Macau Business Daily, April 15, 2013 by Business Daily

Year II Number 261 MOP 6.00 Monday April 15, 2013 Editor-in-chief: Tiago Azevedo Deputy editor-in-chief: Vitor Quintã www.macaubusinessdaily.com

City not ready for one person one vote: unions Macau is not ready for universal suffrage, according to Legislative Assembly member Kwan Tsui Hang, but the government should instead correct flaws in the way indirectly elected members take their seats. Ms Kwan, who is the vice-president of the Macau Federation of Trade Unions, told Business Daily there should be better communication between the assembly and the government, to speed up the process of making law.

Pages 6 & 7

Lau Si Io

‘Risks are huge’ in housing market

he government has given its strongest hint so far that more cooling measures might be applied to the housing market. Secretary for Transport and Public Works Lau Si Io said in reference to home buying: “In the current environment the risks are huge.” He declined to be more specific. Hong Kong and mainland China have recently strengthened property

market curbs. Meanwhile the Pearl Horizon private housing project in Areia Preta near the Gongbei border has already sold 2,013 out of its 5,220 flats. But that’s proved to be controversial. The government says the developer Polytex Corporation Ltd started presales without permission. The firm said it had been granted approval. More on page 5

I SSN 2226-8294

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2013-04-16

2013-04-17

19˚ 25˚

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HANG SENG INDEX 22200

22160

Citic Telecom investors Bus service subsidies: approve CTM deal hike backdated to Jan

22120

The shareholders of mainland telecommunications firm Citic Telecom International Holdings Ltd overwhelmingly voted for a deal to take control of Macau’s biggest telco Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau SARL (CTM). Citic Telecom expects to have all approvals in order by July 13. It said in a filing released last month that it might need a further 90 days for the green light from the local and central authorities. Citic Telecom has agreed to pay a total of US$1.16 billion (9.3 billion patacas) to buy out CTM’s major shareholders.

The Transport Bureau said it would revisit the public bus operators’ requests for a 23.3 percent increase in the government money they receive for their services. They asked for more cash almost 10 months ago. But at this stage the subsidy hike will be granted only to Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos de Macau (TCM) and Transportes Urbanos de Macau SARL (Transmac), said the bureau’s statement on Saturday. The city’s other operator, Reolian Public Transport Co, is yet to get its application approved.

April 12

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CTM blames undersea cable for slow Internet Page 2

Strong sales for NAPE high-end serviced flats

Chile is eyeing free-trade deal with Macau, HK Page 4

Page 8

22080

22040

22000

HSI - MOVERS Name

%Day

ESPRIT HLDGS

1.73

HENDERSON LAND D

1.29

CHINA RES POWER

1.26

HANG LUNG PROPER

1.19

CHINA OVERSEAS

1.16

CHINA COAL ENE-H

-1.53

TINGYI HLDG CO

-1.64

KUNLUN ENERGY CO

-1.82

COSCO PAC LTD

-3.22

LENOVO GROUP LTD

-6.06

Source: Bloomberg

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business daily April 15, 2013

macau

Citic Telecom approves CTM deal City University Door open for Macau and central governments to voice their opinions on acquisition Vítor Quintã

vitorquinta@macaubusinessdaily.com

Citic Telecom has agreed to buy out CTM’s major shareholders (Photo: Manuel Cardoso)

he shareholders of Citic Telecom International Holdings Ltd approved on Friday a deal to win control of the city’s biggest telecommunications operator. At an extraordinary general meeting 99.99 percent of the votes were cast in favour of the acquisition of a majority stake in Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau, SARL

(CTM), Citic Telecom said. The shareholders that voted against the deal controlled just 4,000 of the company’s 2.4 billion shares, far less than 0.01 percent, according to a filing sent to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The voting results is not surprising, considering that Citic Telecom’s parent company,

mainland Chinese conglomerate Citic Pacific Ltd, had already expressed its support for the deal. Citic Telecom’s next step will be to formally approach the governments of Macau and mainland China to require their approval for the acquisition. Da v i d C h a n Ti n W a i , C i t i c Telecom chief financial officer, told Business Daily in January that only after the shareholders’ voting would the company take this step. Macau Post, which owns a 1 percent stake in CTM, had “pre-emption rights” over the operator’s shares but said it will waiver that possibility if Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On approves the deal. Citic Telecom expects to have all approvals in order by July 13 but said in a filing released last month that it could wait for a further 90 days for the green light from the Macau and central governments. The company said in January it expects to formally close the acquisition in the second half of this year. Citic Telecom has agreed to pay a total of US$1.16 billion (9.3 billion patacas) to buy out CTM’s major shareholders, Cable & Wireless Communications Plc and Portugal Telecom SGPS SA.

still struggling for land Institution seeks new site for permanent campus, rector says Stephanie Lai

sw.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com

More than 1,000 students enrolled in City University (Photo: Manuel Cardoso)

C CTM blames slow Internet on marine cable damage Telecoms provider – fined for telephone service failures last year – quick to explain latest glitch Michael Grimes

michael.grimes@macaubusinessdaily.com

he city’s main telecoms provider Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau SARL (CTM) says a slow Internet connection experienced by local subscribers on Saturday was due to problems with an undersea cable off the Guangdong coast near Shantou. “Normal service was restored on Sunday morning,” Fiona Chou, a CTM spokesperson told Business Daily. Some customers had reported slow download speeds or needing to make multiple attempts to browse an individual webpage. “The cable was damaged near Shantou at around 10pm on the 13th of April. It impacted the supply of power to the branching unit serving Macau,” she added. “As an emergency recovery arrangement, the power is now supplied by Singapore [cable] landing station. Detailed fault location is still being followed up by the administrator [of the cable]. After the incident happened, CTM has immediately

activated a series of emergency measures, including re-routing the data transmission via other telecommunication networks.” Earlier in an e-mailed statement, the firm had said: “Due to outage [that] happened on part of [the] SEAME-WE3 submarine cable, Internet customers in Macau may experience unstable connection when accessing some international websites”. ‘SEA-ME-WE3’ stands for ‘South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3’. It’s a reference to part of a global network of around 200 sections of submarine cable that carry Internet and other communications traffic around the world. The SEAME-WE3 cable has 39 landing points worldwide, including Taipa, Macau, and Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong; as well as Shantou. Last year CTM had three service failures on its telephony services, two of which had to do with “human operation errors”, the company said. For those, CTM was fined

800,000 patacas (US$100,000) and 180,000 patacas. Damage to submarine cables is a relatively common problem in the telecoms industry. Another section of SEA-ME-WE3 was sliced on January 9 off the coast of Indonesia according to media reports. Yet another – in the Red Sea near the Horn of Africa – was cut on or about February 17, when a cargo ship dragged its anchor for a distance of 240 kilometres (150 miles). It also cut two other undersea telecoms cables. In March 2007, pirates stole an 11-kilometre (seven-mile) section of the T-V-H submarine cable connecting Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. The thieves attempted to sell the 100 tons of cable as scrap. Because of the vast distances covered by such networks – SEAME-WE3 is 39,000 kilometres long – they are maintained by telco consortia. Third party specialists, appointed by the relevant consortium after tender, normally do repairs.

ity University of Macau is still waiting for a site to build its new campus, rector Yan Zexian told media on Saturday on the sidelines of a forum on cultural and creative industries. The private university had asked to construct a new permanent campus on a site of about 300,000 square feet near Hac Sa Beach. It’s owned by legislator and head of the university board Chan Meng Kam. The new campus was designed to accommodate 6,000 fulltime students, including the establishment of a student dormitory. “Back in 2011, we intended to build the campus in Hac Sa beach and all the design plans for the university had been completed,” Mr Yan said. “But later on, the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau and the Cultural Bureau found that that the site contained ancient artefacts,” said Mr Yan. “So we have to apply for another site to build the campus, and readjust the campus design,” the rector added. When asked about the details of the new design, the head of the university board Mr Chan declined to elaborate, only stating to Business Daily that “it would be subject to the land granted by the government”. Neither Mr Chan nor the rector said where the new site is located. Currently, City University has more than 1,000 full-time students. Two of the university’s campuses are located in commercial buildings in the NAPE district, with a third one at Sam Yuk secondary school. “For sure we’ll get a permanent campus in the future,” said Mr Yan. “It is impossible for a university not to have a permanent campus, and I believe that the board will strongly support us getting one.”

