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CANBERRA, June 16 (Xinhua) — Asia\’s economy, including Australia and New Zealand, will be about 50 percent larger in five years, accounting for more than a third of world output, Australian Associated Press (AAP) quoted IMF as saying on Wednesday.

The Finance & Development Magazine of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for June released in Washington on Tuesday also said in 20 years\’ time, Asian gross domestic product (GDP) will exceed that of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrial economies — the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Italy.

\”The possibility that Asia could become the world\’s largest economic region by 2030 is not idle speculation,\” IMF\’s director of Asia and Pacific Development Annop Singh said in his article Asia – Leading the Way.

\”It seems very plausible, based on what Asia has already achieved in (two) decades.\”

This included Asia\’s emerging economies doubling their share of world trade and tripling their share of world gross domestic product (GDP).

China and India, Australia\’s No 1 trading partner and its third export destination, respectively, have been leading the way.

But the \”phenomenon\” is by no means limited to these two countries, Singh said, adding that Asia\’s economic importance is \” unmistakable and palpable\”.

Asia has been making a stronger contribution to the global recovery than any other region and, in contrast to previous episodes, recovery in many Asian countries was being driven by two engines, exports and strong domestic demand.

This in part reflects policy stimulus, but also resilient private demand.

Asia was not heavily exposed to the kinds of toxic securities that were at the center of global financial crisis, but its exports were hurt by the collapse in demand from advanced economies.

\”The impact of the external shock was mitigated for countries with large domestic demand bases, such as China, India, and Indonesia, and some of the commodity producers, such as Australia, \” Singh said.

By the end of 2009, economies across the region rebounded strongly, and output and exports had returned to pre-crisis levels in most of Asia, including in the hardest-hit economies.

\”Although there are still near-term risks in the outlook, in many ways Asia is emerging from the recession with its standing in the world strengthened,\” Singh wrote.

\”The risks include Asia\’s – and other regions\’ – vulnerability to renewed negative shocks to global growth and financial markets. \”

But, Singh said, countries across the region have strengthened their monetary and fiscal policy frameworks, while boosting domestic demand and deepening financial linkages with other economies.

The development of infrastructure to boost growth potential is going ahead rapidly in many countries and barriers to trade are being lifted \”in ways that will allow more people to enjoy the gains from international trade\”, Singh noted.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 (Xinhua) Malaysia\’s Industrial Production Index in April increased by 10.1 percent as compared with April 2009.

This was due to the increases in all indices, namely Manufacturing (14.3 percent), Mining (0.8 percent) and Electricity (12.1 percent), the Malaysian Statistics Department said.

In its latest release, the department said that the manufacturing output in April had increased by 14.3 percent against April 2009 due to rises in various groups.

Among them were electrical and electronics Products (40.1 percent), wood products (26.8 percent), non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (26.3 percent).

In the mining sector, the increase of 0.8 percent was due to the increase in the natural gas index (13.8 percent).

Although the crude oil index decreased by 4.5 percent, the increase in the natural gas index outweighed the decrease.

HONG KONG, June 17 (Xinhua) — U.S.-based State Street Corporation, one of the world\’s leading providers of financial services to institutional investors, said here Wednesday that it was appointed as global custodian and trading service provider to the Guotai Nasdaq-100 Index Fund, which is managed by leading Chinese securities firm Guotai.

The Guotai Nasdaq-100 Index Fund was the first fund in China\’s mainland to track the performance of an overseas index. China Construction Bank, the country\’s third largest commercial bank, would act as local custodian for the fund.

State Street said in a statement that it would offer a range of integrated investment servicing solutions to the fund, including global custody, fund accounting, investment compliance reporting services, foreign exchange and portfolio research and trading solutions.

\”This opportunity is historic for Chinese investors to invest in Nasdaq-listed companies,\” said Sau Kwan, managing director and senior vice president of State Street in Hong Kong.

The Guotai Nasdaq-100 index opened for subscription on March 22, becoming the first index-linked financial product to offer Chinese investors access to stocks listed on an overseas exchange.

Investments will be conducted through the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program, through which Chinese investors can invest in foreign capital markets.

Guotai Asset Management received a 700 million-U.S.-dollar investment quota under QDII earlier this year.

The Guotai NASDAQ-100 Index would help Chinese investors access to component stocks of the Nasdaq-100, to an exchange traded fund of that index, and to money market instruments and other approved financial instruments.

The Nasdaq-100 comprises many of the world\’s largest non- financial stocks. Guotai Asset Management has an exclusive licensing agreement with Nasdaq-OMX Group to use the Nasdaq-100 Index in development of financial products in China.

State Street Corporation has been actively involving in China\’s financial landscape since 1997, working with many leading financial institutions including China Construction Bank for which it acts as a global partner serving the QDII sector.

In 2005 it established its first presence on China\’s mainland when it opened a representative office in Beijing.

With 19 trillion U.S. dollars in assets under custody and administration and 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars in assets under management by the end of March this year, State Street operates in 25 countries and more than 100 geographic markets worldwide, according to the statement.

