The move resembles the scenario during the 1997 Asian financial crisis when the country sought the assistance from the Japanese to help resolve its financial difficulties while going on an austerity drive.

With the cost likely to be lower and the tenure longer, a yen loan was a feasible and an attractive proposition to pare down the more expensive dollar borrowings, especially the ones incurred by 1Malaysia Development Bhd, said Sunway University Business School professor of economics Yeah Kim Leng

“It also signals that the government’s fund-raising capacity in international financial markets was not impaired by the high debt level, as well as affirming the continuing foreign investor confidence in the country under the new government,” Yeah said.

“The yuan in the long term, therefore, has a strong likelihood of appreciating against the ringgit, thereby rendering loans from China more expensive to service in the future,” he noted.

This week Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was on a working visit to Japan, said he asked Japan to extend a yen credit to Malaysia, adding that his counterpart Shinzo Abe had agreed to consider the request.

The Prime Minister also plans to reduce Malaysia’s debt to China.

With Mahathir’s good relationship with Japan, a line of credit in yen is seen as a positive given that the country is facing with a high public debt of 1.09 trillion ringgit, said economists.

Following the Asian financial crisis in 1998, Malaysia sought aid from the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) when the country ran into financial difficulties, according to AmBank Group chief economist Anthony Dass.

Mahathir was then the prime minister .

“Aid was given in the form of ODA. We have been seeking financial aid from the Japanese government since the First Malaysia Plan and would have been exposed to a total of more than US$2.8 billion to help the process of modernising Malaysia,” he noted.

According to him, the latest move by the Prime Minister indicates the country could potentially run into difficulties due to the huge public debt and the need to reduce fiscal deficit to gross domestic product which stands at 2.8 per cent.

Seeking credit assistance from Japan would likely continue though the Japanese ODA, he said.

The loans could come at a special rate of around 1 per cent or even lower, depending on the type of projects. Those loans would be over a long period of 30 to 40 years.

“It could be used for economic development and to support small and medium-scale industries with the aim of ensuring the economy continues to grow at a sustainable pace, while not straining liquidity at the same time,” said Dass.

At a used phone shop on Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1, old Nokia, Motorola and Sony phones are being displayed at prices ranging from VN d2 million (US$87) all the way up to 10 million dongs ($440).

A Nokia 8800 Anakin produced up to the end of the last decade costs 3.5 million dongs , an 8800 Sirocco costs 4.5 million dongs, an 8800 Arte costs 7 million dongs , while Nokia E71 and E72 and Motorola all fetch several million dongs.

“I spent 4.7 million dongs to buy a Nokia 8800 because I do not use many applications on smart phones and I like old designs,” Nguyen Dinh Huy of District 8 said.

“Every month my shop sells around 300 old phones,” Hoang Gia Bao, the owner, said. Another shop in Le Van Sy Street sells old luxury phones such as Nokia gold-plated versions for 10 – 30 million dongs.

Most customers looking for old feature phones are middle-aged and buy them to go on a nostalgia trip, though there is also a very practical reason for many: the fear of losing information to hackers.

“Many phone manufacturers have started producing old models again,” Nguyen Trung Duong, the owner of the shop on Le Van Sy, said.

Stories have been doing the rounds in the international media for the last few years about companies bringing back some iconic feature phone models. But the question is will they make their way into Vietnam. Old-phone fans will have to wait and see.

The labour market in Singapore continued to show slight improvements in the first quarter of 2018, with retrenchment figures falling to a five-year low and the number of job openings on the rise.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on yesterday showed that 2,320 workers were laid off in the first quarter of this year, a drop from 4,000 in the same quarter last year.

This is higher than the MOM’s initial estimates of 2,100.

The retrenchment figure was 2,120 in March 2013, before hovering around 3,000 to 5,000 from 2015 to 2017.

But it has remained difficult for some groups of people to get back into a job.

The re-entry rate for residents in the first quarter – which is the share of residents who were laid off in the third quarter of last year and found work within six months – was 61 per cent, lower than 64 per cent in the same quarter last year.

Groups that saw below-average re-entry rates include professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), and those who are 50 and older.

