China lending rate

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A IF Bank Negara Malaysia’s eight-member monetary policy committee (MPC) raises the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points (bps) at its next scheduled meeting on July 6, it will mark its first back-to-back increase since mid-2010, when interest rates were normalised following the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis. It will not be the first central bank to do so. Compared with just a month ago, more economists now (at the time of writing) reckon that a 25bps hike will happen in July, but many still think a pause is possible in July ahead of the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebrations. In any case, at least one more rate increase (if not two) is expected to take place by the conclusion of the Sept 8 meeting to bring the OPR to at least 2.25% (if not 2.5%), consensus data show. “Our house has also shifted expectations for Bank Negara to frontload … [Read more...] about The State Of The Nation: What the Fed’s 75bps hike and near 4% terminal rate mean for the OPR

- A + A (June 27): The People’s Bank of China pledged to maintain a supportive monetary policy to aid the economy’s recovery from Covid outbreaks and lockdowns and other stresses. “The monetary policy will continue to be accommodative to support economic recovery in aggregate sense,” Governor Yi Gang said in an interview with state broadcaster China Global Television Network , according to a transcript released by the central bank on Monday. The central bank’s “high priorities” are to maintain stable prices and maximize employment, Yi said. It will also continue to focus on structural policies such as those supporting small businesses and green projects, he said. China’s “real interest rate is pretty low” after taking inflation into account, Yi said. The inflation outlook is stable, he said, with consumer prices rising 2.1% in May and producer prices increasing 6.4%. The PBOC has taken a modest approach to easing this year, as weak borrowing demand in the face … [Read more...] about PBOC to keep policy supportive for China economy, Governor says

Reserve Bank of India The central bank is fighting twin battles at this point. It needs to control inflation that is way above its mid-term target of 4 percent and has been consistently above the upper band of 6 percent. On the other hand, the nascent recovery seen on the economic growth, needs to be supported. The central bank-led monetary policy committee (MPC) clearly misjudged the inflation trajectory for a prolonged period in its bid to support growth recovery. The stance remained accommodative for a long time which led to differences even within the panel. In May, the rate-setting panel then embarked on a catch-up game by initiating sharp rate hikes in two rounds, totaling 90 basis points (bps). One basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point. The MPC has signalled to take the rate back to pre-pandemic levels. The repo rate, which is currently at 4.9 percent, can go up by at least 100 basis points, according to economists considering the inflation … [Read more...] about Banking Central| Where will the repo rate settle ultimately?

- A + A (June 27): Hong Kong’s exports surprisingly declined in May as trade with China continued to face disruptions from Covid and other global headwinds stalled momentum. Overall exports slid 1.4% last month from a year earlier, reversing April’s 1.1% gain, the Census and Statistics Department said Monday. Economists had expected an improvement of 4.3%. Imports rose 1.3% in May from a year earlier, also worse than economists’ forecast of a 4.8% expansion. The trade deficit was HK$36.7 billion (US$4.7 billion), worse than estimates and the fourth straight month the city has recorded a deficit. May’s decline in exports comes after an unexpected uptick improvement in April, when exports to China were still falling but not as severely as in March. This time around, trade with China fell 10.1%, worse than April’s 9.4% drop, the statistics bureau said. The decline in the value of exports was attributed to “increasing headwinds” faced by the global economy, the … [Read more...] about Hong Kong exports post surprise fall on China curbs, global woes

Representative Image PRO Only Highlights - Quarterly performance largely backed by improved realisations - Medium-term triggers China plus and protectionist measures for tyre industry - Valuations not inexpensive; but improved medium-term outlook The Reserve Bank of India’s latest circular that restricts loading prepaid instruments (cards, wallets) using credit lines has jolted the fintech industry. The wide interpretation as of now is that loading a wallet using a bank debit card or credit card is allowed, but taking a line of credit from non-bank (NBFC) and loading the wallet of the consumer is not allowed. While clarity is yet to emerge, there are couple of takeaways. The circular clearly indicates RBI’s intent of tightening... … [Read more...] about Fintechs at the gate – regulatory intervention to gain ground

