Bank Indonesia (BI) senior deputy governor Mirza Adityaswara said in Jakarta that while Indonesia’s foreign debt was still under control, the country’s deficient export value had caused the current deficit to reach historic proportions.

Indonesia has an external debt to gross domestic products (GDP) ratio of 34.5 per cent, similar to Thailand’s 33.9 per cent, he said, adding, however, that Indonesia’s external debt to current account receipt was 169.9 per cent while Thailand and Malaysia’s were 46.4 and 9.0 per cent respectively.

“Thailand’s foreign debt situation is similar to ours, however, they generated far greater foreign currency income from their exports to pay their debt,” he said in Jakarta.

Therefore, he stressed that the focus of investment in Indonesia should be on export-oriented industries and tourism.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded that Indonesia collected US$168.73 billion from exports in 2017, a 16.22 per cent increase compared with $144.43 billion in 2016.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s exports totalled US$236.69 billion in 2017, while Vietnam’s exports were recorded at $213.77 billion.

The BI recorded that as of November, Indonesia’s foreign debt was recorded at US$343 billion, a 9.1 per cent increase compared with the same period last year.

The new centre, which will be housed within an existing building, will develop competences in the qualification, certification and training for additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing.

The firm noted that additive manufacturing is receiving greater interest in various industries as its speed and cost become more apparent. Yet, adoption by the O&M sector has been low due to challenges in qualification and certification.

It therefore aims to provide the industry with technical standards and guidelines for qualifying and certifying advanced manufacturing equipment, processes, products, materials and personnel.

DNV GL declined to reveal the investment amount and the additional headcount it will employ from the investment.

The facility will be DNV GL’s global competence and service delivery centre for assurance and advisory services in 3D printing and related technologies for the O&G and O&M sectors.

The Norway-headquartered company will also work with local research institutes and industry partners.

For a start, it will be running a collaboration with Sembcorp Marine, SIMTech and NAMIC to develop and certify laser-aided additive manufacturing technology to make large-scale structures for newbuild vessels in Singapore.

“The PSE has decided to adjust the schedule of its stock rights offering given the unfavorable global market conditions affecting the domestic capital market,” PSE said in a disclosure.

Racing against time to acquire Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp (PDS Group)— the holding firm for fixed-income trading platform Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp, Philippine Depositary and Trust Corp and Philippine Securities Settlement Corp — the PSE was supposed to sell up to 11.5 million common shares to eligible shareholders this month.

The acquisition is facing derailment from Land Bank of the Philippines, which was recently ordered by the Department of Finance to make a bid for PDS. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III had expressed frustration over PSE’s alleged failure to follow ownership structures mandated by law.

The PSE has already promised the stock rights offering would not be opened to brokers in order to achieve the goal of diluting the combined ownership of trading participants.

This is in compliance with a provision in the Securities Regulation Code capping single-industry ownership of any operating exchange in the country at 20 per cent.

Based on the new timetable, the offering will begin on March 12 through March 16 while listing is targeted for March 22.

Markets across the globe have seen massive sell-offs caused by expectations of rising US bond yields and higher inflation, thus forcing PSE to take a step back and recalibrate.

The PSE’s stock rights offering was supposed to run from February 26 to March 2.

The maximum offer price is 275 peso per share but this will be finalised on February 23.

The shares will be made available to eligible shareholders as of March 1.

The entitlement ratio has yet to be determined.

About 51 per cent of the proceeds from the offering would be used to repay PSE’s debt expected to be incurred in connection with its plan to acquire PDS.

The local bourse has already signed deals with multiple parties giving it 69.03-per cent control of PDS.

The business sector in Laos expects the country’s economy to steadily and robustly surge by 2021, when a mega railway link between Laos and China and some hydropower projects are expected to begin operations.

The transportation and power sectors are the main indicators pointing to positive growth in future in Laos, which is part of the Asean bloc. It is believed that these projects will lead to a big boost in domestic investments, production and exports.

Vice President of the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Daovone Phachanthavong, told Vientiane Times that transportation by train is expected to make products cheaper and cut about 10 per cent of foreign freight costs, compared to transportation by trucks.

Exports of farm products and the tourism industry will benefit from the regional inter-connectivity of logistics.

In 2017, Laos enjoyed a trade surplus of US$261 million, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Statistics showed the value of exports hit US$4,803million, an increase of 13.4 per cent compared to 2016, while imports were valued at US$4,542 million, an increase of 7.6 per cent. – The Vientiane Times

90% of private companies hedge foreign debt: BI

While global markets face increasing volatility, Bank Indonesia (BI) said the private sector was resilient as most companies have hedged their foreign currency denominated debt.

“We issued the rule requiring private companies to hedge their foreign currency denominated debt in 2015 and now 90 percent of them have done it,” BI senior deputy governor Mirza Adityaswara said in Jakarta on Thursday.

In one week, the rupiah depreciated 1.48 per cent against the United States dollar to 13,612 rupiah per dollar.

The depreciation was caused by market perceptions on the projected increase of the Federal Reserve key rate, Mirza said.