The long-term unemployment rate was 0.7 per cent as of March this year, down from 0.8 per cent a year earlier. This measures the share of the resident labour force who have been unemployed for at least 25 weeks. Overall, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the first quarter improved to 2 per cent, down from 2.2 per cent a year earlier. – The Straits Times

Higher gas tariff for households

Households in Malaysia will have to pay higher tariffs from July 1, 2018 after Gas Malaysia Bhd imposed the surcharge of 77 sen, raising the tariff to RM23.80 per one million British Thermal Units (BTU).

Gas Malaysia said yesterday that it had received the go-ahead from the Energy Commission to raise the surcharge under the mechanism for the tariffs following the global increase in gas prices.

The incentive based regulation (IBR) framework sets the base tariff for a regulatory period of three years from January 2017. The IBR allows changes in the gas costs to be passed through via the Gas Cost Pass Through (GCPT) mechanism every six months.

Gas Malaysia said that in addition, under the GCPT mechanism, a surcharge of 77 sen per MMBtu will apply to all tariff categories due to the higher actual gas costs against the reference gas costs in the base tariff in this period.

“This translates to an average effective tariff of 32.69 ringgit per MMBtu.

“The average natural gas base tariff is set at RM31.92 per MMBtu for the period beginning July to December 2018 in line with Gas Malaysia’s announcement on Dec 28, 2016,” it said. – The Star

Younger generations push lease sector growth

The leasing sector is seeing explosive growth in Cambodia with the emergence of new services that allow consumers to purchase motorbikes, cars, and other household appliances.

According to the annual supervisory report released by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) last week, revenue from leasing last year accounted for $129 million. This is a huge jump from the US$4 million recorded in 2013, when leasing was first introduced in the Kingdom.

Ngeth Chou, the senior consultant at Emerging Markets Consulting (EMC), said on Tuesday that even though the leasing sector is fairly new in the market, it has made significant progress and is giving vast opportunities to financial operators and consumers. – Phnom Penh Post

The Employment Service Centre officially announced the scheme earlier this month, highlighting how Lao workers could enhance their skills under the programme. Applicants need to be in good health and able to participate in training according to the procedures of the TITP. The training will be in agriculture, livestock and fisheries and other industries.

Director of the Employment Service Centre, Khamsene Xayavong, told Vientiane Times last week about the importance of the training to help technical interns gain skills in Japan to improve their career prospects after returning home or continuing to work in Japan. “Those interested can register at the centre until July 5 and take part in a selection process on July 7 when there will be interviews by company representatives from Japan. Applicants will know the test results the same day,” he said.

If successful, they will participate in Japanese cultural and language training before departing for Japan.

The centre noted that under the TITP, Japan accepts young people and middle-aged workers from various countries including Laos, and fosters talented individuals who can contribute to the development of industries in their countries through the transfer of Japanese industrial and vocational skills, techniques, and knowledge.

The state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority said that during a meeting between Philippine officials and executives of the ADB’s Philippine country office last month, the latter said that their lending pipeline for 2018 consisted of two policy-based loans (worth $600 million), one result-based loan ($300 million) as well as two other projects ($45 million).

In December last year, the ADB programmed to lend the Philippines a total of $3.68 billion on top of $25.1 million in technical assistance under the 2018-2020 Country Operations Business Plan, its biggest ever, to support the government’s plan to build more infrastructure as well as reduce poverty incidence.

Based on the earlier programme, the ADB was supposed to lend the Philippines $920 million this year and $1.4 billion each in 2019 and 2020.

But during last month’s meeting, the ADB proposed to lend $2.47 billion next year and $2.4 billion in 2020. The ADB would also extend $2.1 billion in loans in 2021.

“The focus on project investments for infrastructure over the next years is welcome. This makes us more optimistic that the ‘Build, Build, Build’ programme will be rolled out without delay,” Neda Under-secretary Rolando Tungpalan said.

For the ADB’s part, principal country specialist for the Philippines Joven Z. Balbosa was quoted by Neda as saying that “the main features of ADB’s proposed operational support are responsive to needed infrastructure investments in the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ programme.”

