Tuesday, March 8, 2011

20100308 0959 Local & Global Economic Related News.

Malaysia: External reserves increased slightly in the second half of February 11 to RM338.6b (USD109.8b) as at 28 February 11 from RM338.0b (USD109.6b) on 15 February 11. The latest reserve amount is equivalent to 8.1 months of retained imports and 4.3 times short-term external debt. (Source: Bank Negara)   

Greece: Debt downgrade by Moody's sends default risk to record. The cost of insuring Greek debt against default rose to a record after Moody's Investors Service cut the country's credit rating by three notches. The Finance Ministry in Athens called the move, which sent its rating to B1 from Ba1, "completely unjustified." Moody's said lagging tax collection and "implementation risks" would make it more difficult to reach budget-cutting targets in a EUR 110b (USD 154b) bailout. (Source: Bloomberg)

S. Korea: Targets wider Asia bond sales to cut crisis risk. "We would like to broaden our bond buyers overseas so that we can avoid a financial crisis caused by the sudden flight by a few," Woo Hae Young, director of the Government Bond Policy Division at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, said an interview at his office in Gwacheon on March 4. "We're looking to Asia, especially China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, for long-term investors." (Source: Bloomberg)

Philippines: Reported a smaller budget deficit last year than the government forecast as spending missed targets. The shortfall was a record PHP314.4b (USD7.3b), compared with a forecast of PHP325b, the government said in an emailed statement. Spending was PHP1.52tr, lower than a goal of PHP1.62tr, while revenue was PHP1.21tr, less than a target of PHP1.29tr. The deficit was PHP44.6b in December. (Source: Bloomberg)

Vietnam: Commercial lenders to limit their loans made in foreign currencies as policy makers seek to narrow the nation's trade deficit and stabilize its exchange rate, a central bank official said. Priority for the loans will be given to export companies that have foreign-currency resources to repay banks, and importers of essential goods that aren't produced domestically, the official said on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to speak to the media. (Source: Bloomberg)

Australia: Job advertisements rose in February for a 10th straight month, as Queensland state cleaned up from flooding in January. Jobs advertised in newspapers and on the Internet advanced 1.2% MoM from January, when they increased a revised 3% MoM, according to an Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. report released in Melbourne. Queensland recorded a 30.5% MoM surge in newspaper job advertisements, it said. (Source: Bloomberg)    

Australia: Construction contracted for ninth month
Australia’s building industry contracted in February for a ninth straight month as higher borrowing costs weighed on housing construction. The construction performance index was 44.6 last month from 40.2 in January. A reading below 50 indicates the industry is shrinking. A gauge of house building declined 3.1 points to 34.2 in February. The measure of new orders climbed 2.3 points to 43.2, engineering work rose 13.3 points to 52 and commercial work gained 3.8 points to 42.4. (Bloomberg)

UK: Manufacturers plan to raise prices, fueling inflation
UK manufacturers plan to raise prices as the cost of oil and other raw materials surge, which may fuel further inflation pressure. The number of companies saying they plan to raise domestic prices exceeded those expecting declines by 39 ppts, up from 16 in the previous three months and the highest since the data were first collected in 2000. The proportion of manufacturers saying they hired workers in the first quarter exceeded those reporting job cuts by 29 ppts while the number of companies reporting that output rose in the three months through March exceeded those reporting decreases by 25ppts. (Bloomberg)

US: Consumer credit increased in January
US consumer borrowing increased for a fourth straight month in January, led by a gain in non- revolving loans such as those for automobiles and education. The USD5.01bn rise in credit followed a revised USD4.09bn gain in December that was less than the previous estimate. Revolving debt, which includes credit cards, decreased USD4.25bn in January, while non-revolving debt, including loans for cars and mobile homes, rose USD9.26bn. (Bloomberg)

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