As the US labour market has shown improvement, market players expect the Fed to increase its reference rate by four times, instead of three times as planned previously.

Mirza believed that the movement would be temporary and other countries would also face currency depreciation. “This is just a market adjustment because of temporary volatility,” he added. – The Jakarta Post

AirAsia seen sticking with Airbus A330neo

Malaysia’s AirAsia is expected to reconfirm its commitment to the A330neo jet after Boeing sought to poach one of Airbus’s top customers, a person familiar with the discussions said.

In what would deliver an embarrassing blow to Airbus, AirAsia cofounder Tan Sri Tony Fernandes announced last week he was looking at buying Boeing 787s to expand the fleet of its longhaul arm AirAsiaX, as well as the A330neo and A350.

AirAsiaX has 66 A330neo jets on order worth $19.6 billion at list prices, but is reassessing its options for new routes.

The decision of Asia’s largest budget carrier currently exclusively an Airbus customer is seen as crucial as Airbus tries to shore up its slowselling A330neo and Boeing looks to cement an advantage in widebody sales, industry sources say.

With billions of dollars at stake, analysts caution that airplane purchase talks can swing either way at the last minute.|– The Star

RCBC readies countersuit in Bangladesh row

Philippines’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) has threatened to bring Bangladesh Central Bank officials to court for allegedly maligning the local bank and using it as the “scapegoat” in the $81-million cyberheist that happened in early 2016.

In a statement y, RCBC said it was mulling legal action against Dhaka officials.

“RCBC has had it and will consider a lawsuit against Bangladesh Central Bank (BB) officials for claiming the bank had a hand in the $81-M cyberheist two years ago,” RCBC said.

“We will not allow them to continue to malign RCBC. Various reports, including their own, indicate an inside job. BB and Dhaka officials refuse to release their findings to hide from the Bangladeshi public what could very well be the involvement of its own officials who may have helped loot their money deposited with the New York Federal Reserve,” the bank said. – Philippine Daily Inquirer

PHE has operated the Abar block since May 22, 2015, with a commitment to conduct a geological and geophysical study and an offshore 2D seismic survey, as well as drill one exploration well within the first three years of its operations there.

“At the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, PHE Abar had drilled the Karunia 1-X exploration well and successfully discovered gas reserves totaling 84 bscf in the sandstone reservoirs of the Cisubuh and Parigi formations, at a depth of 2,600 feet,” PHE Abar general manager Theodorus Duma said in a statement.

PHE says it has been able to reduce spending by 30 per cent to drill the Karunia 1-X exploration well, compared to its original target stated in its Authorisation for Expenditure approved by the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force.

In 2016, PHE drilled a total of 17 exploration wells and discovered contingent resources amounting to 137.91 million barrels of oil equivalent.

In the same year, PHE produced 63,000 barrels of oil per day and 722 million standard cubic feet per day of gas.

Qualcomm’s response attempts to strike a balance between continuing to resist Broadcom’s takeover attempt and heeding the calls of some Qualcomm shareholders, who urged the company in recent days to engage with its rival in case it can clinch an attractive deal, a Reuters report said.

Qualcomm said Broadcom’s latest US$82 per share offer, comprising US$60 per share in cash and US$22 per share in stock, “materially undervalues” Qualcomm and falls short of the firm regulatory commitment it would demand given the significant antitrust risks involved.

Broadcom, which is led by president and CEO Tan Hock Eng, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Even though Broadcom has promised to pay a large break-up fee in the event regulators thwart the deal, as well as a “ticking” fee if the deal takes more than 12 months to close, Qualcomm believes Broadcom needs to offer a “hell-or-high-water” legal commitment to complete the deal irrespective of divestitures which antitrust watchdogs around the world may require.

“If you are not willing to agree to do whatever is necessary to ensure a transaction closes, we will need you to be extremely clear and specific about exactly what actions you would refuse to take, so that we can properly evaluate the risk to Qualcomm’s shareholders,” Qualcomm chairman Paul Jacobs wrote to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan in a letter published by Qualcomm.

The takeover battle is at the heart of a race to consolidate the wireless technology equipment sector, as smartphone makers such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd use their market dominance to negotiate down chip prices.

Broadcom has nominated a slate of directors to replace Qualcomm’s board. Qualcomm shareholders will get to vote on these nominations at a March 6 meeting.

Leadership

Broadcom has been built up under the leadership of Tan, who has an MBA from Harvard University. He worked with Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan as managing director of Hume Industries in Malaysia from 1983 to 1988 before leading a venture capital fund in Singapore from 1988 to 1992. Broadcom said on Monday its improved offer was premised on either Qualcomm acquiring NXP Semiconductors NV at the current disclosed terms of $110 per share in cash, or the $38 billion transaction being terminated.

NXP shareholders, led by activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, are resisting the deal, pushing for Qualcomm to raise its offer. NXP shares ended trading at $115.94 on Thursday, indicating investors were expecting a sweeter deal.

Qualcomm’s proposed acquisition of NXP was approved by European Union antitrust regulators last month. Qualcomm expects China’s blessing later this month, at which point it has to decide whether it would raise its offer.