“As we progress from 2019 to 2021, we see that the projects are increasing in terms of numbers and amount,” Balbosa said.

Also, Kelly Bird, the ADB’s Philippine country director, said that “our robust pipeline of projects and programs for the next three years from 2019 to 2021 reflects our seriousness to Philippine development.”

Last month, the Department of Finance said that the Philippines was set to secure from the ADB at least $250 million in loans for infrastructure and financial inclusion programmes before year-end.

Finance Assistant Secretary Maria Edita Z. Tan also told reporters that the ADB would extend support to the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

Tan said that the ADB and Jica would co-finance the Reconstruction and Development Plan for a Greater Marawi, which, according to documents, would develop peripheral areas of the city flattened by the five-month fighting between government forces and Islamic State supporters last year.

“Jica will provide grant assistance for the construction of the Marawi City-Saguiran-Piagapo-Marantao Ring Road and Transcentral Roads,” the DOF said.

“The other components (water supply projects; common facilities such as school buildings, health facilities/hospitals, public markets, and house of worship; and 1.6-kilometer Malabang Viaduct) are proposed for ADB funding through an emergency assistance loan,” it added.

The joint ADB-Jica assistance is being review by the Investment Coordination Committee as the National Economic and Development Authority Board earlier approved the cancellation of the Integrated National Resource Management Project loan funds, which will be reprogrammed for Marawi rehabilitation and reconstruction.

When asked about other investors in this round, a Grab spokesman said: “Toyota will be one of our lead investors for this round. We are not disclosing our other investors at this point but are excited by the quality of investors who are interested in partnering with Grab.”

The Japanese giant’s investment values Grab, Southeast Asia’s largest car-hailing service, at just over US$10 billion, Bloomberg reported. That makes it still smaller than Uber, which was valued at US$62 billion in a stock deal announced in May, and China’s Didi Chuxing at US$56 billion after a fundraising round in December.

This is Toyota’s second investment in Grab. Last year, its trading arm, Toyota Tsusho Corp, injected an undisclosed amount in Grab, and the companies have worked together since August developing connected services. Toyota has installed its data recorders in Grab-operated rental cars to collect driving data – a similar strategy it has employed with Japan Taxi, Bloomberg said.

But Toyota had also, in 2016, put money in Grab rival Uber – whose Southeast Asian operations were acquired by Grab in March – in a strategic investment. The investment amount was not disclosed. As part of its investment, Toyota would partner Uber to create a leasing programme for new Uber drivers and explore additional mobility services.

Under the agreement between Grab and Toyota, both players will strengthen and expand their existing collaboration in the area of connected cars – to drive the adoption of new mobility solutions across Southeast Asia.

Grab will work with Toyota on how connected car services on the Toyota Mobility Service Platform – such as user-based insurance, financing programme and predictive maintenance – can enrich the Grab experience for drivers on the Grab platform.

Grab and Toyota will roll out connected car services, such as telematics-based insurance, which could reduce the cost of insurance premiums for safer Grab drivers, said Grab.

Grab added that the investment will allow Grab to further expand its range of online-to-offline services, such as GrabFood and GrabPay, deeper into the region. One Toyota executive will be appointed to Grab’s board of directors, and a dedicated Toyota team member will be seconded to Grab as an executive officer.

Previously, the airline pilots planned to go on strike during the Eid, but they postponed the plan to avoid further complicating the peak traveling season.

Currently, the government has been mediating the airline’s management and the APG in resolving the issues that have caused the dispute over the last two years.

“We really appreciate the government’s move under Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister [Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan] to help solve the mismanagement problem within Garuda Indonesia,” Sekarga chairman Ahmad Irfan said in an official joint statement with APG.

He acknowledged that the result of the ongoing discussion will be yielded by the first week of July.

“Considering [the timing of the decision], we declare that we will go on strike as late as the second week of July 2018 if there is still no best solution from the government,” he said.

However, the association also stated that it supported the operation during the busy mudik period in Eid.

The association has previously brought up issues such as alleged mismanagement within the airline board that has resulted in declining operational and financial performance.

The government has established a working group consisting of representatives from the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry and the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister, among others, to solve the problems.