Trump’s relationship with Moscow has stalked the first year of his presidency, with key former aides under a US investigation for alleged collaboration with the Kremlin.

Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and an associate are under house arrest on charges including conspiracy to launder money, linked to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into allegations that the campaign colluded with Russia.

The US leader had “two or three” brief conversations with Putin on the margins of the Apec summit in the Vietnamese city of Danang, Trump told reporters on Air Force One on the way to a state visit in Hanoi.

“He (Putin) said he didn’t meddle. He said he didn’t meddle. I asked him again,” he said.

“You can only ask so many times … He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election.”

Trump explained that Putin reiterates his denial “every time” the pair meet, adding his counterpart seems “very insulted” by the persistent allegations.

But he would not be drawn on whether he believes the Russian strongman.

Social media giants Twitter and Facebook have said paid for and free content with Russian links carrying divisive election related messages spun across their platforms ahead of the crunch poll.

Speaking to Vietnam News Agency yesteday, Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam Tran Tuan Anh said the “TPP Ministerial Meeting:” TPP Ministerial meeting in Da Nang has initially consented to preliminary principles and contents of the TPP.”

According to the minister, essentially, all contents have been put into the final commitment package. “However, there still exist some matters that need further clarification and agreement before the signing,” Anh said.

“Heads of negotiation groups from member countries will work together for final consensus and report to leaders before signing the document,” he added.

“The leaders will discuss general contents for TPP co-operation, including the TPP Ministerial Meeting report, which features contents of the commitment package,” Anh said, referring to the meeting of leaders of the 11 TPP countries expected to take place the same day.

The free trade agreement with many stipulations covering trade and non-trade issues was officially inked on February 4, 2016, among 12 countries, namely the United States, Canada, Mexico and Peru, as well as Chile, New Zealand, Australia and Japan, along with Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

However, the United States later withdrew from the pact. Following the latest negotiation early this month in Japan, heads of negotiation groups said they looked forward to progress and outcome of the ongoing APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, which ends on Saturday. Many expect TPP will become a model for regional and world trade development.

In its report issued yesterday it said its view of the impact of the oil price rebound was based on the starting positions of each country’s economic fundamentals, scope for policy responses and other idiosyncratic factors in a world of significantly higher oil prices in 2018.

It pointed out the winners are Brazil and Venezuela while there is a neutral impact on Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, South Korea, Mexico, Poland, Romania and Singapore.

Nomura Research said the losers Argentina, Chile, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Peru, South Africa, Thailand. The clear-cut losers are India, the Philippines and Turkey. The research house said crude Brent has risen this year from a trough of $44 a barrel in June to $63 and while this pales in comparison to the drop from $115 to $45 over June 2014 to January 2015, in percentage growth terms it is still a large rise of 43 per cent.

“It is difficult to disentangle how much of this is due to increased demand from, for example, the synchronised global growth upswing, limits on supply, such as Opec stringently sticking to production quotas and the recent decline in US shale rig count, or indeed other factors like heightened geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East,” it said. Nomura said the economic impact is also hard to gauge, as it depends not only on the size but also on the duration of the oil price rise.

“However, what became clear from the oil price plunge in the second half of 2014 was how it drove a divide in the emerging market universe, favouring commodity importers (notably in Asia) at the expense of large commodity exporters (from Latin America and the Middle East, and Russia).

Xi, who was reelected as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will visit Laos from November 13-14 at the invitation of his Lao counterpart Bounnhang Vorachit.

Saleumxay told Lao and Chinese media that President Xi’s first overseas trip after the 19th National Congress of the CPC, which includes Laos, was a significant milestone in the history of Laos-China relations and cooperation. “We feel honour, pride and delight and we are ready to welcome the state visit by President and General Secretary Xi Jinping,” he told reporters at the media conference in the lead up to President Xi’s visit.

“Laos is fully prepared to welcome President Xi Jinping.” The minister said Laos highly values its relations and cooperation with China, saying the two nations share a similar ideology and destiny.

