Vietnam’s investments in Laos now totals US$5.3 billion in registered capital, with annual growth rates averaging 30 per cent over the last five years, said Tran Bac Hà, Chairman of the Association of Vietnam Investors to Laos (AVIL).

About 42 per cent of the amount, or US$2.2 billion, has been disbursed.

More than 350 Vietnamese businesses have invested in sectors such as energy, mining, agriculture, forestry and banking in Laos.

Investments registered in Laos account for roughly one quarter of Vietnam’s overseas investments of US$20.2 billion.

Do Nhat Hoàng, the director of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency, said during a bilateral business dialogue on Saturday that Laos is now the largest investment destination for Vietnam, and Vietnam is the third-largest foreign investor in Laos.

Official data revealed that Vietnamese projects generated jobs for about 40,000 Lao workers, significantly contributing to socio-economic development in 18 provinces and cities in Laos.

Projects of property developer Hoàng Anh-Gia Lai, telecom operator Viettel and the Vietnam National Petroleum Group have been particularly appreciated by the Lao government.

“We call for more effective investment projects from Vietnam,” Deputy Prime Minister of Laos Somsavat Lengsavat said, adding that his country stimulates investments in healthcare and education, especially better-equipped hospitals and universities.

Lengsavat said that the two governments will dismantle all barriers to investments as both nations are on the path to speedy integration into the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which was established last December 31.

Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuân Phúc said the governments will review bilateral trades and transport links between two countries, as well as hydropower plants on Mekong River.

Minister of Planning and Investment, Bùi Quang Vinh, urged the two countries to boost cooperation in production for exports to take advantage of opportunities not only in the AEC, but also in the Trans-Pacific Partnership – the biggest trade deal ever signed by 12 Pacific rim nations, including Vietnam, in early February.

Last weekend’s meetings heard that many Vietnamese enterprises still lack information about the Lao market and investment environment, however.

Shortcomings related to taxes, customs procedures, and credit, as well as human resources and power charges also hindered the progress of some Vietnamese projects in Laos.

Hà from AVIL suggested that the two governments build a website carrying investment information for both countries, and that Lao authorities should establish a “one-stop shop” for investors dealing with administrative procedures, for smoother investment flows.

Vietnam Rubber Group Deputy General Director, Nguyen Tien Duc, said his company has grown 27,000ha of rubber in Laos with an investment capital of VND3.5 trillion ($156 million). It has recently harvested 12,000 ha with an output of 15,000 tonnes of rubber latex.

As prices of this commodity has fallen from $5,100 per tonne in 2008 to $900 per tonne last year, his firm expects better interest rates, taxes and fee policies to adapt to current market conditions in Laos, he said.

Other enterprises said the two governments should improve key infrastructure, including highways, railways and port systems to facilitate the operations of businesses.

In a statement Sunday, the government’s Investor Relations Office (IRO) cited a recent Moody’s report which assessed the Philippines’ macroeconomic profile as “Moderate+,” better than the assessment of “Moderate” for China, India, Indonesia and Thailand, as well as Vietnam’s “Weak-.”

Moody’s assessed countries’ macroeconomic profiles ranging from “Very Weak-” to “Very Strong+.”

“When assessing a sovereign’s macroeconomic profile, Moody’s takes into account a host of factors, including economic strength, institutional strength, susceptibility to event risks, and credit conditions,” the IRO noted.

The IRO quoted Moody’s as attributing its relatively favourable assessment of the country’s macroeconomic profile to “robust economic growth, comfortable external liquidity, and improved institutional strength.” The last five years saw the Philippine economy expand at its fastest pace since the late 1970s.

In its March 18 banking report, Moody’s noted that the Philippines “remains among the fastest growing major economies in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The debt watcher also said it expected the country’s gross domestic product or GDP to expand by 6 per cent in 2016 to outpace the 5.8-per-cent growth posted in 2015.

