Malaysia: MIER holds 2011 GDP growth forecast at 5.2%
The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) is maintaining its projection of a moderate 5.2% expansion in the country’s GDP from last year’s 7.2% and expects the growth to improve to 5.5% next year. Executive director Dr Zakariah Abdul Rashid said this year’s GDP would be weighed down by structural impediments in net exports despite strong domestic demand due to supportive government policy measures. (FinancialDaily)
China: Inflation marches to 5.4% from last year
Chinese inflation in March accelerated to 5.4% from a year earlier, reinforcing the government’s vow to rein in price rises. Economists polled by Reuters had expected annual inflation in March to be 5.2%, up from February’s 4.9%. (Starbiz)
China: Reserves exceed USD3trn as Wen resists Yuan pressure
China’s foreign-exchange reserves exceeded USD3trn for the first time, highlighting global imbalances that Group of 20 finance chiefs aim to tackle at meetings in Washington. China’s currency holdings, the world’s biggest, swelled by USD197bn in the first quarter to USD3.04trn, the central bank said yesterday. New loans were a more-than-estimated 679.4bn yuan (USD104bn) in March, it said. Premier Wen Jiabao’s policy of controlling the currency, along with trade surpluses and flows of capital into the fastest-growing major economy, has boosted the reserves by USD1trn in two years. G-20 finance chiefs are seeking to agree on an earlywarning system that can prevent the type of imbalances in trade and financial patterns that contributed to the 2007-09 crisis and recession. (Bloomberg)
Japan: Economy to expand next quarter, BOJ’s Shirakawa says
Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the economy will expand in the third quarter as it recovers from the nation’s worst earthquake on record. The central bank’s most important function is to maintain stability in aftermath of the crisis and it will continue to take whatever measures are needed, Shirakawa said today in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. The magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami on 11 March left more than 28,000 dead or missing, according to Japan’s National Police Agency. The government last month estimated the damage by the disaster may swell to as much as 25trn yen. (Bloomberg)
EU: Greece to unveil new austerity measures to meet deficit goals
Greece will announce new measures today to meet its deficit-reduction goals after the country’s bond yields hit new highs amid talk it may restructure its debt. The government’s medium term-fiscal policy plan will detail more than EUR22bn (USD31.9bn) of deficit-reduction measures through 2014, most of them in spending cuts, according to Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou. The government is also expected to unveil plans to raise EUR15bn by 2013 through state-asset sales. (Bloomberg)
US: Wholesale prices rise 0.7%, led by energy, trucks
Wholesale costs in the US rose 0.7% in March, led by higher prices for energy, light trucks and passenger cars. The increase in the producer-price index was smaller than forecast as food prices unexpectedly dropped for the first time since August, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median projection in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 1% gain. The so-called core measure, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, increased 0.3%, more than estimated.
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