Banks in China are foreclosing on a growing number of apartments after homeowners could not pay their mortgages, as the country’s housing crash threatens the financial system, the New York Times reported. The roster of homes seized and listed for auction leaped 43 percent last year, according to official data. Numerous Chinese banks have disclosed increases in mortgage defaults during the first half of this year. The downward spiral in apartment prices has since accelerated. The legal system is struggling to keep up with evictions.
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A threat by Donald Trump, who has been elected as the next U.S. president, to impose 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods poses major growth risks for the world's second-largest economy, Reuters reported. Not only are the tariff rates much higher than the 7.5%-25% levied on China during his first term, the economy is also in a much more vulnerable position. In 2018, the property market was strong, driving about a quarter of China's economic activity. That meant local government finances, heavily reliant on auctioning land for residential projects, were not questioned so forcefully.
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Indonesia plans to cancel as much as $550 million of bad loans owed by small businesses to drive new lending and boost growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. President Prabowo Subianto signed a regulation on Tuesday that paves the way for state-owned lenders such as PT Bank Mandiri and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia to forgive as much as 8.7 trillion rupiah ($550 million) of troubled loans of small businesses, especially those in agriculture and fishery. Regulators still need to work out what types of loans could be forgiven, he added.
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Malaysia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at the same level it has been at since May last year, as a stable economic backdrop gives policymakers room to hang tight, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Negara Malaysia on Wednesday maintained its overnight policy rate at 3.00%. The central bank reiterated that its stance remains supportive of the economy and in line with its assessment of inflation and growth. Economists had largely expected another rate hold, as Malaysia’s inflation has remained under control and its growth trajectory intact.
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The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has proposed that operational creditors such as vendors and service providers, which account for the largest number of admitted cases, should have the option of exploring mediation with a defaulting company before dragging them to overburdened tribunals, Mint reported. If mediation fails, the operational creditors may approach a tribunal, the bankruptcy rule-maker said in a discussion paper brought out on Monday.
Australia’s central bank held its key interest rate at a 13-year high on Tuesday, aiming to keep up the pressure on stubbornly sticky inflation while joining much of the world in waiting for the outcome of US elections, Bloomberg reported. As expected, the Reserve Bank left its cash rate at 4.35%, marking a year at that level, and restated that it isn’t “ruling anything in or out” on policy. The RBA’s board highlighted the “high level of uncertainty” about the international outlook. Underlying inflation “remains too high,” the rate-setting board said in a statement.
Japanese manufacturers were less confident about business conditions in November than in October, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Wednesday, as China's economic slowdown and a persistently high rate of inflation soured sentiment, Reuters reported. Confidence in the service sector also eased for the fifth consecutive month to its lowest since February 2023 due to rising costs and a shortage of labor, the poll showed. Both manufacturers and non-manufacturers cited a particularly volatile foreign exchange market as a concern.
Philippine inflation quickened within market expectations in October, giving the central bank room to sustain its easing cycle, Bloomberg reported. Consumer prices rose 2.3% year-on-year in October, matching median economists forecast in a Bloomberg survey and falling within the central bank’s estimate of 2% to 2.8% for the month. Food inflation accelerated as rice price gains snapped a downtrend due to base effects. While inflation ticked up after decelerating in September, average inflation for the past ten months was at 3.3%, still within the central bank’s 2%-to-4% goal.
TGI Fridays Malaysia has assured customers that the local franchise restaurants will continue operating as usual and remains unaffected by the recent chapter 11 filing by TGI Fridays Inc. in the U.S., Business Today reported. Craveat International Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Techna-X Berhad, the Master franchisee and developer for TGI Fridays Malaysia, operates under a franchise agreement with TGI Fridays Franchisor, LLC, which it said is separate from TGI Fridays Inc. and is not impacted by this restructuring in the U.S., it said in a statement today.
China has moved forward with a complaint at the World Trade Organization that alleges the European Union has improperly set anti-subsidy tariffs on new Chinese-made electric vehicles, the Associated Press reported. The Chinese diplomatic mission to the WTO said Monday it “strongly opposes” the measures and insisted its move was designed to protect the EV industry and support a global transition toward greener technologies.