Saturday, April 26 2025 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
HONG KONG - The global financial services group, Natixis, is predicting just 1% growth for Hong Kong in calendar 2022. With surging COVID cases, Hong Kong's economy fell 4% YoY in Q1 2022, with pressure mounting across consumption, investment and foreign trade as COVID cases held up.
SYDNEY - Hong Kong's Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, is promoting a new pathway to medical students and practitioners in Australia for admission as qualified non-locally trained doctors able to practise in Hong Kong.
CANBERRA -- The gross value of Australia's agricultural production is forecast to reach a record A$78 billion in 2021-22, according to Federal Government estimates.
JAKARTA - The CIMIC Group company, Leighton Asia, has been selected to construct a data centre campus in Jakarta for a multinational technology corporation. The contract will generate revenue of approximately A$103 million1 for Leighton Asia.
TAIPEI -- Taiwan and Canada are set to start exploratory talks on a bilateral foreign investment promotion and protection agreement, following a virtual meeting between Taiwan's Minister without Portfolio, John C. C. Deng, and Canada's Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, Mary Ng.
HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has issued a reminder to the insurance sector to remain vigilant in upholding a high integrity standard and to take a proactive stance against corruption.
HONG KONG -- Online polls conducted during the annual Asian Financial Forum (AFF) in Hong Kong found that 43% of respondents were optimistic about the outlook for the global economy in 2022 - a significant increase from 32% in the poll at AFF 2021 - while 33% of respondents had a neutral view and 24% expressed pessimism. The results indicated a generally more positive sentiment towards economic prospects in 2022.
SINGAPORE -- S&P Global Ratings has lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on Sri Lanka to 'CCC', from 'CCC+' previously, and says the outlook is negative. At the same time, it affirmed its 'C' short-term credit rating.
LONDON -- As the world enters a new phase in the global COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of CEOs are ready to accelerate plans for investment and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in their pursuit for growth.
SEOUL-- In a rare back-to-back move, the Bank of Korea (BoK) on January 14 lifted its policy rate by 25bps, bringing it back to the pre-pandemic level of 1.25% amid growing concerns about inflation.
TAIPEI -- The government is committed to making Taiwan an integral part of global supply chains, cementing the country's position in the world economy, according to Vice President Lai Ching-te.
SINGAPORE -- China's economic weakness (Q4 2021 GDP: 4.0% y/y) will likely continue in Q1 this year due largely to ongoing virus containment measures, according to ANZ Bank.
NEW DELHI -- India is likely to overtake Japan as Asia's second-largest economy by 2030 when its GDP is also projected to surpass that of Germany and the U.K. to rank as the world's No.3, according to a report released by IHS Markit.
SINGAPORE -- The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group saw a significant step-up in passenger demand in December 2021, on the back of a continued expansion of its Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) services and the year-end travel season. Eight cities joined the Group's VTL network during the month.
SINGAPORE-- S&P Global Ratings believes that sukuk issuance volumes will be flat at best in 2022 amid lower and more expensive global and regional liquidity, increased complexity, and reduced financing needs for some core Islamic finance countries.
KUALA LUMPUR - Foreign Direct Investment has driven the strong performance of Malaysia's manufacturing sector for the first nine months of 2021, more than doubling compared with the same period of 2020, and accounting for 88.3% or RM91.7 billion of total approved investments within the sector.