April 15, 2013 business daily | 3

MACAU Photo by Manuel Cardoso

editorial

Smoke and mirrors Tiago Azevedo

tiago.azevedo@macaubusinessdaily.com

Bus service charge hike backdated to January

Transport Bureau to grant 23.3 percent subsidy increase to two bus operators – Reolian isn’t one of them Stephanie Lai

sw.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com

he Transport Bureau said it would revisit the public bus operators’ requests for a 23.3 percent increase in the government money they receive for their services. They asked for more cash almost 10 months ago. But at this stage the subsidy hike will be granted only to Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos de Macau (TCM) and Transportes Urbanos de Macau SARL (Transmac), said the bureau’s statement on Saturday. The city’s other operator, Reolian Public Transport Co, is yet to get its application approved. The Transport Bureau actually approved last June a 23.3 percent increase in the subsidies paid to the three bus operators. The decision, however, drew heavy public criticism over the operators’ service quality. It led to the government putting the administrative procedures on hold, with several voices calling for extra subsidies to be conditional on improvements such as better punctuality and greater courtesy from bus drivers. According to the contract, bus operators must submit any request for extra subsidy before June 30 in any given year, taking into consideration the consumer purchase index, as well as the costs of fuel and labour.

Though service quality was not listed as a factor for a subsidy increase, the Transport Bureau’s director, Wong Wan, had said earlier this year that all operators “agreed in principle” to peg any future service charge “adjustments” with their service quality evaluation. “On top of the contract terms, we have observed that they [TCM and Transmac] did improve the quality of their services from June to December,” a spokesperson from Transport Bureau told Business Daily. “Also, they made progress in the public satisfaction survey on their service and performed quite stably,” the spokesperson added.

Legal risk The bureau conducted two traveller satisfaction surveys last year. Reolian still failed to obtain a satisfactory grade despite gradually making progress in its service, the bureau pointed out. “Complaints on drivers’ service quality, and punctuality of the bus runs are still reflected on Reolian’s services, and for that we cannot yet resume the service charge adjustment for the operator,” the bureau said. Cedric Rigaud, Reolian’s general manager, told Business Daily yesterday: “We’re meeting

the bureau tomorrow. I hope that the bureau should also respect the contract terms, reflecting the inflation cost in our operation.” In a statement on Saturday, the Transport Bureau said the payments would be dated back to January. Bureau director Mr Wong had told media in February that the public bus operators might in theory file lawsuits unless previously blocked extra payments were backdated to June 2012. “We’re still studying all the legal issues surrounding the restart of the procedures to adjust the service charge,” the spokesperson said yesterday. Meanwhile, the three operators last week applied for their service charge to be increased also this year, the bureau confirmed. The operators have requested an average 10 percent hike in their subsidy, citing the rise in labour and fuel costs. In a second statement, the bureau said, “Currently, there are no conditions to review the latest requests”. It added that an unidentified consultant was advising the bureau on how to set up and monitor service standards for the trio of operators. “At this stage, preparation works for a trial assessment are under way,” it added.

Prison staff caught smuggling for gang leader A gang leader was allegedly able to get his hands on mobile phones while in jail, after bribing a Macau Prison worker, the graft watchdog announced on Friday. Evidence shows that “the mastermind of the crime syndicate” used the phone to instruct his associates outside of the prison to deposit money in banks accounts used to bet on football matches, the Commission Against Corruption said.

The winnings were then withdrawn and delivered to the gang leader by the civil servant surnamed Sio, according to a statement. In addition, the triad leader – who was not identified in the statement – resold the mobile phones to other inmates at prices that were 8 to 10 times higher than the market price, the watchdog said. The worker was detained on April 10 while carrying a receipt for purchasing mobile phones and

a to-buy list of other phones, the statement adds. The civil servant confessed to accepting money “for a long time” to buy and smuggle phones into the prison, the commission said. The watchdog led by Vasco Fong Man Chong “will continue to follow up the case and does not rule out the possibility of other people being involved in the crime of organised passive corruption”. V.Q.

he Health Bureau was quick to reveal last week that there were problems with air quality in the smoking zones of almost two-thirds of the city’s casinos and slot-machine parlours. After the announcement, gaming workers’ groups were swift to react and demand a full ban on smoking in casinos. While I commend the Health Bureau’s efforts, there is a need to look at the results with caution and not let ourselves be tricked by statements designed to appeal to the public. A first round of checks over six days at the end of March found 28 gaming venues had at least one indicator that did not meet the standards, “accounting for 63.6 percent of the total”, the bureau said last week. The bureau said it conducted 1,000 checks on Macau’s 44 casinos and slot-machine parlours. The testing focused on six indicators linked to tobacco smoke: carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, fine particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres, fine particles smaller than 10 micrometres, volatile organic compounds and benzopyrene. However, the bureau’s statement lacked important details. Who carried out the tests? Does the bureau have a specialist laboratory? Are there guidelines for conducting the tests? Why were the details not revealed? Without full disclosure of how the data were compiled, it seems the bureau rushed to present the results to the public. This is an important matter for the protection of workers’ health. The checks are necessary in casinos, as well as in other workplaces. But in this particular case, the government seems to have rushed the whole process. A ban on smoking in public places such as restaurants, shops and parks has been in force since January last year. The city’s casinos were spared from an outright ban in the short run, although the government’s aim is for casinos to eventually become smoke-free. In the first phase, they were given 12 months, which ended on December 31, to turn at least half of their gaming floors into no-smoking zones. Although the Health Bureau had 12 months to lay out the new rules for casinos, it did so only in November, giving casino operators about two months to set up their no-smoking zones. Two months to make such changes to their gaming floors may not have been enough and, as expected, the casinos had to rush to comply with the new rules by January 1. This may explain in part the poor results from the latest round of tests. But it serves as no excuse for the gaming companies, which will have to improve the measures they take to comply with all the requirements, not only in their flagship casinos but also in their satellite establishments, which are usually run by other companies.

Without full disclosure of how the data were compiled, it seems the bureau rushed to present the results to the public

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business daily April 15, 2013

macau SJM pledges quick effort to fix air quality

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HOSPITALITY Slow change Data published by the Statistics and Census Service since the middle of 2010 classify mainland tourists by their place of origin. The statistics also show data for mainland tourists using the individual visa scheme, which permits some visitors the right to travel here as individuals rather than as members of tour groups. Mainland visitors have predominantly come from Guangdong but the proportion compared to all mainland visitors appears to be slowly decreasing.

Angela Leong On Kei, executive director of SJM Holdings Ltd, said the company would act quickly to improve the air quality in 16 of the casinos operated under its licence, which did not comply with the government’s requirements. Most of these venues are actually run by other companies. A total of 28 gaming venues “have at least one indicator that does not match the standards,” the Health Bureau said in a statement last week. The improvement in the ventilation system in the older casinos’ smoking areas would involve further discussion with the proprietors, Ms Leong told reporters.

