The Ministry of Labour and Social welfare recently ordered all its provincial departments to provide free work permits, passports and other documents for Lao workers.

Director General of the ministry’s Department of Labour Skill Development and Employment, Ms Anousone Khamsingsavath, said last week that labour centres in every district will need to be able to provide the relevant documents for people who have or wish to have jobs in Thailand.

All police departments and police district offices, as well as local authorities, are to stop collecting fines and other fees from Lao workers who return from Thailand, she said.

An anonymous official from Savannakhet province said this new documentation system began in July, including an end to the collection of all fees from Lao workers, as ordered by the provincial authorities. Savannakhet authorities ordered 14 districts in the province to inform Lao workers wanting to register about the new procedures, and to provide a list of workers who return from Thailand in accordance with this order.

Under the order, labour officials can legalise currently illegal workers in Thailand, or they can choose to stay and work in Savannakhet.

Labour officials will help them to find work with development projects in Savannakhet or in other provinces.

The ministry wanted to make sure that workers had the necessary and correct documents so they would be better placed to uphold their rights.

For several years, Lao workers in Thailand have not received protection under Thai law because they have not upgraded their status because of a lack of support in obtaining documentation by local authorities.

Laos and Thailand set up assistance centres in all provinces to register Lao workers. According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, some 71,000 Lao workers in Thailand who hold purple cards have still not proven their identity.

Lao workers account for about 10 percent of the 1.5 million casual labourers from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar who are employed in Thailand.

The CFA will operate out of a 464 square metre co-working space in the capital’s Daun Penh district. It counts digital payment companies, banks and financial operators among its members.

CFA vice-president Eddie Lee said Cambodia is progressing in its financial technology, noting that the Kingdom’s central bank has explored using blockchain to track interbank transactions.

“Fintech startups are slowly but surely starting to surface in Cambodia,” he said.

Lee said a CFA representative has signed memoranda of understandings with the Taiwan Fintech Association, Thailand Fintech Association and Singapore Fintech Association to establish bridges with similar groups in the region.

He said the next step would be to register CFA as part of the Asean Fintech Network.

National Bank of Cambodia director-general of central banking Chea Serey said at the CFA’s launch ceremony that fintech development in the country has been gaining momentum, and brought many people into the fold of traditional financial services.

She added that fintech is giving people in remote areas access to banking services and offering them more opportunities to move out of poverty.

Vietnam is still among the countries whose exports are rejected by European markets mainly because of food safety issues.

Last year, the EU’s rapid alert system for food and feed (RASFF) issued 77 notifications that Vietnamese exports had not qualified for import and 23 shipments were rejected at the border.

In the first half of this year, the figures were 36 and 11.

Marieke Van Der Pijl, legal consultant of the Food, Agri and Aqua Business Sector Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, said the main reasons for rejection included detection of antibiotics, crop protection products and other harmful chemicals, cold-chain breaks during transportation which increase the chances for bacteria to develop.

Other reasons included the lack of traceability, insufficient food and farm produce testing results and failure to meet sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.

She said when an export was rejected, not only was the exporter affected but there was also a bigger consequence: harm to the reputation of Vietnamese products threatening their competitiveness on the international market.

Therefore, domestic producers should keep in mind that food safety was vital to enter the EU market and maintain customer loyalty since “once the trust is broken, |it is very hard to get it back,” she said.

Nguyen Huy, food manager in Vietnam for global quality certification agency Bureau Veritas, said before 2015 fishery products accounted for most food safety alerts from the RASFF about Vietnamese consignments.

But now, there was an increasing number of notifications on farm produce since exports of Vietnamese agricultural products had risen rapidly in recent years.

He said to gain access to Europe and ensure consistent quality of exports to the market, producers should adopt the EU’s food safety standards.

He said one of the most popular certifications in Europe is the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety developed by food industry experts.

It provides a framework to manage product safety, integrity, legality and quality, and the operational controls for these criteria in the food and food ingredient manufacturing, processing and packing industries.

Other standards such as BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices) and especially Global GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) are also favoured in European markets, and in fact have become quite popular among Vietnamese agricultural and fisheries producers.

“If producers adopt Global GAP, they will have a better chance of gaining access to the European market as they can speak the same language with European importers.”

Huy said one of the common features of these standards is the traceability of products since in demanding markets like Europe, consumers are highly aware of the products they consume, especially food.

“The tracing of product origin has to go from farm to middlemen to processors and until the packaging and labelling stage.”

Pijl said rules of origin would also be a criterion if Vietnamese exporters seek tax benefits when exporting to European markets once the Vietnam – EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) comes into force.