Vivek Sharma of Gulaq Inflation has definitely not peaked out. We might remain in a high inflation regime for much longer, feels Vivek Sharma, Director (Strategy) and Head of Investments at Gulaq, a part of Estee Advisors. Sharma said the point of concern is the possibility of a hard landing of US economy because of the rising interest rates. Higher rates in-turn lead to FIIs pulling out money invested in India at increasing pace. This will have higher impact on stock markets than on economy. So the chances of a bear market are higher than that of a recession, said in an interview to Moneycontrol. Edited excerpts: Do you foresee a recession going ahead given the elevated oil prices? Elevated oil prices is definitely a cause of concern for Indian economy. Oil comprises about 20 percent of our import bill, so this directly impacts our current account deficit and puts pressure on rupee. Close But the bigger concern is the possibility of a hard landing of US … [Read more...] about Daily Voice | Chances of a bear market higher than that of an economic recession: Vivek Sharma of Estee Advisors

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin F or Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter to work out as he’d like, Musk must find some way to supersize the company. Its business is long-undersized compared to the platform’s presence in culture and politics. As a model, Musk has set at least some sights on the original so-called super app, WeChat, which is owned by China-based Tencent. In Musk’s first town hall meeting with Twitter employees last week, he directly mentioned WeChat, indicating that building something like it would further his broader goal of nearly quintupling Twitter’s user base to a billion people. “There’s no WeChat equivalent out of China,” he said at the meeting. “There’s a real opportunity to create that.” Much of what Musk says can seem outlandish. (At the meeting, he also discussed the possibility of alien life.) But his thinking about WeChat isn’t, though it is not especially novel. WeChat’s success has tantalized many a Silicon Valley mogul; … [Read more...] about Elon Musk And The Super Alluring Dream For A ‘Super App’

Representative Image The Payments Council of India (PCI), the apex body of payments and settlement players in the country, has written to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) requesting the regulator to treat Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) with full Know Your Customer (KYC) done as equal to bank accounts. Moneycontrol could gain access to the representation which was sent to the RBI. The second ask in the letter was to allow non-revolving credit lines in full-KYC PPIs like wallets and prepaid cards. Non-revolving credit line means that the credit line is non-replenishable unless the customer is underwritten again for a new loan. "This will allow that a loan (given by a regulated lender) can be disbursed by the lender into a Full KYC PPI account," PCI noted in the letter. Plus, no minimum due should be associated with repayment and the customer should have a clear repayment schedule. Close The letter also argued that there are multiple use cases today where … [Read more...] about Payments council urges RBI to treat full KYC prepaid instruments like bank accounts

- A + A SHANGHAI (June 27): China's yuan edged up against the dollar on Monday (June 27) after Shanghai declared victory against Covid-19 over the weekend, but gains were limited ahead of more convincing signs of a recovery. Shanghai, the country's commercial hub, will gradually resume dining-in at restaurants from June 29 after the city's Communist Party chief declared victory in the battle against the latest wave of Covid-19 shocks that put the city under lockdown for two months. Shanghai lifted a two month citywide lockdown on June 1, but many establishments have remained unable to offer indoor dining since mid-March. Traders said the news lifted market sentiment, but investors remained cautious and looked to data to gauge the pace of the economic recovery before placing huge bets on the currency. June economic indicators, including official factory activity data, are due later this week. Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the … [Read more...] about Yuan edges up as Shanghai declares Covid-19 victory; outlook remains cautious

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A DESPITE the reopening of borders since April 1, when Malaysia allowed quarantine-free travel for fully-vaccinated travellers into the country, it will be some time before the hotel industry regains a strong footing following the debilitating lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. In fact, it may well take another year at least before operators can operate at their full capacities at pre-pandemic levels, Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners (MAHO) president Tan Sri Teo Chiang Hong tells The Edge. “Average occupancy rates are an estimated 30% to 50% of pre-pandemic levels,” says Teo, who is owner and director of One World Hotel in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. He notes that resort destinations are seeing full occupancies while city hotels still face low occupancy. As at November 2020, a total of 204 tourism and hotel operators had shut down following the impact of the … [Read more...] about The State of the Nation: Hospitality industry struggling to cope despite borders reopening, brighter prospects