Strong sales for NAPE high-end serviced flats ‘Newly-formed’ management team set to run The Paragon, says developer Vítor Quintã

vitorquinta@macaubusinessdaily.com

Arrivals from Guangdong made up more than half of mainland visitors in 2010, the peak proportion being 56 percent in August. Since the fourth quarter of 2011, in just one month has the proportion been more than 50 percent. At its lowest, last October, the proportion of mainland tourists from Guangdong was 43.5 percent. The nextbiggest sources of mainland tourists after Guangdong are the provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, and the cities of Beijing and Shanghai. Arrivals from these four jurisdictions combined seldom rises above one-third of the tourists from Guangdong. But the proportion of mainland tourists from Fujian, Zhejiang, Beijing and Shanghai is increasing. The proportion is approaching, on average, 30 percent, having been about 25 percent in 2010. Of mainland visitors travelling on individual visas, about 15 percent are from Fujian, Zhejiang, Beijing and Shanghai. Nearly 70 percent of mainland tourists travelling on individual visas are from Guangdong, even though the proportion has decreased slightly. J.I.D.

41.9 %

Proportion of mainland tourists entering on individual visas

High-end residential project The Paragon is set to rise next to MGM Macau (Photo: Manuel Cardoso)

tate-owned developer China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd has already sold over 75 percent of the serviced apartments at The Paragon, in NAPE district. Since the pre-sales of the high-end residential project were launched in 2011 the firm has already pocketed HK$2 billion (US$258 million), the developer told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Pre-sales at The Paragon – but also deals involving One Central and L’Arc units – pushed home prices in the NAPE area to a new peak of 70,385 patacas per square metre in February. The developer might be rushing to sell some units before new regulation on sales of unfinished housing is introduced, Ronald Cheung Yat Fai, Midland Realty (Macau) Ltd

managing director, told Business Daily last month. A bill to regulate the sale of unfinished housing is now going through the Legislative Assembly. However China Overseas’ reported turnover for its Macau operations last year was just HK$11.26 million, down by 3 percent. A “newly formed” property management team offering “hotelstandard management services” will manage The Paragon, China Overseas said in a Thursday filing. In 2011 Southeast Asia’s largest property developer CapitaLand Ltd announced its serviced residence arm, The Ascott Ltd, had won the contract to manage The Paragon’s 100-some studios and one-bedroom flats. The website of Centaline (Macau) Property Agency Ltd says it should

be ready by December 2014. Business Daily asked China Overseas for more information but received no reply before press time. The developer bought the site with 2,916 square metres located close to MGM Macau in 2010 for 843 million yuan (993 million patacas) from Great Sky Property Investment Co, led by Victor Cheung Lup Kwan. That same year the firm also bought a bigger plot with about 7,000 square metres, located left of Ho Yin garden, facing Kun Iam Ecumenical Centre, for 1.4 billion yuan. The government originally granted the plot to Sociedade de Fomento Predial Omar Ltda in 2001. Ambrose So Shu Fai, chief executive of SJM Holdings Ltd, signed the concession contract. China Overseas says its Macau land reserves total 112,000 squares metres in gross floor area. Its value rose by 8 percent to HK$161 million last year. The developer is a subsidiary of the mainland Chinese giant China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd.

HK$2 billion China Overseas Land & Investment earned from the pre-sale of about 75 percent of The Paragon

news where it matters

April 15, 2013 business daily | 5

MACAU

Developers told to exercise ‘self-discipline’ in presales Presales of flats in one Areia Preta development begin sooner than is customary but all the government can do is warn the public Tony Lai

tony.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com

Of the 5,220 flats in the Pearl Horizon development in Areia Preta, 2,013 have been sold (Photo: Manuel Cardoso)

he government has warned property developers against rushing to sell flats in unfinished buildings before a bill regulating presales becomes law. “We have recently heard there is a situation in the market in which they have started selling unfinished flats even though they have yet to obtain approval from the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau for their floor plans,” the director of the bureau, Jaime Carion, said on Friday. “We hereby urge the developers to be self-disciplined and maintain past good habits.” Mr Car ion was sp eak ing to reporters after a meeting of the Legislative Assembly’s first standing committee to discuss the bill on presales of unfinished homes. He said there were no rules on when developers could begin selling unfinished dwellings but the established practice was sales could

only begin once the government had approved floor plans. The bill on presales would prevent a developer from selling incomplete dwellings until the government had approved the floor plans, the foundations of the building were complete and the development was registered. Mr Carion said buyers should be extra cautious when buying unfinished flats and bear in mind the risks. “There are risks because the floor plans have not been approved,” he said. “There is the possibility that floor plans used in selling the flats do not accord with the plans approved by the bureau.” Mr Carion declined to identify any developments where flats were sold before the floor plans were approved, saying the bureau “has not done any investigation”.

Twin claims

KEY POINTS Questions raised over developer’s presale of flats in Areia Preta The government issues new warnings to would-be buyers of unfinished homes The bill on the sale of unfinished homes is still in the Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly could pass the bill on presales this month or next

A close source to the government said one such development was Pearl Horizon in Areia Preta. Asked by Business Daily if the government had approved Pearl Horizon’s floor plans, a spokesperson for developer Polytex Corp Ltd said: “We, of course, have approval from the government.” A spokesperson for the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau denied that the government had approved Pearl Horizon’s floor plans. “But there is no legal problem right now in this case, as the bill has not yet been passed,” the bureau’s spokesperson said. The bureau says the developer has sold 2,013 of the 5,220 flats in Pearl Horizon. Business Daily asked Polytex to explain the apparent contradictions in the claims made by the

spokespersons for the developer and the bureau. There was no response as of last night. An estate agency executive, who asked to not be identified, thinks the government’s warning has come too late. “I do not know why the government is talking about this only now, as the developer started selling many of those flats in November,” the executive told Business Daily. “The buyers do not know whether the developer has approval, and we – estate agencies – also do not know where we can find information on that.” Officials said nothing about helping buyers of presold homes. Mr Carion urged would-be buyers to find more information on unfinished housing projects at the bureau’s website.

In committee Legal Affairs Bureau director André Cheong Weng Chon said the presales were legal. Asked if a delay in passing the bill on presales had started a rush to market dwellings, Mr Cheong said homes could be sold only if there were buyers. “So this is why we are talking about this today, to remind buyers,” he said. The government could do nothing more, he said. Mr Cheong said that once the bill on presales was law, buyers would be unable to get mortgages or resell their homes until the government had approved the floor plans. The chairwoman of the Legislative Assembly’s first standing committee, Kwan Tsui Hang, said the bill would be up for final approval by the assembly “by the end of this month or early next month”. Ms Kwan’s committee has been

deliberating on the bill for almost a year. She said the committee “fully agrees in principle” with the latest version of the bill submitted by the government. “The bill states that payments by homebuyers should depend on the progress of construction,” she said. “But it does not clearly state any concrete figures.” Ms Kwan said members of the assembly wanted to add a provision that would ensure that the final payment for a home would have to be made only once the government had given permission for the whole building to be occupied.

Homebuyers warned of risks Anyone considering buying a home must be aware of the risks involved, Secretary for Transport and Public Works Lau Si Io told reporters after a Legislative Assembly committee meeting on Friday. “We again urge investors or homebuyers to have a full grasp of the market and assess their financial capacity,” Mr Lau said. “In the current environment the risks are huge.” He declined to be more specific. Since the beginning of the year Hong Kong and the mainland have intensified their efforts to curb property prices. Mr Lau did not say if the Macau government was planning a new round of measures to make housing more affordable. “We will talk about this at an appropriate time,” he said. He said the government would endeavour to give the public more information about the property market. T.L.