Also, “the country’s institutional strength has also improved, driven in part by an increasingly credible track record of policy effectiveness by a number of national agencies, especially the central bank,” Moody’s said.

“The country’s strong growth results from the continued strength of domestic consumption – fueled by a combination of improving employment conditions at home and relatively stable overseas remittances – as well as healthy public and private-sector investments,” it added.

According to the IRO, “Moody’s mentioned the important role played by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in helping maintain a stable macroeconomic environment.”

“External risks, including contrasting monetary policies in advanced economies and lackluster global growth, make the job of central banks tougher. Nevertheless, despite a challenging global backdrop, the Philippines has managed to keep its macroeconomic environment relatively stable over the years on the back of prudent monetary policy and sound banking supervision,” BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. was quoted by the IRO as saying in response to Moody’s report.

“As the Philippines aims to build on its economic gains from the past half a decade, the BSP will help maintain an enabling environment by staying committed to its mandate of price and financial stability,” Tetangco said.

In an interview with StarBiz, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said this involved having to make several important decisions, including the appointment of good leadership at Bank Negara following the retirement of ougoing governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz next month.

“Businesses want to see a strong and credible appointment at the central bank and other important institutions,” he said.

Drawing comparisons, Nazir said Indonesia and Thailand appeared to be serious and focused on pumping their respective economies amid the soft global economic environment.

“But in Malaysia, we’re a little distracted and I don’t just mean the Government, the private sector also seems to be holding back investment. There seems to be a sentiment issue that we have to get over,” he said.

“In 1999, we had this theme ‘Malaysia: Bullish on Bouncing Back’ where both the Government and private sectors came together and went out to market Malaysia.

“This cohesion and partnership is what is needed again,” he said.

Speaking on the economy, he said with the changing dynamics of growth trends in the US and China which now incorporate slower exports, the decline in the ringgit in recent times had not quite translated into the sharp increase in local exports like what the market would have expected.

“Similiarly oil prices don’t look like they are going to jump to levels that we have been accustomed to in recent times,” he said.

“I think it’s going to be US$30 to US$40 roughly for a while.”

Having said that, he noted that the Malaysian economy was well diversified and that a projected 4% to 4.5% growth for this year was “decent”. “We should take the opportunity and focus on the right sectors that can propel Malaysia forward.”

Earlier, at a question-and-answer session at the Star Media Group’s PowerTalk: Business Series held at Menara Star, Nazir said a negative interest rate environment was unnatural and “extremely” dangerous as banks could go bust as a result.

He said the likely reason some countries had adopted it was because they felt this was one way to “force money into activity”.

“I’m not a fan of negative interest rate, it’s an unnatural act to go into. Certainly I don’t see Malaysia going there, it’s not a good policy,” Nazir added.

Zero or negative interest rates, which Japan and the eurozone have adopted coming out of recessions, are suppose to boost economic recovery by encouraging banks to lend more cheaply which, in turn, boosts consumer spending and overall growth.

However, critics like Nazir point out that what they also do is erode the margins of banks, which make money from charging interest. This basically goes against the original objectives of central banks, whose jobs are to ensure that banks remain financially sound and stable.

On the ringgit, Nazir said when the ringgit had hit 4.30 to 4.40 to US$1 sometime last year, no financial assessment could justify that.

“It was very sentiment driven, it definitely overshot … externally, if you can tell me where US interest rates and the yuan are going to go, then I can tell you where the ringgit is going to go.”

But the prognosis was that US interest rates would go up at some point and the yuan would continue to weaken, in which case, there was a probability that the ringgit would continue to weaken, Nazir said.

“I dont think there’s too much weakening to go but as I said, it really depends … if you ask me today would I bet if the ringgit will go back to 3.60 or going to go above 4.50, I don’t think so.

“If you look at the world today, it has a problem. Going into the global financial crisis in 2008, total banking debt all around the world to gross domestic product (GDP) was 130% but fast forward today, total debt to GDP is over 200%. So, rather than dealing with debt back then, debt was increased, and so now it has spread more across the world,” Nazir said.

