Asia Roundup
China’s Youth Unemployment Crunch Deepens as Record Graduation Season Looms
Despite China’s stronger-than-expected first-quarter economic growth, young jobseekers found little respite as March brought a rise in youth unemployment across urban areas, South China Morning Post reported.
The jobless rate for the 16-to-24 age group, excluding students, edged up to 16.9% in March from 16.1% in February, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
India Bond Clearing House Said to Apply for European Recognition
India’s sovereign debt clearinghouse sent an application to European authorities to be recognized as a permitted trading counterparty, potentially paving the way for lenders like Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas to trade bonds more easily in the country, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the developments.
The Clearing Corp. of India sent an application earlier this month to the European Securities and Markets Authority for recognition under European market infrastructure guidelines. A final decision is yet to be made.
Malaysian Billionaire Brothers’ IOI Properties to Buy Prime Singapore Office Tower for $2 Billion
IOI Properties Group – controlled by Malaysian billionaire brothers Lee Yeow Chor and Lee Yeow Seng – is buying a prime office building in Singapore for SGD 2.5 billion (USD 2 billion), expanding its footprint in one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets, Forbes reported.
The Bursa Malaysia-listed developer will acquire 100% stake of Asia Square Tower 2, located in the center of Marina Bay financial district, from CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust.
Wilmar Shareholder Questions Board’s Performance After Costly Legal Woes
A strongly worded submission from a minority investor over Wilmar International’s costly legal troubles questioned whether its board has the independence to safeguard shareholder interests, The Straits Times reported.
Wilmar’s unnamed minority shareholder said severe regulatory penalties in legal cases in the past year have “further exposed” what the shareholder described as a board that had become “deeply insular and rigid”, and was “living in a comfortable bubble”.
The shareholder acknowledged recent moves to reshuffle board committees, but said these did not go far enough, arguing that “moving the same faces around does not create true independence” if the board remains a “stagnant group” where “complacency and groupthink inevitably set in”.
The shareholder noted that despite directors being “among the most highly remunerated”, investors were still dealing with legal issues, a rising debt profile and reduced dividends.
Indonesia Roundup
Indonesia Stocks Slide After MSCI Delays High-Stakes Review
Shares tied to some of Indonesia’s wealthiest individuals dragged the equity benchmark lower after MSCI extended its review to June and warned that tightly held stocks could be dropped from its indexes, Bloomberg reported.
The Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.5%, the worst performer in Asia, with Barito Renewables Energy and Dian Swastatika Sentosa among the worst hit. Both stocks fell over 9% each on Tuesday, after the index compiler said in a statement that it would exclude securities flagged under Indonesia’s new high shareholding concentration framework.
Indonesia Declines Multi-Billion-Dollar Loan Offers from IMF and World Bank
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa revealed on Tuesday that the Indonesian government has declined loan offers from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group, Jakarta Globe reported.
During the recent Spring Meetings in the United States, the IMF offered a credit facility ranging between $25 billion and $35 billion, the minister said. However, Purbaya said the government opted to bypass the offer, citing a substantial budget surplus carried over from the previous fiscal year.
“We do not currently require these funds because I have a reserve of approximately $27 billion for our own needs; our fiscal condition remains secure,” Purbaya said.
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