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business daily April 15, 2013

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bills to the government for revision, it took a year for them to come back to us. And as for the property pre-sales bill, society and the media have been pressing for a deadline for the bill to get passed, and the legislators were also quick to form a consensus. But, again, half a year passed and the government could not come up with a revised text. I asked the Secretary for Administration and Justice Florinda Chan what the problem was. She replied that it had to do with the fact that her team of legal consultants needed time to form a united opinion. But as a team of civil servants, you have just got to fully support the legislative work for it to proceed. At a certain point I almost felt I had to petition the chief executive with my fellow-legislators to quicken the government’s steps.

Frayed ends The decline of exports in general and textiles exports in particular started in 2005 and accelerated after 2007. Changes in international trade, with the end of the MultiFibre Arrangement in 2005, meant the end of the textiles industry’s raison d’être. Measures to cushion the blow of the end of the arrangement taken by the main markets for textiles exports, the United States and Europe, meant the decline was shallow at first. When the measures lapsed, the end of the textiles industry loomed. From 2007 to 2009 exports dropped by 62 percent, dragged down by a spectacular plunge in the main export, textiles. Exports of textiles fell by more than 80 percent.

Kwan Tsui Hang

Last year the value of exports of the main textiles product sold abroad, knitted garments, was just 4.7 percent of what it was in 2004 – the peak year for exports. Exports of other textiles products declined only slightly more slowly. The data suggest that the textiles products still made in Macau have, on average, higher value added. One indication of this is the ratio of the value of textiles exports to the value of imports of raw materials for making textiles. The ratio widened between 2006 and 2008, just as exports were crashing. It has narrowed slightly in the past few years. But last year the ratio was still wider than in any year of the golden era for exports that ended in 2005. J.I.D. The content of this column is the work of Business Daily’s journalists.

City not ready for universal suffrage Macau is not ready for universal suffrage, according to Legislative Assembly member Kwan Tsui Hang, but the government should instead correct flaws in the way indirectly elected members take their seats. Ms Kwan, who is the vice-president of the Macau Federation of Trade Unions, told Business Daily there should be better communication between the assembly and the government, to speed up the process of making law. The trade union bill, for example, requires a “fight for government support” or an attempt to persuade the assembly’s swinging voters. Stephanie Lai

sw.lai@macaubusinessdaily.com

Photo by Manuel Cardoso

5.8 %

Last year’s textiles exports as a proportion of 2004’s

What were the best and worst moments of the legislative term now coming to an end? From drafting to the first reading and to final approval, it took a lot of the legislators’ dedication and effort to get every bill passed. But I have to say that personally I feel

very upset that some important bills, like the asset declaration bill or the estate agent bill, took one or two years to get passed. Basically the legislators processed them quickly and did not have many problems in coming up with a consensus. But after we handed the

Has there been an improvement in the quality of draft legislation? That is still a bit problematic, with the difference between the Chinese and Portuguese languages sometimes contributing to confusion over the meaning of the articles. This is an inadequacy that has stood out since the city has seen more laws written in Chinese since the handover. We have recently handled several important bills, such as the land bill, the urban planning bill and the cultural heritage protection bill. This is quite different from the previous legislative terms, which mainly focused on the civil service statute and their salary adjustments. If you ask me whether the assembly is ready to see these new important bills through [before this year’s election], I would say it is still hard to say. But everyone at the assembly does try their best to do the job. The assembly’s special committees, including the one you head, for land and public concessions, rarely meet. Are they being properly fully utilised? These committees were actually newly established in the current legislative term. And the committees are not mandatory bodies required by law. Our responsibility is to follow up on the major policies, requiring the government to explain why this and that was decided, instead of following up on a case-to-case basis. The committee for land and public concessions, for instance, made some suggestions on the conditions for land ownership transfer and how to treat idle land, and those were eventually reflected in the new law. Nevertheless I would say there is still room for the special committees’ role and power to grow. You will run for re-election, having said you would retire last year. What made you change your mind? That is basically my association’s will. I would like to retire but the association asked for the opinions of

April 15, 2013 business daily | 7

MACAU our members and said I should run. Well, I am willing to accept their suggestion because the association actually has this need and I am still able. What the federation would like is for some experienced legislators to lead the new ones. The optimum goal is for us to have two directly elected legislators in the house and two other indirectly elected ones, with half of them older legislators and the other half new ones. Since my colleague Lau Cheok Va decided to step down because of health issues, I am the relatively experienced legislator that can help the younger ones.

I feel very upset that some important bills, like the asset declaration bill or the estate agent bill, took one or two years to get passed

Has the federation decided to go for only one electoral ticket? Yes, unless there are any unforeseen changes. Right from the very start we had not thought of splitting into two groups. Lam Lon Wai and I will be on the list of candidates. It still takes one to two months to consolidate the rest of the names. Your colleagues – Mr Lau, Ho Sut Heng and Leong Iok Wa – joined the National People’s Congress after serving the Executive Council or the assembly. You didn’t. Why? I have never thought of working in the National People’s Congress. I felt that I should only focus on the assembly’s work, which actually engages all of my energy. Likewise, I only participate in the federation and in no other associations because I would rather concentrate on one thing at a time. With the city’s social and economic fabric evolving, is the role of the federation as a traditionalist force reflecting changes in grassroots workers’ problems? Since the handover, the whole core of the labour structure has shifted and it is now dominated by the white-collar and grey-collar workers in the gaming, high-end retailing and public sectors. So the federation has been targeting members from these sectors. During the Portuguese administration, our predecessors sought to help pass various bills to protect workers’ rights, like the labour laws that you see now. The present is a very different era, where we are also exploring what the workers need and what role we have to play. Part of our present task is to focus on how to get resident labour, especially casino workers, to get physically and mentally healthy enough to carry on with their day-to-day lives. Do you think the political reforms started last year made too little progress toward democratic development? I think reform has achieved some

progress with these four additional elected seats added to the assembly. And the current assembly structure, with directly elected legislators, the indirectly-elected ones and the appointed members, fits Macau well. Many people are not happy with the way of filling indirectly elected seats which, I have to acknowledge, is, indeed, very flawed. The local association registration law is too loose, which I think could be fixed by the trade union bill requiring each individual to join only one association at a time. Now, the problem is that an individual can engage himself in 100 associations without any trouble. So the key is how you can plug these loopholes in the indirect election system. One option is you strictly regulate people’s admission to several associations at the same time. Another option is you change the current rules of the game entirely: to have some other way, to replace the present elections through association’s boards for the indirectly elected seats. But the time we had for political reform was too little for us to dwell on the subject. I would also aspire to make elections in the labour sector more transparent to the public and undergo more supervision. I don’t think Macau is ready for fully fledged direct election of legislators. Because the city, in terms of civic consciousness, social and legal systems and, most important of all, government execution, is far from ready. Some people say governmentappointed lawmakers should be reduced in number or even removed, given that we have an executive-led system? What’s your view? I have to point out that the influence and proportion of appointed legislators have been decreasing over the years. The chief executive appoints them only after the directly and indirectly elected seats are filled. The idea is the appointed members serve to fill what the government thinks are the sectors missing from the assembly. There were people criticising that the appointed members are just there to protect the government. But, just like the directly or the indirectly elected members, the appointed ones bear the same responsibility to supervise the government’s policies and to participate in debates.

real democracy immediately. Without sufficient backing of civic understanding and laws, one person-one vote is just instantly a tool for black gold politics and rampant smear campaigns. Members of the associations are not even conscious enough of how important their right to vote for association board members is. And for that reason you have to wonder if, in a direct election system, people would exercise enough concern when voting. The trade union bill has been rejected by the assembly for the fourth time. There has been no progress in setting a minimum wage. Will it have a better chance to pass in the future, given the assembly structure will not change much? I don’t think the minimum wage is going nowhere, as the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs is now discussing it. And the key to giving it a push lies with the government. A lot of the discussion now is because people want to set the minimum wage at 30 patacas [US$3.75] or 31 and 32 patacas. That shouldn’t be the focus. We should be discussing how to set the standards for setting this minimum wage level, like we set the subsistence level for the city. I have backed the trade union bill before. What I would like to achieve with the bill is for workers to be able to be represented by a trade union in court. The right to strike or collective bargaining, it’s all about how much power you have in the

MIN

negotiation process, and that is already achievable. But I know that in the assembly, some members representing the business sector do have concerns about whether labour groups will get too much power. To get the trade union bill passed, we could either fight for government support or gain the yes votes from the swing voters in the assembly, among whom we should be more persuasive. Last time, when the bill was presented, all the appointed legislators rejected it. So we really want to convince the government to support it because they are obliged to attend to workers’ rights.