“The world has a debt problem that is going to take some time to get through, so the world environment is going to be difficult.”

Director of t he province’s Planning and Investment Department, Mr Sulichan Phonekeo, reported that investment in the province had boomed over the last 15 years, as it welcomed 59 projects, including 30 projects from foreign investors, with a total value of US$2 billion.

Most of the foreign investment is in agriculture with 15 projects valued at US$539 million and 15 mining projects worth about US$1.3 billion.

Domestic investment from 2001-2015 resulted in 29 projects with 14 agriculture projects, four mining projects, one in the hydropower sector, two in the service sector and others involving mineral sands.

The province has set a goal to attract total investment of US$2.9 billion within the next five years.

Attapeu is located in the centre of an economic development triangle with National Road No. 18 linking Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, so commercial activities there are growing.

An international airport opened in the province last year, although there are no flights in service yet.

However, the airport is considered a significant project in spurring socio-economic development, attracting further investment and boosting tourism, as it links Attapeu to other regions through public transport and air freight.

Attapeu province plans to improve its population’s living conditions by 2020, with per capita income set to reach US$2,900.

The province is continuing to improve infrastructure to attract investors, and this will help in driving its goal to boost exports by 15 per cent and imports by 10 per cent over the next five years.

The next day, the 69-year-old will assume his duties as Myanmar’s first civilian president since 1962, and will preside over a fractious and volatile country in a still-fragile experiment with democracy.

Pundits and the media scrambled to find out more about Htin Kyaw when he was nominated on March 10 by the National League for Democracy (NLD). His was a classic case of always present yet virtually invisible.

Htin Kyaw has been a feature of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s inner circle for decades. Yet he went unnoticed as the Nobel laureate, detained for 15 of 20 years, was the darling of the media and the international community.

In Myanmar, locals at roadside tea stalls would mutter quietly about “The Lady” while casting sidelong glances at other tables for suspected informers.

As a writer, Htin Kyaw has used the pen name Dala Ban – the name of a famous Mon warrior; he is part-ethnic Mon. He is the son of prominent writer and intellectual Min Thu Wun, an early leader of the NLD and well known to Suu Kyi’s father, General Aung San, the independence hero.

Htin Kyaw’s wife, Su Su Lwin, is also close to Suu Kyi and is herself the daughter of a former army colonel, the late U Lwin, who helped set up the NLD.

The president-elect was educated in Rangoon University and Britain, where he studied computer science. Friends say he is quick on e-mail. He has had a varied career, holding positions in the civil service in the 1970s and 80s.

He is lately helping to run the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation named after Suu Kyi’s mother, which provides development aid and skills training in Suu Kyi’s constituency south of Yangon.

Htin Kyaw was one of the handful of people allowed to visit Suu Kyi during her long years of arrest, mostly in the old bungalow on the shores of Inya Lake. In September 2000, when Suu Kyi was free but seemingly not allowed to travel outside Yangon, she decided to probe the boundaries and tried to take a train to Mandalay.

Htin Kyaw, who was with her, was among dozens of NLD supporters arrested at the railway station in Yangon. Suu Kyi was sent back to her house, while Htin Kyaw was taken to Insein prison, where he was to spend four months.

Two NLD supporters who were with him in jail recalled in interviews this month with the BBC how Htin Kyaw would receive food from visitors but give it away to other inmates.

One of them, Thein Swe, said Htin Kyaw was not interested in power, and treated all people, rich or poor, with equal respect.

When Ms Suu Kyi was released in 2010 and spoke to a crowd outside her gate in Yangon’s University Avenue, he was beside her in his usual spotless white Burmese jacket. At one point, she leaned over and spoke into his ear. But all the cameras were trained on her.

