He said the document, which included insurance and banking, will be signed in May in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Strategy Action Plan on Asean Monetary and Financial Integration Framework 2016-2025 will be adopted at the meeting, saying the document will be one of several documents to be adopted byAsean leaders at the Asean Summit, which will take place in September.

At both the AFMM and AFMGM, Asean ministers and bank governors from Asean countries will discuss with representatives from international finance institutions on the situation of the world economy, the economy in the region, and also challenges to economic growth.

They will examine financial cooperation in Asean, which includes the Asean Infrastructure Fund, insurance cooperation, cooperation in customs, taxation and anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, capital market development, capital account liberation, financial services, and payment and settlement systems within Asean.

Dr Lien said the outcome of the meetings would contribute to the development and integration of theAsean finance and monetary sectors, which would facilitate production, trade and investment in the single market of Asean, which conformed to the theme – “Turning Vision into Reality for a DynamicAsean Community.”

At the 19th AFMM and the 1rst AFMGM held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last year, international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office gave a positive outlook on global and regional economic development last year, but viewed that Asean had to keep its eye on the potential risks and challenges which could jeopardise Asean resiliency.

These included oil price development and its effect on fiscal and capital sides, alterations in the economic compositions of Asean countries, China’s transformation, and the rising trend of company debts in foreign currency.

Bank Negara last week announced its GDP growth projection of between 4 per cent and 4.5 per cent for Malaysia this year. The central bank’s forecast was in line with the projection issued by the Finance Ministry early this year under the recalibrated Budget 2016.

Noting that the present policy package to support Malaysia’s economy was based on an average oil price estimate of US$35 to US$40 per barrel on the Brent, Zeti said unless oil prices collapse further, and financial markets become highly or extremely volatile with negative implications, there wouldn’t be other new measures necessary to support the economy.

Separately, Zeti said the implemenation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) had produced tremendous fiscal benefits to the government.

“So far, it is producing the desired results and households are adjusting to it,” she said.

At the inaugural two-day Responsible Finance Summit, which brought together key stakeholders from the conventional responsible and Islamic finance sector, Zeti noted responsible finance was pivotal to ensure countries achieve stronger, more balanced and sustainable growth.

“Responsible finance at its core strives to serve wider objectives that is consistent with, but goes beyond, the predominant objective of enhancing shareholder value. In delivering long-term sustainable value, allocative efficiency is achieved in a manner that promotes stability and prosperity in the broader economy and sustainability of the environment.

“Above all, responsible finance aims to optimise its positive impact on society, economic wellbeing and development,” she said in her keynote address.

Zeti pointed out that the world had made much progress since the eruption of the 2008/09 Global Financial Crisis.

“While having to strike a balance between pursuing financial stability and the potential increased costs to financial intermediation, efforts have been made through the global financial reforms towards more sustainable financial systems,” she said.

“This includes the recalibration of financial regulations to curb tendencies for excessive leveraging, strengthened regulatory and supervisory systems that are forward looking and responsive to risk, as well as provisioning standards that reduce procyclicality and that restrain the build-up of risks,” she explained.

In addition, advancing consumer protection, furthering financial education and literacy as well as improving access to financial services have remained important long term items on the agenda, Zeti added.

Deputy Director of the commission Truong Van Phuoc warned that though the consequences are not clear now, banks face a potential risk in the future when credit continues to rise.

Though banks have so far sold VND111 trillion of the NPLs to the VAMC to meet the central bank’s deadline to bring down the NPL ratio to below 3 per cent last year, most of the debts are still with the VAMC and the company has so far managed to recoup only a small part of the bad loans due to reasons such as incomplete legal framework and limited capital.

According to the current regulations, though banks have sold the bad debts to VAMC, they have to fund yearly provisions amounting to 20 per cent of the value of the sold debts.

Experts, therefore, suggested to lenders that they boost provisions for bad debts, as well as take the initiative to collect the debts themselves, apart from selling it to the VAMC.

National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council member Tran Du Lich said that selling bad debts to the VAMC was a good way for banks to clean up their account balance, but the requirement for provisions would create significant pressure on them.

In an effort to accelerate the handling of bad debts and make it easy for the VAMC to resolve the debts it bought from banks, the central bank last month raised a draft decree about conditions for a debt trading business for public comments.

According to VAMC chairman Nguyen Quoc Hung, the lack of a debt trading market was a bottleneck in the process of handling toxic debts.