There is still room for the special committees’ role and power to grow

TO THE MAJ OR 201 BUS 3 INES prog Busine s r S AW a s Awa sect m for ARD r ors. d p s r ofes of t S IN bus Par h s i

ATIO

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t n i e THE acti esses, icipatio onals a Year i REG vitie n in nd b sM or o ION a s in an i t t u c h h s a e e i u’ n r n M ! a com dividua acau o relevan wards ess of a s prem ier r is op l or t org ll siz n pan a ec a co p y. e e mpa erman anisatio n to al s and f ognitio We e l r n n n o n i n s y, o invi r no t basis. that c dividua m all te y a m Y l r s o ou t ry inat o be e yo u can e on the and Nom u i ir p t i h r n a s e at rt o elf, Jun or y r nomi f it! e, 2 ions op nate o 0th, ur e 201 n until 3.

The United Nations has urged Macau to set a timetable for universal suffrage. How do you see that recommendation? We cannot just force a universal suffrage agenda on the city like that. The democratic progress of any country or region depends on its social reality. And I don’t think universal suffrage equals

To get the trade union bill passed, we could either fight for government support or gain the yes votes from the swing voters in the assembly

For m plea ore in form se v ww w.aw isit our ation, or c ards webs o inqu ntact u macau ite at .com iries s @aw ards mac au.c om

ORGANISED BY:

8 |

business daily April 15, 2013

macau

Chile eyes free-trade deal

Corporate

Chamber of commerce protocol, direct cargo flights could boost trade Vítor Quintã

vitorquinta@macaubusinessdaily.com

Mario Artaza, consul of Chile in Hong Kong and Macau

hile wants to sign a free trade deal with Macau, similar to the one already in place with mainland China and Hong Kong, the country’s top diplomat here said. “We signed a free trade agreement with Hong Kong last year. We are now looking to move in the same direction in Macau,” Mario Artaza, the consul of Chile in Hong Kong and Macau, told Business Daily. “We want the Macau Chief Executive [Fernando Chui Sai On] to go to Chile. We have already forwarded invitations,” he said on Friday, on the sidelines of a trade promotion seminar. During the seminar he reiterated the call for a “high-level Macau delegation” to visit Chile to “jumpstart” the trade and investment

ties between the two jurisdictions. Last year the South American country imported goods worth 41.5 million patacas (US$5.2 million) to the territory, most of which was wine, official data show. The “growing demand for wine and food products” means “bright prospects” for bilateral trade, Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute executive director Echo Chan Keng Hung said. Currently most trade between the two sides is done “through intermediaries,” Mr Artaza told Business Daily. “There is room for growth,” he added. “There is already a pretty strong movement” to improve the situation, the diplomat said, namely a cooperation deal between the

Sands Cotai Central marks first birthday

CEM sparks app design contest

Sands Cotai Central – one of Sands China Ltd’s four casino resorts in Macau – has celebrated the first anniversary of its phase one opening. Guests at events to mark the milestone included Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office; Edward Tracy, president and chief executive of Sands China; David Sisk, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Sands China; Josef Dolp, managing director of Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central; and the Taiwan-born Hong Kong actress Shu Qi. The first phase launch on April 11, 2012, introduced the world’s largest Conrad and Holiday Inn hotels to the local market, adding 1,800 hotel rooms to the city’s overall hospitality offering. Mr Tracy said in interview with the CNBC television news channel last week that he expected Macau gaming revenue to grow in the “mid-teens” of percent year-on-year during 2013, thanks in part to extra hotel rooms and the high-speed railway between Guangzhou and Zhuhai.

Local school and college students have been invited by electricity provider CEM – Companhia de Electricidade de Macau SA – to design a game application for use on mobile Internet devices. The contest is also open to adults in the information technology sector. Competition entrants are asked to focus on the theme of “electricity saving and safety” and submit a blueprint of the mobile app game design. Application program development is not required. Entrants can present the design blueprint by animation, drawings or with the help of demonstration software. Macao Computer Society Prize has helped to organise the contest. Winners will get the chance to have their app developed. “This is the first mobile app game design contest held in Macau,” said CEM, announcing the event. Entries will be accepted from groups or individuals. Prizes include one ‘champion’, one ‘first runner-up’ and one ‘second runner-up’ with cash prizes respectively of 5,000 patacas (US$625), 3,000 patacas and 2,000 patacas.

Macau Chamber of Commerce and the Chilean Chinese Chamber of Commerce. The agreement should be signed later this year, the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute confirmed to Business Daily. “We wish that more SMEs,” small and medium enterprises, can benefit from the “Chile-China trade boom” created by the free-trade deal signed in 2005, said Gary Ngai Mei Cheong, president of the Macao Association for the Promotion of Exchange between Asia-Pacific and Latin America, during the seminar. One way to improve trade could

be through direct flights, Mr Artaza added. In January the Chile and Macau signed an air services agreement with no restrictions on capacity or number of designated airlines. Once the Hong Kong-ZhuhaiMacau Bridge opens to traffic, which is slated to happen by the end of 2016, cargo flights could start bringing fresh food from Chile to Macau, Mr Artaza said. “Hong Kong is not as liberal over air transportation as Macau,” he said. “We have already spoken to the aviation authorities and we’ve seen the airport.”

April 15, 2013 business daily | 9

GREATER CHINA

Kerry hails Chinese North Korea pledge As Beijing joins U.S. in effort to deter Pyongyang’s weapons bid

he U.S. and China pledged to work together toward convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear pursuits in a move that highlighted China’s growing frustration with a long-standing yet volatile Communist ally. Appearing in the evocative setting of Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House, site of President Richard Nixon’s visit during his 1972 trip to China, Secretary of State John Kerry and China’s foreign policy chief, Yang Jiechi, took turns expressing concern about North Korea’s belligerence and their shared goal to tame the aspiring nuclear country. “China is firmly committed to upholding peace and stability and advancing the denuclearisation process on the Korean peninsula,” Mr Yang said late on Saturday. “The issue should be handled and resolved peacefully through dialogue.” Both nations would have “further discussion to bear down very quickly with great specificity on how exactly we will accomplish this goal,”

Mr Kerry said with Mr Yang at his side. The top U.S. diplomat is visiting a region that’s been on edge since February, when North Korea tested a nuclear device in defiance of

the United Nations Security Council and has threatened to carry out more. With signs pointing to North Korea potentially preparing a fourth nuclear test, Mr Kerry headed into

back-to-back meetings in Beijing, including a session with President Xi Jinping and with Premier Li Keqiang, with the goal of persuading China to “put some teeth” into their efforts to restrain North Korea.

