Business News

Vincent Fabian Thomas (The Jakarta Post) PREMIUM Jakarta   ● Thu, October 28, 2021 While Indonesian authorities work out the kinks of the country’s budding emissions trading system, companies are taking matters into their own hands by trading carbon credits overseas. Indonesia is losing out in the carbon trading business. Indonesia is among several countries that have been slow out of the blocks in preparing the legal framework for selling and buying credits to offset carbon emissions – along with the penalties for failure to comply. While Indonesian companies are not obliged to offset excessive emissions until a full-fledged cap and trade system is implemented, some are nevertheless active on foreign marketplaces, notably in Singapore, where they trade on a voluntary basis. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions …

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Dio Suhenda (The Jakarta Post) PREMIUM Jakarta   ● Thu, October 28, 2021 As the government waits for the House of Representatives to start deliberating the Capital City Bill, doubts over the capital relocation plan’s promise for a less Java-centered development have resurfaced, with experts believing that the economic spark need not even be tied to the project. At the same time, provisions on the new capital's authority have also sparked concerns that the new administrative region could do away with people’s democratic rights. House lawmakers are expected to start work on the bill when they return from recess early next month. The draft bill was submitted by senior officials on Sept. 29 after the government made it clear it would revisit the relocation plan amid easing COVID-19 pressures. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no …

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- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): ASEAN and participating countries of the East Asia Summit (EAS) must chart a new course forward in preparation for the next pandemic, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. In his intervention at the 16th EAS, he said a new global health security architecture needs to be developed, one that is underpinned by shared commitment, collective responsibility, transparency and accountability. “In view of the state of affairs that we are in, we need to relook at the international order,” he said. The 16th EAS was attended by 10 ASEAN member states, along with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States, as well as World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Health Organisation (WHO). It was held at the sidelines of the three-day virtual 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits, which began Tuesday under the chairmanship of Brunei. Ismail Sabri said the Covid-19 pandemic …

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- A + A BANGKOK (Oct 27): The ASEAN Chairman’s Statement of the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits on Tuesday (Oct 26) said the grouping viewed that Myanmar’s preoccupation with its internal problems should not affect ASEAN community building process and decision making. The statement said the meeting also discussed the recent developments in Myanmar and expressed concern over the situation in the country, including reports of fatalities and violence. “We also heard calls for the release of political detainees including foreigners. We called on Myanmar to fulfil its commitment to the Five-Point Consensus of the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on April 24 and acceptance for the timely and complete implementation of the Five-Point Consensus,” it said. However, no matter what, Myanmar remains a member of ASEAN family and it should be given both time and political space to deal with its many and complex challenges to return to normalcy. “In this regard, we remain committed to …

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Bloomberg filepix for illustration purpose only - A + A NEW YORK (Oct 27): The UN said on Wednesday that the world spends US$423 billion to subsidise fossil fuels each year, which is four times the amount needed to help poor countries tackle the climate crisis, reported Anadolu Agency . UN Development Programme (UNDP) launched a campaign called "Don’t Choose Extinction" to draw attention to the effects of fossil fuels such as oil and coal on humans and the environment. In a short video prepared as part of the campaign, a dinosaur is shown making a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, calling to stay away from fossil fuels and "don’t choose extinction". According to a study by UNDP, for every US$1 needed for poor countries to tackle the climate crisis, US$4 is spent on financing fossil fuels. A total of US$423 billion, four times the amount needed to help developing countries tackle the climate crisis, is used to subsidise fossil fuels annually. …

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- A + A NEW YORK/BENGALURU (Oct 27): The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose on Wednesday after a robust forecast from Microsoft supported optimism about the third-quarter earnings season, while a decline in oil prices hurt shares of energy companies. Microsoft Corp gained 3.9% to hit a record high after it guided a strong end to the calendar year, helped by its booming cloud business. Google-owner Alphabet Inc jumped 5.5%, after reporting a record quarterly profit on a surge in ad sales. Their shares, coupled with other mega-cap growth names Amazon.com and Tesla Inc, provided the biggest boost to the Nasdaq index. Communication services and consumer discretionary led gains among the 11 major S&P 500 sectoral indexes, while economy-sensitive energy and materials declined the most. "Markets were in a lock-step higher and a lock-step lower phase and we now see signs of healthy markets with interest for individual companies based on their earnings rather than market wide …

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- A + A WASHINGTON (Oct 27): Merck & Co has signed a licensing agreement with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) that will allow more companies to manufacture generic versions of its experimental oral antiviral Covid-19 treatment, the US drugmaker and the organisation announced on Wednesday. Merck said the royalty-free license would apply to 105 low- and middle-income countries. It allows manufacturers selected by MPP to make generic versions of molnupiravir, the antiviral pill Merck has developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. The US Food and Drug Administration is considering emergency use authorisation of the medicine, which was shown in a clinical trial to halve the risk of serious disease and death when given early for Covid-19. "This is the first transparent, public health-driven voluntary license for a Covid-19 medical technology," Merck and MPP said in a joint statement. Companies will be able to apply for a sub-license from MPP …

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- A + A NEW DELHI (Oct 27): India's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it was concerned about a new law passed by China last week to strengthen border protection amid a protracted military standoff between the two Asian giants along a contested Himalayan frontier. On Saturday, China passed a dedicated law specifying how it governs and guards its 22,000-km (14,000-mile) land border shared with 14 neighboring countries, including Russia, nuclear-capable North Korea, and India. "China's unilateral decision to bring about a legislation which can have implication on our existing bilateral arrangements on border management as well as on the boundary question is of concern to us," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a statement. The 3,500-km-long border between India and China remains undemarcated, and the nuclear-armed neighbours have overlapping claims to large areas of territory along the frontier. The two countries fought a border war in 1962. …

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- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): The 13th Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Summit, which aims at strengthening the consensus and socio-economic cooperation framework of the three countries,  will be held virtually on Thursday, Oct 28. IMT-GT Joint Business Council (JBC) Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Rozali Ismail said the summit would be attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as current chairman of the IMT-GT, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. “This summit is a milestone to strengthen the consensus and socio-economic cooperation framework of the three member states established over 28 years ago, in line with the spirit of ASEAN consensus. “JBC Malaysia, together with the business community in general, hopes this conference can reach a decision in moving policies and programmes quickly to revive the economy, explore high-impact priority areas, and increase the confidence of the …

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- A + A PUTRAJAYA (Oct 27): Malaysia's agricommodity export value is projected to increase to RM204 billion this year from RM152 billion in 2020, in tandem with the rise in commodity prices in the market, said Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin. She said as of August 2021, the export value of the agricommodity sector reached RM137.4 billion, while the palm subsector achieved a high export value of RM63.7 billion. “Amid the trying times of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country's commodities have shown an increase in terms of revenue even though the local and world economy have been challenged. The focus now is on oil palm commodity,” she said in a media conference after launching "Malaysia Family: Agricommodity Week 2021" here on Wednesday. Zuraida said palm is the biggest contributor for the ministry in terms of income for the country and it had shown a good trend with prices currently hitting the highest level in history at …

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