Finance

Mark Mobius Upbeat on Emerging Asia

Burma, Thailand and China all looking good

Feb. 10 – Mark Mobius, the investment guru of Franklin Templeton Investments and a renowned player in asset management, has been waxing lyrically about the opportunities in emerging Asia. Stating that emerging markets are growing four times faster than developed countries, he stated in The Nation that Asia would be immune from any financial crisis as the debt-GDP ratio was very low, forex reserves are high, and interest rates are low, each of which were major factors in protecting Asia from much of the fallout of the Global Financial Crisis. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Finance, Foreign Trade, Markets | Tagged ASEAN, Burma, China, FDI, Thailand | 1 Comment

Euro Zone Crisis Endangers Asia-Pacific Credit Ratings

Jan. 19 – The financial crisis in the Eurozone may affect credit ratings in the Asia-Pacific region, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services recently warned.

Last Friday, the firm downgraded Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus by two notches and France, Austria, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia by one notch. Germany, Finland and the Netherland’s AAA rating did not change. Experts predict that the Eurozone states may face further downgrading in the future. Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Finance, Foreign Trade, Markets | Tagged Eurozone, Global Financial Crisis, Sovereign Debt Crisis, Standard & Poor's | Leave a comment

Call Your Broker – India Allows Individual Foreign Investors in Stock Markets

India moves ahead of China in stock market investment access

Jan. 17 – Starting from yesterday, India has allowed foreign individual investors to purchase stocks directly in Indian companies for the first time; previously, access to Indian stocks was only permitted through institutional investors. The move widens the ability of foreign investors to take advantage of India’s booming growth and is something the financial services lobby in India has been pushing for years. Back-end industries and analysts will also get a boost as interest from international individual investors and their brokerages in India will likely be huge. Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Finance, Markets | Tagged Bombay Stock Exchange, India FDI, India Foreign Investment, Sensex | Leave a comment

Asia Income Tax Rates Compared

Jan. 2 – As the financial crisis rumbles on in the west, multinationals are increasingly looking at Asia as a place where they could achieve their business goals. Tax plays an inevitable part in business planning. In this article, we provide a practical comparison of taxation in five jurisdictions in Asia: China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Vietnam.

China
Tax burdens in China are comparatively higher compared to other regions in Asia, largely because of the country’s heavy labor taxation.

Corporate income tax (CIT)
The CIT rate for companies in China, both foreign and domestic, is 25 percent. There are exceptions to this, for example, companies engaged in the encouraged industries in the Western region are eligible for a reduced CIT rate of 15 percent. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Featured, Finance, Markets | Tagged Asia Tax Rates, China, Corporate Income Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Hong Kong, India, Individual Income Tax, Singapore, Value-added Tax, Vietnam, Withholding Tax | 3 Comments

Moody’s Upgrades Indian Bonds Rating

Dec. 22 – The global credit rating agency Moody’s upgraded India’s government bonds from speculative to investment grade on Wednesday, a move that may attract foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to consider investment into the Indian bond market.

Moody’s upgraded the rating of local currency-denominated long-term government bonds from Ba1 to Baa3, and the rating of short-term bonds from NP to P-3. The move takes classes of both bonds from speculative to investment grade. The upgrade – which marked the first time Moody’s raised the credit rating of long-term Indian sovereign debts since 2004 – came shortly after a meeting between Moody’s representatives and India’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) officials last month. Continue reading →

Posted in Featured, Finance | Tagged India Government Bonds, Ministry of Finance, Moody's | Leave a comment

Report: Emerging Asia Well Placed to Handle Volatile Global Economy

Nov. 23 – Among emerging Asian countries, China, India, and Indonesia appear to be in a fairly strong position to withstand the fallout from the volatile global economy while Malaysia, Mongolia and Thailand seem too vulnerable to cope with an external shock, Fitch Ratings said in a report released this week.

In the report “Emerging Asian Sovereign Pressure Points,” the credit rating agency estimated the potential exposure of emerging Asian economies to the global downturn triggered by the European Sovereign Debt Crisis still looming over the Eurozone. Balance in trade, flexibility of government policy, and emerging Asia’s performance in dealing with the recent Global Financial Crisis will help most countries in the region to overcome further shocks from Europe and the United States. Continue reading →

Posted in Finance, Foreign Trade, Markets | Tagged China, Emerging Asia, European Debt Crisis, Eurozone, External Shocks, Finance, Global Financial Crisis, India, Indonesia, Liquidity, Malaysia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan | Leave a comment

China Looks to Establish ASEAN Bank

Nov. 1 – Beijing is planning to establish a regional bank that will provide assistance for its small and medium-sized businesses investing in neighboring Southeast Asian countries, according to anonymous sources with knowledge of the proposal.

China will kill three birds with one stone if its plan for the ASEAN Bank is carried out, western analysts have speculated. First, China’s regional reputation will be improved by investing in infrastructure in Southeast Asia; Second, the country’s currency (the yuan or RMB) will be popularized among Southeast Asian nations; Third, and probably China’s most important reason, some relatively backward provinces in Southwest China will have more opportunity for development. Continue reading →