‘Better sense’

John Kerry held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top officials

Mr Kerry said he left those conversations with the impression that China is “very serious” about trying to bring North Korea in line. “I do believe that I have a better sense of what China’s intentions are here and how they can proceed, but it’s inappropriate for me to speak for China,” he told reporters after his joint appearance with Mr Yang. “I am not going to the specifics,” Mr Kerry told the reporters. “But I can assure you that we left no option off the table and we had a full discussion about what the possibilities might be.” Premier Li also warned Pyongyang to stop being provocative stance. His remarks, however, stopped short of mentioning North

Korea or leader Kim Jongun by name. “All sides must bear responsibility for maintaining regional peace and stability, and bear the consequences,” Mr Li told Mr Kerry. While scant on details, the joint commitment by the U.S. and China was a rare display of unity in a symbolically significant setting between the two economic rivals that have also been at odds on more than reining in North Korea. Still, other areas of disagreement, from accusations of China’s role in cyber attacks on U.S. businesses to its maritime claims in the South China Sea, were barely touched upon in this visit given the attention on events in the Korean peninsula. Instead, Mr Kerry asked Chinese president to make a greater effort to enforce UN sanctions and urged China, which provides impoverished North Korea with fuel and consumer goods, to toughen its message to leaders in the capital, Pyongyang. Bloomberg News

10 |

business daily April 15, 2013

GREATER CHINA

Economic rebound at risk as Xi curbs lavish spending Recovery still on ‘shaky ground’, analysts say

Wind picks Huawei for network in Italy Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, the Italian phone company owned by Russia’s VimpelCom Ltd, will spend 1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) in the coming five years to build a high-speed mobile network. Italy’s third-largest mobile provider, based in Rome, has hired Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co. and Milan-based Sirti SpA to supply equipment and infrastructure services, the companies said yesterday in a joint statement. “This is certainly one of our biggest contracts in Europe,” Roberto Loiola, Huawei’s head of Western Europe, said in a conference call. Half of the revenue from Wind’s contract will go to Huawei, Mr Loiola said. Like other European carriers, Wind is betting that faster wireless service will help attract clients who are willing to spend more on their monthly subscription. EE in the U.K. and France Telecom SA have adopted similar strategies. Wind, which has a 23.2 percent market share according to data compiled by Italian regulator Agcom, has been refocusing its phone packages to include more services to raise prices, shifting away from a low-cost strategy. Huawei, China’s largest maker of network gear, has predicted an increase in spending this year from carriers building out faster networks using a technology called long-term evolution. Ryan Ding, head of Huawei’s Carrier Network Business Group, forecast in February that the unit’s sales will increase by 9 percent this year to about US$28 billion.

hinese President Xi Jinping’s campaign to rein in lavish spending by officials and stateowned companies is proving so effective that it risks helping end the nation’s economic rebound after one quarter. Bank of America Corp. is among 12 of 41 respondents in a Bloomberg News survey who estimate first-quarter expansion was at or below the previous period’s 7.9 percent pace. The world’s second-largest economy probably grew 8 percent in the January- March period from a year earlier, according to the median forecast ahead of data due today in Beijing, down from an 8.2 percent projection in February. Mr Xi’s efforts are restraining consumer spending and making it tougher for the new government to boost domestic demand as factory output slows. Large-restaurant and catering sales fell for the first time in more than three decades in the first two months of the year, while demand and prices for luxury items such as Moutai liquor and Longjing tea have slumped. “The anti-corruption action by Xi is creating unprecedented phenomena, including an absolute fall in high-end restaurant sales,” said Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd in Hong Kong, who previously worked for the European Central Bank. “It’s certainly a big factor dragging down short-term growth.” October-December growth in gross domestic product represented the first acceleration in two years, up from the

third quarter’s 7.4 percent rate. For the full year, expansion was 7.8 percent, the slowest since 1999. The National Bureau of Statistics will release GDP data today along with March figures for industrial production and retail sales and first-quarter fixedasset investment. China’s benchmark Shanghai CompositeIndexofstockshasfallenabout 9 percent since February 6 on concern government steps to cool property prices will drag on economic growth. The gauge dropped 0.6 percent last Friday, capping a third week of losses. Economists estimate March data will show an improvement. Industrial production probably rose 10.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the median estimate in

The anticorruption action by Xi is creating unprecedented phenomena, including an absolute fall in highend restaurant sales Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist, Mizuho Securities Asia

New bird ‘flu cases found in central China Chen to be replaced H7N9 virus spreads as Beijing reports as CDB’s chairman its first case China Development Bank Corp. chairman Chen Yuan will step down, handing the reins of the world’s largest policy lender to Bank of Communications Co.’s Hu Huaibang, said two people with knowledge of the matter. An announcement may only be made this week, said the people, asking not to be named because they aren’t authorised to speak to reporters on the matter. Mr Chen in 1998 took over a bank with a badloan ratio of more than 40 percent. The 68-yearold has pared that to less than 1 percent while building an institution bigger than the World Bank, with assets last year of 7.37 trillion yuan (US$1.2 trillion). “Chen Yuan is currently one of the very few big shots in China who has financial experience and rich political and economic ties,” Chen Xingyu, a Shanghai-based analyst at Phillip Securities Group, said in a telephone interview. “Chen doesn’t just represent himself or CDB, he represents China.” Premier Li Keqiang is relying on CDB to achieve the government’s policies of urbanisation and cutting pollution. The state-owned bank created the system of local financing for infrastructure projects during Mr Chen’s first year at the helm, helping to fund highways, schools, dams and housing developments across the country. The system helped cushion China from the global financial crisis. CDB is the biggest lender to so-called local government financing vehicles that have accumulated at least 10.7 trillion yuan in debt. Half of the bank’s lending this year will go to urbanisation, according to a January 29 notice on its website. Reuters/Bloomberg News

eijing confirmed that a 7-year-old girl has H7N9 avian influenza and Henan province reported its first two cases, opening a new front in the spread of the virus that has killed 13 people in the mainland. In Henan, central China, the health bureau yesterday confirmed that a cook near Kaifeng city in the northeast of the province and a farmer in Zhoukou city, some 130 kilometres (82 miles) further south, are infected. That raises China’s tally from the new bird ‘flu strain to 60 after the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang reported more infections and Shanghai announced three more cases yesterday. The cases of the child in Beijing and two men in Henan widen the geographic spread of H7N9, adding impetus to the government’s efforts to gauge the magnitude of the infection in poultry and wild birds. Livepoultry trading has been banned in some cities and the Ministry of Agriculture last week ordered local governments to collect tissue samples from birds at markets nationwide to contain the outbreak. “There’s no way to predict how this will spread,” Michael O’Leary,

Beijing reported its first case on Saturday

the World Health Organization’s China representative, told reporters in Beijing yesterday. “The good news is we have no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission. That’s a key factor in this situation.” The source of infections remains “under active investigation,” he said. “We’re still looking intensively for the reservoir of infection but the suspicion remains in birds, chicken, ducks and poultry.” The first three cases of H7N9 in

a Bloomberg survey. That compares with 9.9 percent in January-February combined, which was the slowest for the period since 2009. Retail sales may have gained 12.6 percent, up from a 12.3 percent pace that was the weakest for the first two months of the year since 2004. Investment excluding rural households may have expanded 21.3 percent in the first quarter after 21.2 percent in January and February. Mr Shen has cut his first-quarter forecast for GDP expansion to 8 percent from 8.3 percent in January. The drop in extravagant dinners and luxury spending came at a time when the Chinese economy has “no shining spots” apart from infrastructure spending, he said. “The recovery is still on shaky ground.” At least nine other analysts have reduced their first-quarter GDP projections since January, according to survey data compiled by Bloomberg. Lu Ting, head of Greater China economics at Bank of America in Hong Kong, lowered his forecast to 7.9 percent from 8.3 percent, citing in part the “new leaders’ serious crackdown” on luxury consumption by the government. In the first two months of 2013, sales at restaurants and catering businesses with annual revenue above 2 million yuan (US$320,000) fell 3.3 percent from a year earlier, China’s statistics agency said in March. Bloomberg News

China were announced by the central government on March 31 and until Saturday all of those infected were in eastern China.