? ?A woman walks by a sale advertising poster in Beijing, capital of China, May 11, 2010.? (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhuanet) — Faster-than-expected export growth in May is unlikely to prompt the government to have a major rethink of its current policies on trade and the currency.

Yao Jian, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said the \”stability\” of China\’s trading policy is \”paramount\”, given the murky economic situation in Europe, which is China\’s biggest trade partner.

He said robust exports in May were mainly a result of orders booked before the deepening of Europe\’s debt crisis.

\”In the next few months, the negative impact of Europe\’s debt crisis on Chinese exports may gradually show up,\” Yao said on Saturday.

China\’s exports surged by nearly 50 percent in May year-on-year, exceeding most analysts\’ forecasts and producing a monthly trade surplus of $19.5 billion. Exports to the European Union were up 34.4 percent in the month from a year earlier, while exports to the United States rose 24.8 percent.

The exceptional performance of the trade sector has reignited foreign pressure on China to kickstart its foreign exchange regime reform, which some predict will take place in the wake of the G20 meeting in Canada next week. The yuan has remained largely unchanged since July 2008 against the dollar, after it rose by 20 percent from 2005, to help enterprises weather the global financial crisis.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday that the \”distortions\” in China\’s currency policy are spreading far beyond its borders, adding that currency reform was critically important for the United States and the global economy.

US Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, said on Wednesday that lawmakers intend to move forward in the next two weeks with a bill that would punish Beijing for currency policies that critics say destroy Americans\’ livelihoods.

China experts, however, said Beijing is unlikely to greatly alter its exchange rate policy based on the spectacular export growth last month.

\”I don\’t think the export figure alone will force the Chinese government to accelerate the appreciation of the yuan,\” said Lian Ping, chief economist of Bank of Communications. He said high export growth cannot continue in months ahead as the impact of the European crisis on the Chinese economy is set to magnify.

Yao reiterated that a rising yuan cannot solve the trade imbalance between China and the United States.

He also said that the recent wave of wage rise demands in South China is not likely to affect the country\’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.

According to figures from the commerce ministry released on Saturday, actually utilized FDI rose 27.48 percent to $8.13 billion in May, the 10th consecutive monthly rise.

SHANGHAI, June 2 (Xinhua) — China\’s second largest online games company Shanda Games announced Wednesday that its first quarter revenue grew by 10 percent and net profit 7 percent, due to increased demand for its games.

The company\’s total revenue in the first quarter of 2010 was 1.143 billion yuan (167 million U.S. dollars), up by 10 percent year on year. Its net profit hit 329 million yuan, up seven percent from the same period last year.

Sales of multi-player online role-playing games made up 90 percent of the revenue, or 1.023 billion yuan.

\”We managed to attract new players for \’The Legend of Mir 2,\’ which drove our revenue up,\” said Tan Qunzhao, chief executive officer of Shanda Games.

Shanda Games, one of three subsidiaries of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited, contributed 87 percent of its parent company\’s first quarter revenue of 1.32 billion yuan.

In a new move by Shanda Interactive, it will buy the recorded and wireless value-added services business of Hurray Holding Co. Ltd for 36.9 million U.S. dollars, and Hurray will purchase Shanda\’s online audio business.

Statistics showed online game revenue amounted to 7.92 billion yuan in China in the first quarter of 2010, up by 28.7 percent year on year. Shanda Games has a 19.4 percent share of the market.

BEIJING, June 2 –?Multinational ?firms are expected to increase procurement value by 30 percent in Shanghai this year, thanks to the recovering economy and their expansion plans in China, a United States-based business-to-business media firm said yesterday.

In 2010, multinationals, including Wal-Mart, Honeywell and Dell, will spend US$50 billion on procurement in Shanghai, an annual increase of 30 percent, according to Global Sources.

\”The booming demand of Chinese consumers hasn\’t changed despite the uncertainties in the global economy,\” Tommy Wong, general manager of Global Sources Exhibitions, said at a press conference for the China Sourcing Fair: Electronics.

\”Shanghai has become China\’s most vibrant sourcing hub thanks to location and its economy,\” Wong added.

China\’s retail market value is set to grow 79 percent annually from 2009 to 20.8 trillion yuan (US$3.06 trillion) in 2014. The value of the electronics market will jump 55.8 percent to 1.38 trillion yuan in the period, according to the China Retail Report.

Dell, the world\’s No. 2 PC maker, plans to increase procurement in China from US$23 billion in 2008 to US$25 billion this year.

Asian consumer electronics markets, led by China, will account for 36 percent of the global market next year from 34 percent now, according to the US Consumer Electronics Association.

More than 3,000 Chinese retailers, including Bailian Group, Trust-Mart and Wangfujing Store, have set up procurement offices in Shanghai, Global Sources said.

The fair, which opens today in Shanghai, boasts more than 460 booths displaying the latest consumer electronics, computers, telecommunication and GPS products.