Suu Kyi herself is barred from the presidency under the junta-era Constitution because of her foreign family links – her two sons are British citizens. Unusually for Myanmar’s outspoken political environment, no criticism of him has emerged since Suu Kyi made her choice. “Like his preferred white jacket, Htin Kyaw is known to be clean, with no trace of corruption tainting his respected if little-known resume,” wrote Aung Zaw, editor of the online journal The Irrawaddy.

Minutes after Mr Htin Kyaw was nominated, those who did know his background reacted with delight. Historian and author Thant Myint-U tweeted: “U Htin Kyaw… is a stellar choice, well respected, unimpeachable integrity, and a very nice man.”

Separately yesterday, a party insider, who asked not to be named, wrote to The Straits Times describing Htin Kyaw as “erudite, cosmopolitan, learned, softly-spoken, kindly, wise, thoughtful”.

“I have spoken to him on a number of issues down the years, primarily economics and history, and came away nothing but impressed,” he wrote. “When his name first came up for the top spot, I hardly dared hope.”

Its minister Hamzah Zainuddin, said the laws were needed to better regulate the fast growing e-commerce while preventing online scams and cheating.

“There are currently no laws to require online business to register with the authorities and we are looking towards this,” he said told MP Wan Mohammad Khair-il Wan Ahmad in the Dewan Rakyat.

He said the proposed laws would also cover those using the internet to conduct one-off transactions.

“For example, even those wanting to use e-commerce to sell their products for only 30 days will have to register,” he added.

He acknowledged that businesses were free to conduct e-commerce although they were encouraged to obtain the “Malaysia Trust Mark” logo.

“The logo gives consumers the assurance that the online business is genuine.

“However, businesses without the logo are also permitted to carry out e-commerce,” he said.

Hamzah noted 247 complaints were made against online businesses between 2013 and February this year.

He said the number of complaints increased from 61 in 2013 to 83 cases in 2014 and 129 cases last year.

“As of February this year, 14 cases were lodged with the ministry,” he added.

In a supplementary question, Mohammad Khair-il wanted to know what was being done to prevent a floodgate of unverified foreign food, health and cosmetic products that pose a danger to consumers.

“There are 16.3 million Malaysians who conduct e-commerce and the trade is expected to reach 12 billion ringgit (US$2.98 billion) by 2018,” Mohammad said.

Ngoc said Circular 07/2016/ TT-BTC, effective on March 15, stopped securities companies and investors from using third-party loans between them and banks for margin trading in order to limit investment risk.

Prime loans were the margin lending between securities companies and investors, allowed by the State Securities Commission and the Stock Exchange, accounting for 80 per cent of the total margin loans while the sub-prime margin were those under which securities firms used their own money and investors’ money as a deposit to take loans from banks.

Prime loans are handled by big securities companies with good capital, equity, bond deposit took advantage in using large-scale lending.

Most of the small securities with lower financial potential took the sub-prime margin to attract more investors.

Some small securities firms let their investors use margin trading with stocks that were not included in the permitted list and offered loans of more than 50 per cent.

A securities leader told the financial website tinnhanhchungkhoan.com that some banks whose securities company are a subsidiary, did not ask for a deposit before lending.

Cash flow won’t change

Ngoc said the circular only changed the disbursement mechanism for sub-prime loans but would not influence the cash flow of the market much.

Under the circular, brokers must withdraw their collateral at the bank while investors must close their account and have no more disbursement from the bank. Ngoc said in this case some investors had to sell their mortgage securities to finish their obligations with the banks.

He said though the movement could limit cash flow in the market, while on the other hand, increased the supply of stocks, giving more chances for other investors.

Ngoc said the limitation of sub-prime loans could not cause any technical correction to the market as sub-prime loans only accounted 20 per cent of the total margin and would be closed between one and three months.

Different from a margin call which immediately demanded an investor to deposit additional money or securities to retain their account, the circular would allow investors to decide their selling between two weeks and a month as minimum. Thus, it would not create net selling in the market, MBS’s official said.

