave of cases that prevented many businesses from operating normally.
Thailand’s newfound economic stardom comes with caveats
Once synonymous with the crisis that brought on an Asia-wide financial meltdown a generation ago, Thailand gets almost rave reviews now. This relative resilience of its economy may be tested by a pronounced downturn and a re-awakening of the country’s deep political divisions.
Calamity appears to be the last thing on investors’ minds when they think of Thailand these days. Goldman Sachs Group even likened the nation to a “safe haven”. Among the kingdom’s attributes are a resurgence in tourism, low foreign debt and a surplus in the broadest measure of trade. That’s a halo historically associated with Switzerland, Japan or prized asset classes like United States Treasuries.The baht, whose nosedive in 1997 wrote the opening chapter in an emerging market upheaval, was one of the most sought-after Asian currencies last quarter. Investors have been regarding Thai bonds with enthusiasm. In the lead-up to the pandemic, officials wondered whether the baht was too strong.
Rare earth mining in Vietnam: industry overview
Rare earths are essential elements for the production of various products, including cancer drugs, smartphones, and renewable energy technologies. At the moment, China accounts for 63 percent of the world’s rare earth mining, 85 percent of rare earth processing, and 92 percent of rare earth magnet production.
As the world moves towards a green energy future, and trade friction persists between China and the US, alternative sources of rare earths are in demand. With the rapid advancements in technology, a favorable investment climate, and the world’s third largest supply of rare earths, Vietnam is becoming an attractive destination for investors in the sector.
What China’s RM 170 billion investment commitment means for Malaysia
During a recent trip to China, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that he had secured 19 memoranda of understanding from Chinese entities reflecting an investment commitment of RM 170 billion ($38.5 billion). This sounds impressive, but investment commitments should always be taken with a grain of salt as they are rarely legally binding and tend to be as much about political signaling as anything else. The hard yards are measured by realized investment and what Malaysia might actually get from these projects. A quick look at the recent past can give us some idea of how the new commitments stack up against historical trends.
Indian economy continues to perform well in fy24
Surpassing the global uncertainty and headwinds, Indian economy will continue to perform well and maintain its position of being one of the fastest growing economy in the world, said a top official of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday. The statement has come at a time when the IMF has lowered its projection growth for India during 2023-24 to 5.9 percent from 6.1 percent earlier.
“The Indian economy continues to perform well and remains the fastest growing Asian economy, and one of the fastest growing in the world,” Anne-Marie Gulde-Wolf, Deputy Director for Asia and Pacific Department, IMF, told PTI in an interview.
She also added that the IMF has downgraded the projection of India’s growth to incorporate the findings of the recent data. The downgrading of the data was done on th back of an expected slowdown in consumption growth.
Indonesia’s war on secondhand clothes riles local sellers
Siti, who sells used clothing in the Indonesian city of Medan, usually cannot wait for Ramadan.
During the Muslim holy month, shoppers flock to her stall in one of the city’s largest secondhand-clothes markets to buy clothes ahead of the Eid holiday.
But this year, the prospect of crowds fills Siti with dread.
As Indonesia wages war on used clothes, her stock is dwindling to the point she is worried about empty racks.
“I hope there will still be stock available,” Siti, who did not want to give her full name, told Al Jazeera. “If there are no clothes, that means no money.”
Indonesia has long been home to a booming trade in used clothing despite the efforts of the government, which in 2015 banned imports of second-hand garments on the ostensible basis that they threaten public health and the local textile industry. Sales of locally-sourced used clothes are not covered by the ban.
Japan’s upbeat wages may keep new BOJ chief on hook for policy tweak
Japan’s new central bank governor Kazuo Ueda says he is in no rush to shift away from the radical monetary stimulus of his predecessor, but wage pressures may force him to make the policy tweaks faster than he’d like.
Ueda, who commenced his new role at the bank this week, is widely expected by markets to take Japan out of the extremely accommodative monetary settings introduced by previous governor Haruhiko Kuroda in recent years – the only question is when he might do this.
While the extremely low interest rates and complicated policy framework of the Kuroda era are deeply unpopular with the financial sector and the wider public, Ueda has to date been publicly cautious in his guidance, saying current settings remain appropriate for now.
However, a widely expected upgrade in the Bank of Japan’s price forecasts due this month may show inflation staying near 2 percent for several years.
Explaining democratic Mongolia’s strong ties with Russia and China
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Moscow in late March and his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin shifted the global spotlight to Northeast Asia. In Mongolia, the country’s close proximity to Beijing and Moscow has created unease with the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war and the China-U.S. economic tensions. Despite these geopolitical conundrums, Ulaanbaatar’s foreign policy adheres to its longstanding approach of maintaining strong ties with its geographic neighbors, while actively engaging the “third neighbor” countries.
India, Japan, France to launch platform to coordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt
India, Japan, and France will announce a new platform for creditors to coordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Wednesday. He further mentioned that it would be “very nice” if China would join the initiative.
According to a report by news agency Reuters, after the G7 finance leaders’ meeting, Suzuki said in a news conference that the announcement of the new platform, initiated by Japan, France and G20 chair India, will be made on Thursday.
The report also revealed that the platform will likely consist of a series of meetings of the creditor nations to discuss the debt.
Suzuki on Wednesday said that a “great effort” was made to set up the framework.
“I hope many countries will participate. It will be very nice if China will join,” Suzuki said, according to the report.
Last month, Sri Lanka secured a $2.9 billion programme from the International Monetary Fund to tackle its suffocating debt burden and its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades. The island country witnessed disrupted imports of essentials from fuel to medicine and caused political turmoil.
Singapore’s economic growth likely slowed in q1, complicating mas’ task
Singapore’s economy is likely to have expanded at a slower pace in the first quarter, posing a challenge for the central bank as it seeks to balance containing persistent inflation with efforts to shore up weakening growth.
Preliminary data due on Friday is seen showing gross domestic product expanded 0.6 percent in the January-to-March period from a year ago, according to a median forecast of 19 economists in a Reuters poll, due to weaker external demand.
Singapore’s economy expanded 2.1 percent year on year in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Manufacturing, one of its main growth engines, has contracted for five consecutive months mainly due to a slowdown in demand for semiconductors globally, along with non-oil domestic exports.
Growth in the services industry is expected to help offset the plunge in manufacturing, analysts said.
Accelerating a digitalized Philippine economy
Digitalization is fast becoming a keystone of economic growth in the modern world. And the Philippines presently is among the leading countries in the region that is riding the crest of this transformation and taking advantage of the opportunities brought by the shift to a digital economy. It is driving digital adoption and creating a lot of opportunities unseen before. But how do we ensure that the growth is inclusive? How do we sustain its acceleration?
The latest e-Conomy SEA Report says that, next to Vietnam, the Philippines has achieved the fastest digital economy growth rate in Southeast Asia. It is expected to reach $35 billion by 2025 and possibly hit between $100 billion to $150 billion by 2030. The same report says the growth is driven by e-commerce, food delivery, and video-on-demand. All three digital activities have shown a very high adoption rate among urban digital users. I would like to add to the three the telecommunications sector, the booming ICT-enabled services sector, and the successful penetration of digital payment platforms in the country.