Nazir will keep his role at CIMB, Malaysia’s second-largest bank, while acting as one of the fund’s five partners, according to the people. He will be joined by Kenny Kim, who previously worked under Nazir as chief financial officer of CIMB, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

David Heng, who recently resigned from his role as a senior managing director at Temasek Holdings Pte, will also help direct investments at the new fund, the people said. The fund, which isn’t connected to CIMB, will be based in Singapore, according to one of the people. It plans to target investments in the consumer, technology, logistics and financial services industries in Southeast Asia (SE Asia), the person said.

Private equity deals in Southeast Asia have more than doubled to $37.4 billion this year, from $16.4 billion during the same period in 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. An investor group agreed in July to pay $11.6 billion for Singapore warehouse operator Global Logistic Properties Ltd in Asia’s biggest-ever buyout, the data show.

Gita Irawan Wirjawan, who was Indonesian trade minister under the country’s last president, and former Philippine finance secretary Cesar Purisima will also be partners at the new fund, the people said. The five partners are planning to seek about $700 million to $1 billion from investors, according to one of the people. Deliberations are at an early stage, and details could change, the people said.

A spokeswoman for CIMB declined to comment. A representative for Temasek said Heng will be leaving the Singapore state investment company at the end of this year to pursue other opportunities. Nazir, 50, and the other four partners either said they have no comment or couldn’t be reached for comment. Southeast Asia has emerged as a strong manufacturing alternative to China, helped by lower labour costs, growing domestic demand and improvements in infrastructure. Gross domestic product in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations surged to $2.6 trillion in 2016, about the size of the UK’s economy, from a mere $37.6 billion in 1970.

Growth in Asean is seen at 4.9 per cent next year, with Myanmar, Vietnam and the Philippines posting the fastest expansions in the region.

The move comes under one of three new initiatives by the Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP) to promote a more pro-business environment.

Announcing them yesterday, Ms Low Yen Ling, parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Ministry of Education, said government agencies and companies must work hand in hand to establish a nimble and responsive regulatory framework.

“This will support the growth of new industries and businesses with the view of positioning Singapore as a compelling location to develop and commercialise innovations, disruptive technologies and new business models,” she said.

Low was speaking to attendees at an awards event at InterContinental Singapore hotel jointly organised by the PEP and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).

She said the PEP will periodically call for proposals from industry stakeholders to review regulations based on specific themes. In doing so, it will work closely with the Public Service Division (PSD) and Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung, who she said champions government innovation.

As many regulations straddle multiple sectors, PEP and PSD will take a whole-of-government approach to facilitate better inter-agency coordination, Low added.

The PEP will also seek to expand its outreach to the business community. In addition to the PEP website, suggestions for rule changes to the PEP can now be made via the websites of 28 regulatory agencies. Over the next year, the PEP and PSD will also be sharing stories and benefits of regulatory changes already made.

“We hope these success stories will encourage businesses to be more forthcoming with suggestions, as well as motivate public service officers to continuously review how they can make a positive difference to companies with regulatory changes,” she said.

Lastly, the PEP will work closely with trade associations and chambers to organise workshops with industry stakeholders to examine regulatory issues and challenges. For a start, PEP and SBF will be organising a session to take an in-depth look into regulatory areas related to the business community. During this session and other such workshops, companies and relevant government agencies will jointly identify the regulatory problems, whether real or perceived, in the business community.

Singapore-listed Noble Group’s shares tumbled yesterday as the embattled commodity trader’s cash holdings fell to the lowest in more than a decade, adding to pressure on what analysts say is an all but inevitable debt restructuring. The bonds due in March also dropped.

The Hong Kong-based trading house posted a third-quarter net loss of US$1.17 billion (S$1.6 billion), taking losses for the year so far above $3 billion, according to a statement after the close on Thursday. Available cash at continuing operations dropped to just US$262 million at the end of September, according to a Bloomberg analysis of company data. Liquidity headroom – a measure of capital available to fund its business – fell by 43 per cent over the quarter.

More than two years into a crisis marked by accounting criticisms and concern the company is headed for default, Noble Group is offloading once-core operations. The latest loss was flagged two weeks ago, when the company announced the sale of its oil business to Vitol Group. BNP Paribas and JPMorgan Chase & Co are among banks that have predicted the company will probably be forced to restructure its remaining debt of over $3 billion. – The Straits Times

Cambodian rice exports grow on big China orders

Cambodia has exported 446,439 tonnes of milled rice in the first 10 months this year, a 17 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, according to a report released Thursday by the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export.

