April, 2016

• 11 April

  China’s economic slowdown to hit East Asia development

  

  Singapore / AFP China’s economic slowdown will hit growth in developing East Asia and the Pacific from this year until at least 2018, the World Bank said on Monday, warning of volatile global markets and urging caution. Regional growth is forecast to slow from 6.5 percent in 2015 to 6.3 percent this year and 6.2 percent in 2017 and 2018, ...

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• 11 April

  BlackRock joins $46bn Japan pullout

  

  Tokyo / Bloomberg For global equity investors and Shinzo Abe, it’s splitsville. Starting in the first days of 2016, foreign traders have been pulling out of Tokyo’s stock market for 13 straight weeks, the longest stretch since 1998. Overseas investors dumped $46 billion of shares as economic reports deteriorated, stimulus from the Bank of Japan backfired and the yen’s surge ...

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• 11 April

  Malaysia suspends Sharia-compliant plane

  

  Kuala Lumpur / AFP Malaysia’s first Islamic-compliant airline has been suspended for three months after it failed to adhere to aviation regulations, a senior official said on Monday, as the government announced a safety audit of the carrier. “Rayani Air has been suspended for three months,” Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation, said. “They contravened civil ...

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• 11 April

  Australia-India consortium to ‘restart’ Kolar gold mine

  

  SYDNEY / Reuters An Australian-Indian consortium wants to restart gold mining in a district that helped symbolise former British rule in India and produced some 25 million ounces over 150 years before being abandoned due to low bullion prices. Mining in the Kolar gold field in Karnataka state in Southern India ended in 2001 as gold prices slumped. But a ...

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• 11 April

  Indonesia to cut corporate tax cut by 20 percent

  Jakarta / Bloomberg Indonesia plans to cut corporate tax to 20 percent this year, from 25 percent, as it tries to attract investment to spur the economy. The move will need parliamentary approval, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Monday. A 20 percent rate will be “competitive,” he said. “If possible we will discuss it immediately, this year,” Brodjonegoro said. ...

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• 11 April

  Taiwan’s exports retreat for 14 straight months

  Taipei / DPA Taiwan Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford said that exports in March showed no signs of improvement and suffered another double-digit decline in the midst of a slow economy. Chang broke the news to the Central News Agency one day before the Ministry of Finance is due to release March’s exports report. Given that adverse factors such as falling ...

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• 11 April

  Greece points finger at IMF as German FM sees deal in weeks

  

  Bloomberg Greece said it’s aiming for an agreement with creditors on the next tranche of emergency loans by the beginning of May as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble sought to play down debt relief expectations. “We have almost identical estimates with the European Commission,” Minister of State Nikos Pappas, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s closest ally in the government, said in ...

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• 11 April

  UK’s Daily Mail in talks with potential Yahoo bidders

  

  Bloomberg The publisher of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper is interested in buying Yahoo! Inc.’s media and news properties, according to a person familiar with the matter, and is in talks to join with potential bidders who would carve up the U.S. Internet company. “Discussions are at a very early stage,” a representative for Daily Mail said on Monday in an ...

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• 11 April

  Ukraine bonds rally as PM quits clearing way for overhaul

  

  Bloomberg Ukraine’s bonds rose the most in a month after Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk resigned, boosting speculation a new cabinet will help end two months of infighting and pave the way for resuming international aid payments. The yield on the eastern European nation’s $1.65 billion note due September 2019 fell 26 basis points to 9.70 percent, the biggest drop since ...

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• 11 April

  Hungary’s Orban to scrap Sunday shopping ban to avoid referendum

  BUDAPEST / AFP Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s cabinet will ask lawmakers to rescind a law that barred all but a few shops from staying open on Sundays, Orban’s chief of staff Antal Rogan told reporters on Monday. The government recognized that most people are opposed to the ban and wants to avoid a referendum called by an opposition party ...

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