Asia Pacific

Indonesia has opened a six-month window until May 2025 for certain businesses to receive full loan forgiveness from state banks, a policy that aims to boost loan and economic growth, according to details of a new regulation, Reuters reported. Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto last week signed off on a government regulation that allows state lenders to fully write off bad debts of certain micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which are major contributors to Indonesia's gross domestic product.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday signed a law that lowers corporate income taxes and boosts incentives for businesses, in a bid to spur more investment into one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, Bloomberg News reported. The Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy, or CREATE MORE Act, reduces the corporate income tax rate for businesses registered with investment agencies to 20% from 25%.

Thailand is set to appoint former Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong as the new Bank of Thailand chairman, a sign of the government seeking to tighten its grip over the central bank with which it has sparred over monetary policy and inflation targets, Bloomberg News reported. Kittiratt, a critic of the BOT’s hawkish monetary policy and a former member of the ruling Pheu Thai party, was picked as the new chairman at a near five-hour meeting of the selection panel on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. Thai media earlier reported that Kittiratt was selected.

Several lawmakers are considering the formation of a special committee to investigate the recent bankruptcy ruling against Sritex, Indonesia’s largest textile company, which could potentially lead to tens of thousands of job losses, JakartaGlobe.id reported. Members of the House of Representatives' Commission VII on industry and the creative economy revealed the plan during a visit to Sritex’s factory in Sukoharjo Regency, Central Java, on Thursday.

Investors who won a $16 billion judgment against Argentina over its nationalization of energy firm YPF SA more than a decade ago are open to receiving payment in bonds instead of cash, Bloomberg News reported. Burford Capital, a litigation funder that’s the biggest stakeholder in the case, would accept sovereign bonds or other marketable securities, considering the Argentine central bank’s depleted foreign reserves, the people noted, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

China unveiled a 10 trillion yuan ($1.40 trillion) debt package on Friday to ease local government financing strains and stabilise flagging economic growth, as it faces fresh pressure from the re-election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, Reuters reported. The measures confirm last week's Reuters report, and mark a departure from the all-out stimulus strategies to revive growth China has deployed in the past. They aim to repair municipal balance sheets as a longer-term objective, rather than directly inject money into the economy.

Chinese builder Hopson Development Holdings Ltd. is in talks for a new private loan to refinance an expired bridge facility that backed the purchase of some property in Hong Kong, Bloomberg News reported. Discussions for the new loan with Seatown Holdings Pte Ltd., a subsidiary of Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek Holdings Pte, are ongoing, the people said. Earlier this year, Hopson, whose projects include high-end residential and commercial properties in Beijing and Guangzhou, received a four month bridge loan of around $100 million to $115 million from Seatown.

Japan’s finance minister has issued a fresh warning to the currency market in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory, which sent the dollar sharply higher against the yen, the Wall Street Journal reported. “We are watching developments in the currency market, including speculative moves, with an extremely high sense of urgency,” Katsunobu Kato said at a news conference on Friday.

Turkey’s central bank raised its inflation forecasts for this year and through 2026, bringing them closer to market expectations after price gains exceeded estimates for two consecutive months, Bloomberg News reported. The latest outlook shows officials see inflation finishing this year at 44% and then reaching 21% by the end of 2025, up from their previous estimates of 38% and 14%, respectively. The revision, “though not ideal, is not a serious deviation” and the bank expects price growth at 38% in March, Governor Fatih Karahan said Friday in the capital Ankara.

An Indian state agency has banned Reliance Power from clean energy tenders for three years after finding it had used a fraudulent bank guarantee in a bidding process, with the developer now alleging that it is in fact the victim of a “conspiracy,” RechargeNews.com reported. The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) said on Wednesday it is banning Reliance Power and its units from tenders for three years after finding it had relied on a “fake” endorsement of a bank guarantee. Reliance Power is a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Group.