Greater risk The Beijing case is very important, said Nikki Shindo, a medical officer on the influenza team at the World Health Organization in Geneva. “Theoretically all China’s coastline provinces are touched by this virus, which means the great majority of China is at risk,” Ms Shindo said, adding that early treatment with an anti-influenza medicine may aid the girl’s recovery. Henan province’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention tested the two men positive for the H7N9 virus on April 11 and their infections were confirmed after tests by the central CDC early yesterday, the Henan Provincial Health Bureau said on its website. Shanghai has 24 confirmed cases after the government said yesterday a 56-year-old man, the husband of a woman diagnosed on April 4, was found with the virus. “We can’t say yet,” if the latest Shanghai infection represents human-to-human transmission, WHO’s Mr O’Leary said, adding that each case must be investigated very carefully. The spread of the virus may negatively affect insurance, airlines, consumer staples and retailing, Hong Kong-based Citigroup Inc. analysts Shen Minggao and Ben Wei wrote in an April 8 report. It may also spur food-price inflation if supplies of poultry are cut, they said. AFP

April 15, 2013 business daily | 11

ASIA Singapore cuts inflation view Singapore stuck to its tight monetary policy stance as expected even as GDP contracted in the first quarter, but lowered its inflation forecast for 2013, sending the Singapore dollar lower. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it expects the manufacturing sector and export-oriented services industries to improve gradually over the course of the year, and reiterated its outlook of 1-3 percent growth for the full year. The central bank lowered its inflation forecast for 2013 to 3-4 percent from the previous range of 3.5 to 4.5 percent.

India industrial output rises but still weak As finance minister tries to woo investors to fund current account gap

Lippo seeks to raise US$300m Lippo Group, a leading Indonesian conglomerate, aims to raise at least US$300 million in the second quarter from IPOs of its healthcare, banking and information technology units, four people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Lippo’s healthcare unit, Siloam Hospitals, is expected to raise the most out of the three initial public offerings, targeting at least US$200 million. Total valuation for Indonesia’s largest private hospital operator was seen at more than US$1 billion, sources said.

BOJ mulls raising inflation forecast The Bank of Japan is considering boosting its consumer-price outlook to signal confidence it will meet a pledge to achieve 2 percent inflation in two years, people familiar with the central bank’s discussions said. The BOJ may upgrade its view on price gains excluding fresh food to at least 1.5 percent from 0.9 percent for fiscal 2014 in its next forecast update on April 26, according to the people. New Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s said that the central bank won’t set a time limit for easing and will continue until it achieves sustainable inflation.

Hitachi loses patent trial Hitachi Ltd lost a U.S. patent-infringement trial in which it sought as much as four years of royalty payments from TPV Technology Ltd on sales of high-definition televisions. A federal jury in Marshall, Texas, said TPV, the world’s fourthlargest maker of LCD televisions, didn’t infringe four Hitachi patents and that two of them were invalid. The dispute is over inventions related to an industrywide standard for a process to transmit digital audio and visual signals, as well as programme data, over the airwaves.

Lion Air plane crashes in sea A Lion Air passenger plane with 108 people on board crashed into the sea off the Indonesian resort island of Bali on landing at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Saturday, according to the airport’s operator. No deaths were reported. The Boeing 737, which served the Bandung-to-Bali route, broke in two and all passengers were evacuated, with 53 people suffering minor injuries, Farid Indra Nugraha, the corporate secretary of PT Angkasa Pura I, said.

Production at factories climbed 0.6 pct from a year earlier

ndia’s industrial output barely grew in February and retail inflation edged towards singledigits in March with the first fall in six months, adding to expectations the central bank will make a cautious interest rate cut next month. Production at factories, mines and utilities grew 0.6 percent from a year earlier, better than the 0.7 percent contraction forecast by analysts, but not enough to convince government economists that Asia’s third largest economy had escaped its worst slowdown in a decade just yet. “I’m glad it’s not negative, it’s very low, not anything that one can point to as indicating a robust return of growth,” said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who heads the government’s main economic planning body. February’s growth was driven by a big jump in output of capital goods – a measure of investment. But economists were wary of that indicator, which has a history of volatility. “The big increase in capital goods output contributed to the positive IIP number, but I wouldn’t

say the corner has turned as there is no anecdotal evidence of new projects coming up, said A Prasanna, an economist at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership in Mumbai. The weak industrial number keeps the pressure on the central bank to lower interest rates – most private economists expect the Reserve Bank of India to cut by 25 basis points at its full year policy meeting in May.

Price gains But analysts said the slight drop in consumer price inflation to 10.39 percent in March was unlikely by itself to convince the bank to go much further than that to help borrowers in India, who pay some of the highest lending rates among G20 economies. The previous month annual retail price inflation was 10.91 percent. “More focus will be on the wholesale price data, which is out next Monday. We need to see this series easing further to raise hopes of further RBI cuts,” Jonathan Cavenagh, a foreign exchange strategist with Westpac in Singapore.

Australian US$45 bln LNG project shelved Woodside to look into floating facility instead

oodside Petroleum Ltd has shelved plans for its US$45 billion Browse liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia, saying it will consider a floating LNG plant after deciding the onshore development did not make economic sense. Global energy firms have invested US$140 billion into six LNG plants in just two and half years as Australia ramps up production on its way to becoming the world’s largest exporter of the clean burning energy source. But Australia’s LNG sector has seen investor interest cool due to huge costs overruns and with competition from North America where new supplies of gas have been exploited from shale.

The Browse decision could spell an end to new onshore gas projects in Australia in favour of offshore plants that can be built more cheaply and face fewer environmental and landowner hurdles. “This decision will surprise few as the proposed onshore development always looked too economically, technically, environmentally and socially risky for too little reward,” analysts at Macquarie Group Ltd said in a note. Woodside also appears to be pivoting its focus towards North America, confirming that it had lodged an expression of interest to develop a Canadian LNG project. Browse LNG was to be Woodside’s

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is trying to boost expansion as he grapples with a record currentaccount deficit and elevated inflation, which has limited the central bank’s scope to reduce borrowing costs further. Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram embarks on an investor roadshow this week in the U.S. and Canada to lure investors to Asia’s third-largest economy after the steepest drop in foreign direct investment in more than a decade. India’s benchmark wholesaleprice inflation accelerated to 6.84 percent in February from a year earlier. While economists predict data due today may show price gains eased last month, Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said last week inflation remains “stubborn and elevated”. The current account deficit hit an all-time high of 6.7 percent of GDP in the December quarter on heavy oil and gold imports and muted exports, increasing India’s reliance on volatile capital inflows to fund the shortfall. Reuters

