Selamat Hari Raya Haji to those who celebrate it!
Asia Roundup
Guangzhou State Firm to Buy Secondhand Homes to Support Property Market
Guangzhou has unveiled a plan for a state-owned housing company to buy secondhand homes directly from individual owners, extending government support for China’s struggling property market into the resale segment, Caixin reported.
The program marks a shift from earlier measures adopted in many Chinese cities, where state-owned companies primarily purchased unsold new homes from developers. Guangzhou’s initiative will test whether public capital can help revive transactions in aging urban housing stock.
IMF Approves $695 Million Program Funding for Sri Lanka
The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that it approved about $695 million in funding to Sri Lanka under a $2.9 billion program, Reuters reported.
The funds will increase Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves, which dipped 3.8% to $6.7 billion at the end of April from the prior month as the island nation grapples with soaring energy prices as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran.
Mongolia’s Bogd Bank Issues $75 Million Bond
Mongolia’s Bogd Bank has issued a $75 million bond with a three-year tenor and a fixed annual coupon rate of 9.50%, according to its LinkedIn post. The bond was listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange in Austria.
The bond proceeds will be used to support Bogd Bank’s core business expansion, particularly increasing financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as supporting the growing needs of the export, trade, manufacturing and private sectors, according to the bank.
Singapore Hands Byju’s Founder His First Ever Jail Term
The founder of failed Indian technology firm Byju’s was sentenced to six months in jail by a Singapore court for contempt, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Byju Raveendran was ordered to serve jail time after the court said he had disobeyed multiple orders related to his assets dating back to April 2024. It’s the first time a judge has threatened to imprison the once high-flying entrepreneur, who founded one of India’s highest-profile tech startups before a post-Covid slump pummeled the business.
Indonesia Roundup
War Stress Pushes Indonesia, Thailand to Lean on Short-Term Debt
Southeast Asia’s two biggest economies are selling more short-term debt to cope with the stress from the US-Iran war, draining liquidity from broader markets, Bloomberg reported.
Indonesia’s central bank has stepped up issuance of rupiah bills to attract foreign inflows to support the rupiah, which has hit record lows and become Asia’s worst-performing currency this quarter. In Thailand, the government is leaning more on short-term notes as it pushes ahead with a controversial emergency borrowing plan.
Wilmar Shares Tumble 10.5% in Early Trade Amid Indonesia Probe
Shares of Wilmar International fell as much as 10.5% in early trading, The Business Times reported. The company is among 10 crude palm oil (CPO) exporters under investigation for suspected under-invoicing and transfer-pricing practices.
Indonesia’s Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said that the companies shipped or sold CPO to trading firms in Singapore, which then resold the cargo to the US after price mark-ups of as much as 50%, raising concerns that a portion of export value may have been moved offshore.
Acrostics Asia is an independent credit intelligence provider that delivers forward-looking insights across Asian sovereigns, private credit and restructurings.