Indonesia Central Bank Holds Rates as It Eyes Rupiah, Trade Risks

Indonesia’s central bank hit the pause button again, holding rates steady after a surprise cut last month as it monitors currency headwinds and rising external risks, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Indonesia kept its benchmark seven-day reverse repo rate at 5.75% on Wednesday, in a decision analysts had expected to be a close one. Five out of seven economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a hold, while two had projected a 25-basis-point cut.
Indonesia
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In Balancing Risks and Rewards, China Set to Leave Lending Rates Unchanged in Feb

China is expected to leave its benchmark lending rates unchanged on Thursday, a Reuters poll showed, as authorities walk a fine line between prioritising financial stability and providing more stimulus at a time when Beijing is facing fresh trade tensions. The central bank has adopted a cautious approach in recent cash injection despite a shift to an "appropriately loose" monetary policy stance this year, as yuan weakness and narrowing net profit margins at lenders limit its easing efforts.
China
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IBC Recovery Hovers at 31 Percent as More Cases Get Liquidated

Lenders continue to take deeper haircuts/losses from the insolvency and bankruptcy process which has from day-one been plagued by ordinate delays due to frequent adjournments of hearings which is largely blamed on the collusion between ex-promoters and resolution professionals. As a result, the average haircut that lenders are forced to take hovers around 70% as of the December quarter when overall recovery stood at 31.4%, the New Indian Express reported.
India
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Thai Airways Set to Emerge From Debt With Plan to Double Fleet

Five years after Thai Airways International Pcl filed for bankruptcy protection, the state-controlled carrier’s court-appointed debt administrator Piyasvasti Amranand is planning an aggressive international expansion, Bloomberg News reported. Called out of semi-retirement in 2020 by Thailand’s then-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, Piyasvasti was asked to take the controls of the airline and devise a rescue after the carrier had posted losses every year from 2013.
Thailand
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Japan Braces for BOJ to Lift Rates Sooner and Higher

Hawkish comments from the Bank of Japan and sticky inflation are lifting bond yields to multi-year highs and pushing forward rate hike expectations, shaking long-held views that rates would not rise much in the historically deflation-prone economy, Reuters reported. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities said on Monday that it now expects the BOJ to raise interest rates to 0.75% in July from 0.5% currently, instead of in October-December.
Japan
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