(Source: ShanghaiDaily.com)

BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) — China\’s stock index futures opened higher Thursday, with all of the four contracts up from the previous trading day.

The contract for settlement in June, which is most actively traded, rose 23.4 points to open at 2,799.8.

The contract expiring in July went up 21.8 points to open at 2,811.2.

The September contract opened at 2,845.4, up 22.6 points from the previous trading day.

The December contract added 22.4 points to open at 2,894.8.

The stock-index contracts, agreements to buy or sell the Hushen 300 Index at a present value on an agreed date, are designed to allow investors to bet on and profit from both gains and declines in the market.

The index futures was launched at the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) and started trading from April 16, 2010. The CFFEX has set the base value for all the four contracts at 3,399 points.

BEIJING, June 1 — China\’s first special economic zone (SEZ) of Shenzhen has finally received approval to expand from the central government, Shenzhen\’s Party chief and acting mayor Wang Rong said.

According to Wang, the central government will soon announce the expansion of the SEZ to include the entire city in a bid to accommodate its rapidly growing economy.

Wang\’s government work report, which he delivered on Monday at the annual plenary meeting of the city legislative body, highlighted plans for investing in areas outside the SEZ to redress existing imbalances in income, opportunity and quality of life.

Historically, the city has been divided into two parts, one of which is the SEZ. In addition to occupying one-fifth, or 400 sq km, of the city\’s total area, it benefits from preferential policies and has relatively independent legislative rights.

Shenzhen submitted its application to expand the SEZ last October.

Wang views the forthcoming integration of areas outside of the SEZ as a gift from the central government on the 30th anniversary of the founding of Shenzhen SEZ later this year.

He said the desired expansion approval from the government will provide fresh impetus to the local economy, as the government will support its efforts to raise the underdeveloped districts outside the SEZ to the same level.

Research conducted by the Shenzhen branch of the China Zhi Gong Dang, one of the country\’s eight non-Communist parties, found the industrial value generated by every square kilometer of land outside the SEZ was only one-fifth of that inside the zone.

Wang noted that while receiving expansion approval was a milestone for the city, the project itself will take several years to complete.

He said in his report that the municipal government will invest in infrastructure, as well as work toward improving the management and performance of public services in the districts outside the current SEZ.

It will build four satellite towns, including Guangming, Longhua, Dayun and Pingshan, which are expected to take shape by 2015.

During the same period, substantial progress is also expected in developing the areas of the Dapeng Peninsular and Qianhai.

(Source: China Daily)

VANCOUVER, May 31 (Xinhua) — Canada needed to diversify its traditional offerings of mineral and wood product exports into direct investment if it was going to make a greater impact in China, the head of the country\’s export credit agency said Monday.

At a breakfast meeting of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada in Vancouver, Eric Seigel, president and CEO of Export Development Canada (EDC), an agency that assists more than 8,400 Canadian companies doing business abroad, said the credit crunch and the result of the global economic recession demonstrated that companies needed to diversify their customer base and production networks.

Canada, in particular, remained dependent on the United States, its largest trading partner. Last year, despite America being the \”epicenter of a global financial meltdown,\” Seigel said his country shipped 75 percent of its merchandising exports to its southern neighbor, down from 87 percent in 2002.

In contrast, Canadian goods going to China accounted for only 1.1 percent of all merchandise exported into the country over the past five years. The story was similar in exports to India and Vietnam.

\”The bottom line is Canadian exports to Asia are not keeping up with the growth in imports,\” said Siegel, who will visit Shanghai and Beijing later this week to talk about the EDC\’s key relations with China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation and China Development Bank, among others, and funds the agency has invested in to help bring Canadian capital into the Chinese market.

\”Imagine what could happen if large industrialized markets accounted for just over half of Canada\’s exports, and emerging markets took up the remaining space,\” he said. \”In place of the 6.5 percent average growth seen from 2004 to 2008, Canadian merchandise exports could easily have expanded by 10 percent annually.\”

\”Diversification would have partially cushioned the recessionary blows that exports suffered last year,\” he said.

While the increased exports would be dramatic, he said it could possibly add one percent to Canada\’s annual GDP growth.

But exports were not the sole means for Canada to benefit from high-growth Asian markets, Siegel said, adding that direct investment gave Canada access to markets in which the country\’s exports would not be competitive.

\”Investing abroad lets companies improve productivity by establishing a presence to ensure integrity and efficiency of their business value chain.\” he said.

Similar to its export activities, Canada\’s direct foreign investment, despite being higher than the Group of 8 (G8) countries average, was still heavily tied to the United States. Since 2004, more than half of its foreign direct investment had gone stateside.

The ratio of Canada\’s total trade to the size of the economy has also been slipping, the opposite of what has been happening to its G8 competition and in emerging markets such as China.

\”For many, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, it\’s a pre-requisite to gaining access to, or becoming part of global supply chains,\” Seigel said. \”Direct investments provide an opportunity to achieve investment returns by tying directly into the growth and wealth generation of foreign economies.\”