According to the report, China is by far the largest market for Cambodian rice and has accounted for about one-third of all rice exports so far this year. France is the second largest market, taking up 13 per cent of rice exports, while Poland is third accounting for 8 per cent with the United Kingdom fourth with a 5 per cent share. – Phnom Penh Post

BI urges acceleration of stimulus package

Bank Indonesia has called on the government to accelerate the introduction of its fiscal stimulus package to boost economic growth in the fourth quarter.

“The implementation of the fiscal stimulus [package] should be accelerated, because it is very important to boost the economy,” BI deputy governor Perry Warjiyo said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Indonesia Sharia Economic Festival (ISEF) at Grand City Surabaya.

The fiscal stimulus package would encourage producers to boost their production of goods, instead of releasing products from their finished goods inventory, as many are currently doing.

“The producers are reluctant to increase production. They prefer to use the inventory. That’s what we are seeing,” Perry said.

He said, however, that BI had seen some progress, particularly in government consumption, investment and exports, although growth had not yet reached expectations. – The Jakarta Post

Conventional taxis reel from ride-hailing apps

The emergence of ride-hailing applications in Indonesia has hit the business of conventional taxis badly as a major part of their market has been taken by the technology-based transportation services.

The two largest conventional taxi operators -PT Blue Bird and PT Express Transindo Utama, a subsidiary of the Rajawali Group – have posted serious declines in their financial performances, while the smaller operators can hardly survive.

Blue Bird’s income decreased by 14.1 per cent to 3.13 trillion rupiah (US$231.62 million), while its profits dropped by 16.28 per cent to 302.12 billion rupiah in the third quarter of 2017.

Express has done worse as its income has dropped by 54.81 per cent to 231.62 rupiah. The company has had to lay off hundreds of employees and sell off property.Koneksi Kapital research head Alfred Nainggolan said the emergence of the online services had badly disrupted the businesses of conventional taxi firms.

The financial situation of the conventional taxi drivers has been seriously affected because they still have to pay loan installments for their vehicles, Alfred said. – The Jakarta Post

The DOF cited a recent report of Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapena to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III as saying that the wide discrepancy between China’s recorded exports and imports to the Philippines could be attributed to the gross misdeclaration or undervaluation of goods in terms of either volume or weight.

Also, he said the discrepancy in trade figures was also due to “the possible use of “consignees for hire,” which leads to goods released to ‘‘hidden’ traders and not to the consignees on record.”

The hiring of consignees and hidden traders allowed the importer to evade the scrutiny of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, according to Lapena.

“In both instances—misdeclaration or undervaluation and the use of consignees for hire—“benchmarking” and the submission of fake documents allow traders to get away with these underhanded schemes,” he added.

Lapena said he would go to China this month to personally look into this matter and check the Philippine export records of the BOC’s Chinese counterpart agency.

Meeting with counterpart

For his part, Dominguez ordered Lapena to focus on China’s trade records and arrange a meeting with the customs chief of that country to discuss and find possible solutions to bridge the massive trade gap.

Lapena said that under his watch, the BOC was gradually doing away with the practice of benchmarking, which allows traders to expedite the processing of their imports without the required inspections, so that the correct valuation of goods at the ports could be done.

Lapena already directed customs officers to ensure a five-day processing period for imports to cut the usual time of one to two months.

Last year, Dominguez said the DOF wanted to sharpen its teeth against smugglers as the government lost about 231 billion peso yearly to technical smuggling.

Dominguez had said that the foregone revenue, which was reflected by discrepancies between the import volume reported by local traders and actual figures recorded by their overseas suppliers, accounted for 2 per cent of the gross domestic product, highlighting the need to improve customs and the tax systems’ efficiencies.

The Finance chief had also cited UN Comtrade data showing a 1.8-trillion peso gap in 2014 between the value of importers’ shipments and those reported by the exporting countries.

Dominguez had acknowledged that part of such gap could be the result of timing issues and the inclusion and exclusion of particular commodities in reporting, and not outright evidence of smuggling.