Suu Kyi, the only woman in the 21-member cabinet, was given four portfolios – Foreign Affairs, the President’s Office, Electric Power and Energy, and Education.

Though her National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide in the November election, the military-sponsored constitution prohibits her from taking the country’s top job as her late husband and sons are foreign citizens.

NLD spokesman Zaw Myint Maung had said earlier thatSuu Kyi would mainly focus on foreign affairs, as this position gives her a place in a decision-making body like the National Defence and Security Council, along with the president, two vice presidents, the presidents of the upper and lower houses, the ministers of Defence, Home Affairs and Border Affairs, as well as the army chief.

This is a formal forum where Suu Kyi can work and jointly make decisions alongside the country’s most-powerful figure – commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Under the constitution, the army chief can take over in times of crisis.

Holding the position of foreign minister would also make her Myanmar’s representative in the international community, as the country needs a foreign minister of high calibre to deal with an evolving geopolitical situation at the global and regional levels.

Also, it is not surprising that she has taken the Education portfolio as she is interested in the subject, though her other posts indicate that she wants to be in charge of relations with Myanmar’s most powerful neighbour China, veteran journalist Bertil Lintner, who specialises in Myanmar affairs, pointed out. With the key portfolio of Electric Power and Energy, Suu Kyi will be able to oversee Myanmar’s economic development. Power plant projects and natural gas are the country’s key resources, which are now mostly controlled by foreign investors, notably from China.

The previous government under Thein Sein shelved the China-backed Myitsone hydropower dam in 2011 due to the serious social and environmental impact it would have in Kachin state.

China’s Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang said on March 4 that China would seek every possible way to resume the project by cooperating with the NLD, though the ruling party said it would take local concerns into account before making any decision on the project.

In many countries, the minister attached to the President’s Office might look after routine work of the president, but in Suu Kyi‘s case, she will be more like the US president’s chief of staff.

Since the electoral victory, Suu Kyi has always said that she intends to run the country from above the president, and her position as President’s Office minister could make this come true.

Speaking at a public discussion held by the Indonesian Economists Association (ISEI), Jokowi said that in the midst of global competition and a rapidly changing world economy, the government needs to be quicker and more flexible in making decisions.

“Our focus ahead is deregulation and infrastructure development. Even though I know industrialization is also important, the development of human resources is very important in order to be prepared, but we will proceed with deregulation and infrastructure first,” Jokowi said.

“Our orientation should be results-oriented, but speed is also required in competition,” he said.

One of the concrete efforts undertaken was to instruct the Home Affairs Minister to remove 3,000 problematic local government regulations. In total there are 42,000 regulations in the country, according to Bappenas data.

“They ensnare and limit our flexibility and speed of action. This is what we want to remove. I ordered the home minister to remove the 3,000 problematic regulations. There is no need for them to be examined again,” he said.

ISEI chairman Muliaman Hadad said that what is needed to support competitive economic growth is macroeconomic stability through price stability. “In particular, the price of food and the healthy management of the state budget,” he said.

The government needs to introduce special policies to revitalize the manufacturing industry and the acceleration of competitive and export-oriented manufacturing. “Increased productivity is also a key,” Muliaman added.

To increase productivity, Muliaman continued, infrastructure needs investments, especially in transportation and logistics, focusing on ports and shipping, railways, roads and internet networks.

“Structural transformation is also needed to sustain growth and the reallocation of labour to added-value and higher productivity sectors,” he added.

JPKE said that gross domestic product (GDP) at constant prices continued to decline by 0.6 per cent after falling by 2.3 per cent in the previous year. This was due to a decrease of 1.6 per cent in the services sector.

For the fourth quarter alone, the sultanate’s economy fell by 17.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) owing to decreases recorded in the oil and gas sector.

The department said Brunei’s GDP at current prices fell to BN$4.3 billion (US$3.17 billion) from BN$5.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The oil and gas industry was valued at BN$2.3 billion, accounting for 53 per cent of total GDP while services made up 42 per cent.

The department said the 1.2 per cent decline in oil and gas mining weighed in on the growth of the oil and gas sector.

The non-oil and gas industrial sector decreased by 4.8 per cent due to declines in construction by 7.4 per cent and other manufacturing by 12.6 per cent.

The services sector declined by 0.4 per cent in Q4 2015 as the slowdown in banking activities pushed down the financial services sector by 12.3 per cent.

Government services fell by 2.1 per cent, which contributed to the decrease in the services sector, JPKE said.