Half a decade ago, Coca-Cola Femsa, the biggest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world, bought a 51-per cent stake in Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc from The Coca-Cola Co in Atlanta.

During that time, it marked Mexico-based Coca-Cola Femsa’s first acquisition beyond Latin America which it then called “a vote of confidence in the strength of the Philippine economy and the opportunities it provides.”

Now, that stake has been returned to The Coca-Cola Co at an undisclosed amount, after the board of Coca-Cola Femsa voted to exercise an option to sell back its 51-per cent stake.

No explanation was given. However, according to the company’s official website, it said Coca-Cola usually relied on independent bottling franchises, except in certain “circumstances” wherein BIG had to enter the picture.

“For a variety of reasons, circumstances arise where bottling franchises find they need help that is beyond their capability,” it read.

“[BIG] was created to ensure those bottling operations remain a part of our system and receive the appropriate investments and expertise to ensure their long-term success,” it added.

John Murphy, president of the Asia Pacific Group for The Coca-Cola Co, said that they appreciated Coca-Cola Femsa’s decision and the progress made during their five-year tenure in the Philippines.

He said the company was confident in the potential of the market, noting that it was “better positioned than ever before for future success.”

“The Coca-Cola Co will work to ensure a smooth transition of the Philippines bottling operations to BIG, for all customers, business partners, consumers and, importantly, for all those who work in the bottling operations,” he said.

Separately, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has shown interest to participate in the national car project by upgrading its facilities in Malaysia.

The third national car project was mooted by Mahathir Mohamad after he became Prime Minister for the second time on May 10.

The proposal by Chinese electric vehicle (EV) players – GSR Capital and Envision Energy – was submitted to the government ahead of the Prime Minister’s current visit to China. The investment of $10 billion by the two companies, said to be strong in global high-tech industry development, will spread over five years and the location chosen is near Proton City in Perak.

“Geely has informed the government that it is keen to upgrade its operation in Malaysia and participate in the third national car project,” says an official who knows the Geely plan.

No details are immediately available but Dr Mahathir is scheduled to visit Geely’s headquarters in Hangzhou during his five-day official visit to China.

Besides several Cabinet ministers, Perak Mentri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu is a member of the Prime Minister’s entourage.

Geely, a Chinese multinational automotive manufacturing company, sells passenger cars under the Geely Auto, Lotus, Proton, and Volvo brands; and commercial vehicles under the London EV Company and Yuan Cheng Auto brands.

Last year, Geely acquired a 49.9% stake in Proton Holdings from DRB-Hicom after the Malaysian government invited it to be the stratehgic partner for ailing Proton. The firm alos bought a 51 per cent stake in Lotus Cars.

Geely attracted international limelight after it turned around Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars. It bought Volvo from Ford in 2010 and poured in investments of $10 billion to develop new models and technologies. With plants in China and Sweden, Volvo recorded an operating profit of $1.25 billion in 2016.

In Malaysia, Geely plans to turnaround Proton “as soon as practicable” within the first three years of acquisition.

In its 10-year business plan seen by The Star, Proton aims to cut cost across the board by 30 per cent , improve quality and increase annual production gradually to 400,000 cars by 2027, from under 100,000 units last year.

Geely has stated that it aims to become a major player in Southeast Asia after acquiring stakes in Proton and Lotus.

Apart from interest shown by Geely, the Malaysian government is studying the proposal from GSR and Envision.

The joint proposal of GSR Capital and Envision Energy, in partnership with little known Concept Fields Sdn Bhd of Malaysia, includes the participation of Nissan of Japan.

According to the proposal seen by The Star, the pair will set up a new energy automobile hub and the new national car plant in southern Perak, where a major auto city was planned by the previous government.

Envision, which holds a 75 per cent stake in Nissan’s electric vehicle unit AESC, will bring in AESC to join hands with GSR Capital to set up regional EV manufacturing facility, which includes producing electric car battery.

“The project will be spearheaded by GSR Capital which will be facilitating FDI of about US$10 billion into Malaysia,” says the plan.

AESC will provide the Japanese technology to produce the electric car.

“The proposed hub project holds great potential to yield benefits to Malaysia’s automobile industry as well as the country’s general economy.

“The inflow of US$10 billion investments is projected to create 15,000 jobs,” says the document.

The proposal also includes the establishment of an education hub directed at training skilled employees locally and creating R&D facilities to ensure continuous and sustainable development of the automobile industry in Malaysia.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is eyeing 12.9 percent growth in government revenue to 2.14 quadrillion rupiah (US$146.5 billion) in his final year in office.

Jokowi announced the target during his speech to reveal the 2019 state budget bill in the plenary session of the House of Representatives on Thursday.