The circular is expected to make local investors to turn back to the prime margin loans, investing in blue chips thus boosting the local stock market.

Regulators recently approved higher FIT-Allowance (FIT-All) charges of 12.40 centavos a kilowatt-hour (kWh) for 2016. The current rate (implemented since February 2015) is 4 centavos a kWh. The higher FIT-Allowance (FIT-All) will result in an additional P16.80 in the monthly bill of a typical Meralco consumer using 200 kWh, officials of the power retailer said. That is, if all other bill components such as the generation, transmission and distribution charges as well as related taxes remain the same.

The FIT-All is a uniform charge billed on all on-grid consumers who are supplied with electricity through the distribution or transmission network. The charge goes to a fund managed by National Transmission Corp. (Transco) to pay guaranteed rates to renewable energy (RE) developers under the FIT scheme. Transco formally advised collecting agents such as Meralco last month of the anticipated FIT-All increase. Thus, the higher FIT-All would be reflected in the April bills of customers, Meralco said.

The next batch of monthly FIT-All payments from power consumers will be used to pay renewable energy projects amounting to P6.92 billion, of which the bulk will be going to wind projects, P2.79 billion; solar, P2.59 billion; biomass, P1.26 billion, and hydro, P282.52 million.

The regulatory body assessed the list of existing FIT-qualified projects as well as pending applications that are likely to have met the requirements for eligibility before the March 15 deadline for the second batch of solar FIT.

The ERC-approved FIT rates are P6.63 a kWh for biomass, P5.90 for hydro, P8.53 for first phase and P7.40 for second phase of wind, and P9.68 for first phase and P8.69 for second phase of solar power.

ERC said it took cognizance of the appropriate commercial operations date of the plans “to avoid any deficit occurring in the funds should these plants remain unaccounted for.”

Transco sought regulatory approval in December to collect a feed-in tariff allowance or FIT-All of 10.25 centavos a kWh from consumers starting this year but the ERC approved a higher rate based on certain factors and assumptions such as the total capacity of FIT-qualified projects and electricity sales.

Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Loga Bala Mohan said a notice was issued to the contractor last week to pay the fine.

“We have penalties for people who indiscriminately chop down trees, especially old trees within the city,” he said.

The contractor was hired by the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) for a road-widening project.

“I was informed that LTAT was not told that there was no approval to cut down the trees,” said Loga Bala.

“There have been too many cases of contractors disregarding the laws. We will not hesitate to take action,” he added.

It is learnt that each rain tree felled cost about RM5,000.

Ecotourism and Conservation Society Malaysia (Ecomy) had expressed its disappointment over the tree felling.

(Top and above) The old, shady rain trees that previously lined both sides of Jalan Cochrane have been reduced to mere stumps by the contractor hired for a road-widening project, which has yet to be approved.

The old, shady rain trees that previously lined both sides of Jalan Cochrane have been reduced to mere stumps by the contractor hired for a road-widening project, which has yet to be approved.

“Mature trees are part and parcel of a mature community and its civilisation. As such, they have a bigger significance than just providing irreplaceable ecological services such as clean air, cutting down noise pollution and cooling down the ambient temperature of an area,” said Ecomy president Andrew Sebastian.

“They are part of a city’s identity and must be preserved at all cost.

“The illegal felling of these trees must therefore be condemned. At the same time, we applaud Kuala Lumpur City Hall for punishing the perpetrator,” he added.

It was reported that 16 rain trees along Jalan Cochrane were chopped down last week, although the proposal for road widening there had not been approved yet.

The project was discussed during the one-stop centre meeting on March 15. However, no approval was given to chop down the trees at that location.

Residents living in the area were horrified to find only stumps left of what were once magnificent trees at the site.

“I enjoy taking my dogs for walks along that stretch every weekend,” said expatriate Mary Hopkins-Gollier.

“Those trees were the best thing about that place. I was shocked that they were all gone,” she said, adding that the city lost a bit of its soul without those grand trees.