04/03/2025

BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAR 4, 2025

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Indonesia records deflation, first in over two decades

Asian markets climb on hopes of huge China stimulus package HONG KONG: Asian markets climbed yesterday on hopes that China will announce a huge stimulus package that will help offset US President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs against Chinese goods. Investors were also watching for any last-ditch deals to ward off the levies hitting Mexico, Canada and China due to come into force today. Trump has confirmed 25% tariffs on products from Mexico and Canada, and further imposed another 10% on Chinese goods from this week. “Traders are on edge for last-minute negotiations to sidestep US tariffs,” said Stephen Innes, an analyst from SPI Asset Management. “In Asia, all eyes are on China’s National People’s Congress, where traders are betting on a fiscal boost to counter the drag from US tariffs and keep China’s blistering 2024 equity rally alive,” he said. Ahead of the key Chinese parliamentary meeting opening tomorrow, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei climbed more than 1%, while Shanghai was also up. Chinese stocks were boosted in part by data released on Saturday that showed manufacturing activity grew in February after a dip the previous month. Hong Kong was helped by the blockbuster IPO of bubble-tea and drinks giant Mixue Group, which saw its shares jump 40%. – AFP 7-Eleven Japan owner to replace CEO, say reports TOKYO: 7-Eleven’s owner is set to replace its CEO as the Japanese convenience store giant battles a US$47 billion (RM210 billion) takeover bid by Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT), reports said yesterday. Last week Seven & i said its founding family failed to put together a buyout to fend off ACT’s offer, which would be the largest foreign acquisition of a Japan firm. Japan’s Nikkei business daily and other media reported that Seven & i’s president Ryuichi Isaka would be replaced by outside director Stephen Hayes Dacus. Dacus, who has also worked for Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing and the Japanese arm of Walmart, would also be Seven & i’s first foreign CEO. A formal decision will be made at a board meeting, the reports said, citing sources familiar with the matter. Dacus currently heads a special committee tasked with evaluating ACT’s bid, which the Canadian firm has already sweetened. Dacus and the committee are expected over the next few weeks to unveil strategic proposals to increase the company’s value ahead of an annual shareholder meeting in May, the Financial Times reported. “There have been reports in some news media regarding the management of Seven & i,”the company said in a statement. “However this information was not announced by the company and no decision has been made by the company at this time,“ it said. – AFP

production in the last two months recovered from the impact of a drought last year. “This (deflation) was not due to weaker purchasing power, but because of the discounted electricity tariffs,” Statistics Indonesia chief statistician Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said in a press conference. The core inflation rate, which strips out government-controlled prices and volatile food prices, picked up slightly to an annual 2.48%, compared to 2.42% expected by analysts and a rate of 2.36% in January. The CPI is expected to rise again starting March as the discounted

electricity tariffs end, but will remain low with new government policies to give discounts for air fares and toll roads during the Ramadan holiday, Bank Danamon economist Hosianna Situmorang said. With that stimulus, she expected GDP to grow at 5.1% to 5.2% this year, in line with the government’s target of 5.2%. Last year, the economy grew 5.03%. With inflation low, Bank Indonesia may have an opportunity to further reduce rates, but global market volatility may be the bigger consideration for the central bank. – Reuters

o February CPI fell 0.09% year-on-year due to 50% discount in electricity tariffs

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s consumer price index fell for the first time in more than two decades in February, official data showed yesterday, after the government gave a substantial discount on electricity bills to support economic growth. The consumer price index fell 0.09% year-on-year last month, the first annual measure of deflation since March 2000, and well below market expectations for 0.60% inflation. Thailand drops 50m baht entry rule for locals in casino plan BANGKOK: Thailand has dropped plans to limit casino access to citizens with assets of at least 50 million baht (RM6.7 million) because it would exclude too many people, a deputy finance minister said yesterday, as the government looks to build a major gaming industry. The draft law now proposes that Thai nationals with a three-year tax history will be able to enter the planned casinos, instead of being required to have held at least 50 million baht in fixed deposits for six months, Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat told reporters. “This criteria would not be able to solve illegal gambling,” he said, noting there were only 10,000 deposit accounts in the country with more than 50 million baht. “That means more than 70 million people won’t be able to enter casinos.” A proposed casino entry fee of 5,000 baht remains in the draft law, which will be submitted to Cabinet for approval and then sent to Parliament before the current session ends on April 11, Julapun said. Thailand allows gambling on state-controlled horse racing, the lottery, and on some sports such as boxing. Other forms of gambling are illegal, but illicit betting is rife. Domestic gamblers were seen as an important draw for foreign investors, who are closely watching details of the draft casino law, analysts say. A Citi report last year estimated that about half of Thais aged 20 and above could be casino players, providing a base for the country to potentially become the world’s third largest gambling destination. The Thai government hopes to attract at least 100 billion baht in new investment, lift foreign visitor numbers by 5% to 10%, and generate revenue of more than 12 billion baht a year. – Reuters

It was the second month in a row the annual CPI rate has come in below the central bank’s inflation target range of 1.5% to 3.5%. January’s inflation rate was 0.76%. Among the top contributors to the annual deflation were utilities, due to a 50% discount on electricity tariffs for some customers in January and February. Lower prices of some food products such as rice, tomatoes and red chillies also contributed, as food

A banner displaying the AI deepfake detector created by Honor at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. – REUTERSPIC Honor bets on ‘intelligent phone’

BARCELONA: Chinese smartphone maker Honor said on Sunday it was working on an AI-powered“intelligent phone”, adding that it would invest US$10 billion (RM45 billion) into artificial intelligence collaborations. In a statement ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) that opens in Barcelona this week, Honor said the future device would include a“personal mobile AI agent”able to carry out tasks like making restaurant reservations. The “envisioned” phone is part of Honor’s push to become a “leading AI device ecosystem company”, it said. AI “agents” are the latest trend in the emerging technology. Industry giants such as OpenAI are promising tools that will take tasks like scheduling and research off human hands – although for now the services mostly still require significant user supervision and input.

Honor said partnerships it announced on Sunday with both Google Cloud and smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm would boost its AI agent efforts. Beyond agents, Honor said it would use AI to improve the quality of photos snapped with the company’s handsets. The firm also plans on-device features to detect AI-generated “deepfakes”, or images and video featuring the likenesses of real people. And it announced new laptop and tablet models integrating the company’s latest AI tools. MWC is often the venue for new model announcements, with competitor Xiaomi on Sunday trailing its latest flagship phone offering high-quality photography with a Leica camera. Honor recently replaced its chief executive in the run-up to an

independent stock market flotation for the company. New boss Jian Li said in Sunday’s statement that he expected AI to “reshape the paradigm of the device industry”. He added that global tech firms needed to “open up our industry boundaries and co-create” the AI ecosystem, vowing US$10 billion of investment into such collaborations over the coming five years. Scoring internationally with high-end phones and foldable devices, Honor was spun off in 2020 from tech heavyweight Huawei as it suffered under US trade sanctions. Honor has in recent months shored up support from other Chinese giants, including a deal for cloud services with Tencent and selling a stake to leading network operator China Mobile. – AFP