The government continues to pin a lot of hope on tax revenue as it represents more than 80 percent of the target at 1.78 quadrillion rupiah .

Meanwhile, non-tax revenue is projected to stand at 361.1 trillion rupiah, while the contribution of grants will be 400 billion rupiah.

“The increasing role of tax in the funding of the state budget is in line with the government’s efforts to improve tax performance,” the president said in his speech.

The government will continue to push tax reforms and tax incentives, Jokowi said, mentioning a number of possible policies like tax holidays and tax deductions for strategic sectors.

With such policies, the 2019 tax ratio is expected to stand at 12.1 per cent of GDP, up from this year’s projection of 11.6 per cent. – The Jakarta Post

Malaysia’s 2Q GDP at 4.5%, below consensus estimates

Economic growth for Malaysia in the second quarter of this year came in at 4.5 per cent, which was below the consensus estimates of more than 5 per cent.

According to Bank Negara Malaysia, supply disruptions in the second quarter resulted in the slower economic growth.

In comparison, GDP growth was 5.8 per centin the corresponding quarter of 2017 and 5.4 per cent in 1Q 2018.

In the breakdown of GDP by economic activity, the services, manufacturing and construction sectors showed growth in the second quarter while the agriculture and mining sectors of the economy went into a decline.

The services sector showed slightly improved growth with 6.5 per cent recorded in 2Q 2018 as compared to 6.3 per cent in 2Q 2017.

Growth in the manufacturing sector was recorded at 4.9 per cent, a 1.1 percentage point drop from 6 per cent in the same quarter in 2017.

Mining, which contracted 2.2 per cent, fared poorer compared to a 0.1 per cent expansion in 2Q 2017. – The Star

Businesses call for role in drafting import limitation rule

Businesspeople in Indonesia have called on the government to involve them in drafting a regulation on import limitation of raw materials to ease the country’s current account deficit (CAD) because many of their factories still rely on imported raw materials.

In an effort to curb imports, the government plans to issue a regulation that among others will impose a 7.5 percent income tariff on imports of consumer goods and raw materials. The government is currently assessing 500 imported items that may be replaced by local products.

Association of the Indonesian Food & Beverage Producers (GAPMI) secretary-general Adhi Lukman said the import limitation of raw material was counterproductive.

“The industry also needs a global value chain. If the import is limited, we will also limit the products,” Adhi said as quoted by kontan.co.id. on Wednesday, adding that such limitation should be only imposed on finished goods. He called on the government to be careful in drafting a regulation on import limitation because it could hamper investment and the business climate. – The Jakarta Post

More rate hikes likely as Philippine inflation peaks

Inflation will like get worse over the next two months, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas warned, but noted that relief from the unrelenting price hikes since the start of this year might finally be in sight for suffering Filipino consumers by the fourth quarter.

Speaking at a media forum, BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said that central bank economists expected the pace of consumer price increases to peak in the months of August or September ahead of the expected normalization to the 2-4 percent range by 2019.

“Based on our assessment, the August inflation number may be higher than the July number,” he said, adding that the consumer price index would likely be “close” to the previous month’s number.

“The peak will probably be either in August or September, before it starts coming down,” he said. – Philippine Daily Inquirer

Malaysian tycoon Francis Yeoh’s YTL Corporation and Semen Indonesia, the country’s top cement-maker, are among suitors weighing bids for the business, according to the people.

HeidelbergCement’s local unit Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa is separately considering a first-round offer by the deadline later this month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

LafargeHolcim is seeking as much as US$2 billion for the unit, which has also drawn interest from Indonesian billionaire Anthoni Salim’s conglomerate Salim Group, the people said. Deliberations are at an early stage and there is no certainty the suitors will decide to proceed with bids, they added.

LafargeHolcim hopes to find a buyer for the business this year, one of the people said.

While overcapacity and falling cement prices have dampened cement-makers’ earnings in the country, Indonesian demand should grow in the second half of the year as President Joko Widodo pushes infrastructure spending before seeking re-election next year, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said last month.

LafargeHolcim, the world’s biggest cement-maker, announced plans to divest at least 2 billion Swiss francs of assets next year as new chief executive Jan Jenisch embarks on a five-year turnaround plan to increase sales and cash flow.

A representative for Taiheiyo said the company will consider deals as it pursues expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, but declined to comment on any specific targets. A representative for YTL did not immediately reply to queries sent via e-mail.

Semen Indonesia corporate secretary Agung Wiharto said there is no formal information on the transaction and declined to comment further. Oey Marcos, a director at Indocement, said the situation is still being studied.