The agriculture, forestry and fishery sector grew by 2.5 per cent, thanks to a 15.5 per cent increase in fishery production.

At constant prices, GDP growth recorded a decline of 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter.

The decline was attributed to decreases in the non-oil and gas sector, services sector and the oil and gas industrial sector by 4.8 per cent, 0.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.

The department said GDP by expenditure approach posted a 4.2 per cent rise in household consumption, exports of goods and services rose by 1.2 per cent.

Gross capital formation declined by 21.3 per cent along with government spending which fell by 5.8 per cent and imports of goods and services by 21.5 per cent.

GDP is a measure of the total value of goods and services produced in a particular period.

“Though economic reforms implemented since 2011 have had positive outcomes, Myanmar’s new government will face the challenges of advancing economic reform, addressing infrastructure and labour shortages, and making progress towards peace and social cohesion,” said Winfried Wicklein, ADB Country Director in Myanmar. “Moreover, intensified efforts are needed to connect and develop rural areas to improve access to markets and services, and to generate opportunities and jobs.”

Foreign direct investment is expected to get a lift from the successful political transition following national elections in November 2015, with investment flowing into newly established special economic zones and rapidly expanding transport, telecommunications, and energy sectors.

The ADO 2016 emphasises that Myanmar’s transport infrastructure, after decades of under-investment, provides poor access to markets and services, perpetuates poverty and regional inequality, and hampers business development. ADB estimates that US$60 billion is needed through 2030 to upgrade transport systems to a standard seen in other countries at a similar stage of development.

“This means increasing transport sector investments to the equivalent of 3-4 per cent of gross domestic product from little more than 1per cent in recent years,” said Peter Brimble, ADB deputy country director in Myanmar. “Private sector resources will need to be mobilised given the immense funding requirements.”

Inflation will moderate as agricultural recovery from the floods brings down food prices. But it is estimated to remain high at 9.5 per cent in the fiscal year 2016, before declining to 8.5 per cent in the next fiscal year.

Deputy minister of industry and trade Tran Tuan Anh said this at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s monthly meeting held in Hanoi yesterday.

At the meeting, the MoIT’s Planning Department reported that the index of industrial production (IIP) in March had a month-on-month increase of 23.8 per cent and a year-on-year surge of 6.2 per cent.

The IIP, in the first quarter, gained a year-on-year growth rate of 6.3 per cent, the department said.

Vu Ba Phu, head of the Planning Department, said that in the first quarter, some industries achieved high growth rate in the IIP, which included metal production with a rate of 23.1 per cent, paper production at 14.8 per cent and textile at 12 per cent.

The industries also saw high consumption in the first quarter against the same period of last year such as beverage, textile, metal production and medicine production, Phu said. But some other industrial products such as garment, paper and transport vehicles saw reduction in consumption.

However, Phu said the growth rate at 6.3 per cent in the IIP for the first quarter was low against an increase of 9.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 mainly due to reduction in crude oil exploitation and low growth rate in production from groups of electronic products, computer and electric products.

Low electricity supply volume in the industrial and construction fields affected the economy.

Phu said that in the next few months, the world crude oil price was expected to stay at low so that was a good chance for industrial entrepreneurs to restructure their production and business, cut production costs and improve quality of products before crude oil prices recover.

In addition, prices of some services for production such as warehouses and transport would decrease against the same period to create favourable conditions for production and business of the enterprises, he said.

Especially, enterprises should strengthen their traditional markets, expand potential markets, actively look for human and financial resources, and have investment in technologies for developing material suppliers, he said.

Deputy minister of industry and trade Tran Tuan Anh said that the enterprises under the ministry should follow global and local markets and consult state offices to solve difficulties in production and business of local firms, and promote exports in the future.

They should also improve competitiveness, reform technology and promote restructuring, Anh said, while the state would develop policies to attract foreign investment, improve domestic production skills and increase exports.

Price index

The price index of industrial production fell during the first quarter of this year by 0.73 per cent quarter-on-quarter, and 1.01 per cent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The reduction of the price index in the first quarter was partly due to lower prices of all three major industrial products, including mining products, which dropped 3.9 per cent against the previous quarter, processing and manufacturing products, which fell 0.13 per cent, and electricity and electric distribution, which was down 1.35 per cent.

The office said that another reason for the decrease in the IIP was price reduction in crude oil and iron ore on the world markets.

However, the price index for the group making up clean water, waste water, and waste water and rubbish treatment, increased by 0.41 per cent quarter-on-quarter, the office said.