I’m glad it’s not negative, it’s very low, not anything that one can point to as indicating a robust return of growth Montek Singh Ahluwalia, India’s economic planning body

biggest LNG development yet, but has been plagued by controversy over its proposed location at James Price Point on the northwest coast, coming under fire from environmentalists and some indigenous landowners. The site is also home to the world’s largest dinosaur footprints and sacred Aboriginal sites known as “songlines”. Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said any new development would have to provide significant costs savings, adding: “our customers are saying to us very clearly, ‘No longer can we pay for your expensive projects’.” A floating LNG plant is considered to be the most likely alternative for Browse by many in the industry. JP Morgan has estimated that a floating project would mean a 20 percent cost saving with capital expenditure of US$35.5 billion versus US$44.6 billion for the onshore development option. Shares in Woodside, which is worth about US$30 billion, rose 3 percent on expectations it will develop a cheaper option, but Japan’s Chiyoda Corp, which has a contract for the project, tumbled 11 percent. Reuters

12 |

business daily April 15, 2013

MARKETS Hang SENG INDEX PRICE

DAY %

VOLUME

PRICE

DAY %

Volume

AIA GROUP LTD

33.2

14960338

CHINA UNICOM HON

9.98

0.3015075

19544914

ALUMINUM CORP-H

3.01

-1.954397

10121816

CITIC PACIFIC

9.73

0.3092784

3466948

BANK OF CHINA-H

3.54

0.5681818

237598599

67.95

0.2212389

1694307

CNOOC LTD

14.18

-0.5610098

COSCO PAC LTD

10.22

-3.219697

NAME

BANK OF COMMUN-H

NAME

CLP HLDGS LTD

5.83

-0.3418803

15292342

30.05

1648719

BELLE INTERNATIO

13.4

0.6006006

18800945

ESPRIT HLDGS

BOC HONG KONG HO

25.8

0.78125

14279154

HANG LUNG PROPER

BANK EAST ASIA

NAME

PRICE

DAY %

Volume

POWER ASSETS HOL

74.4

0.7447529

2983492

SANDS CHINA LTD

39.1

-1.387137

7214062

SINO LAND CO

12.72

1.112878

8865181

43425532

SUN HUNG KAI PRO

107.5

0.7497657

5804569

18481704

SWIRE PACIFIC-A

94.6

0.6918574

1481340

9.99

1.731161

7568060

TENCENT HOLDINGS

250

-0.1597444

4425694

29.65

1.194539

4702537

TINGYI HLDG CO

21.05

-1.635514

10072459

11.42

0.8833922

14001074

68.3

1.110289

3641935

CATHAY PAC AIR

12.68

-0.9375

5925682

HANG SENG BK

125.1

0.4819277

1167857

CHEUNG KONG

114.9

0.349345

2226500

WANT WANT CHINA

HENDERSON LAND D

55.05

1.287948

5518342

6.45

-1.526718

20533191

WHARF HLDG

HENGAN INTL

77.45

-0.193299

1707513

CHINA COAL ENE-H CHINA CONST BA-H

6.2

188011088

CHINA LIFE INS-H

20.45

-0.7281553

23225375

CHINA MERCHANT

24.65

-0.4040404

2638482

CHINA MOBILE

82.95

7987448

CHINA OVERSEAS

21.85

1.157407

24982149

IND & COMM BK-H

8.87

-0.2249719

57696616

CHINA PETROLEU-H CHINA RES ENTERP

HONG KG CHINA GS

22.85

0.660793

3767835

HONG KONG EXCHNG

130.5

0.3074558

2197174

HSBC HLDGS PLC

82.05 -0.06090134

7408337

HUTCHISON WHAMPO

81.25

-1.095557

5551947

5.25

-0.1901141

140119418

LI & FUNG LTD

10.52

10420188

-0.3231018

1514433

24.7

-0.2020202

1993529

MTR CORP

30.85

21.75

-0.2293578

3632854

NEW WORLD DEV

12.88

1.098901

11882792

CHINA RES POWER

24.2

1.25523

6789895

PETROCHINA CO-H

9.9

-0.8016032

54029529

CHINA SHENHUA-H

27.3

-0.907441

12806645

PING AN INSURA-H

59.2

-0.9205021

7681003

CHINA RES LAND

MOVERS

5 22240

INDEX 22089.05 HIGH

22232.74

LOW

21873.96

52W (H) 23944.74 (L) 18056.4

21790

10-April

12-April

Hang SENG CHINA ENTErPRISE INDEX PRICE

DAY %

Volume

CHINA PACIFIC-H

27.1

-0.7326007

9261710

12550000

CHINA PETROLEU-H

8.87

-0.2249719

57696616

ZIJIN MINING-H

-1.954397

10121816

CHINA RAIL CN-H

6.91

-1.285714

10896800

ZOOMLION HEAVY-H

27.4

-0.5444646

6699445

CHINA RAIL GR-H

3.7

-2.37467

19778000

ZTE CORP-H

BANK OF CHINA-H

3.54

0.5681818

237598599

CHINA SHENHUA-H

27.3

-0.907441

12806645

BANK OF COMMUN-H

5.83

-0.3418803

15292342

CHINA TELECOM-H

3.75

-0.2659574

33662060

BYD CO LTD-H

22.8

0.8849558

973250

DONGFENG MOTOR-H

11.32

-0.1763668

8688753

CHINA CITIC BK-H

4.14

-1.895735

29850632

GUANGZHOU AUTO-H

5.87

-0.676819

8575498

CHINA COAL ENE-H

6.45

-1.526718

20533191

HUANENG POWER-H

8.13

-2.867384

25175635

CHINA COM CONS-H

7.28

-1.355014

13020845

IND & COMM BK-H

5.25

-0.1901141

140119418

CHINA CONST BA-H

6.2

188011088

JIANGXI COPPER-H

16.46

-1.20048

10259211

NAME

PRICE

DAY %

VOLUME

AGRICULTURAL-H

3.52

-0.2832861

120956315

AIR CHINA LTD-H

6.17

-3.59375

ALUMINUM CORP-H

3.01

ANHUI CONCH-H

NAME

3.49

-1.412429

4447764

PETROCHINA CO-H

9.9

-0.8016032

54029529

20.45

-0.7281553

23225375

PICC PROPERTY &

9.54

-1.649485

13034606

CHINA LONGYUAN-H

7.38

1.793103

15840985

PING AN INSURA-H

59.2

-0.9205021

7681003

CHINA MERCH BK-H

15.48

-1.27551

12667271

SHANDONG WEIG-H

6.96

-0.143472

6248000

CHINA COSCO HO-H CHINA LIFE INS-H

CHINA MINSHENG-H

9.11

-2.357985

39125818

SINOPHARM-H

25.15

2.235772

5697800

CHINA NATL BDG-H

9.49

-1.556017

21240267

TSINGTAO BREW-H

50.7

2.424242

1952888

15.96

-1.845018

3518767

WEICHAI POWER-H

28.05

3.696858

3811961

PRICE

DAY %

Volume

6.3

-1.716069

5065693

CHINA OILFIELD-H

NAME

PRICE

DAY %

Volume

9.4

-2.38837

19285129

2.51

-1.181102

18453975

8.3

0.8505468

20193052

11.98

-0.6633499

3721387

YANZHOU COAL-H

MOVERS

2 10830

INDEX 10655.68 HIGH

10828.16

LOW

10612.43

52W (H) 12354.22 (L) 8987.76

10600

10-April

12-April

Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 NAME

NAME

PRICE

DAY %

VOLUME

AGRICULTURAL-A

2.71

0.3703704

48095717

CHONGQING WATE-A

AIR CHINA LTD-A

5.12

-0.967118

11111854

CITIC SECURITI-A

11.72

-1.924686

4.2

-0.4739336

9141174

CSR CORP LTD -A

4.07

ANHUI CONCH-A

18.62

-1.220159

18946683

DAQIN RAILWAY -A

BANK OF BEIJIN-A

8.64

0.4651163

17161659

DATANG INTL PO-A

BANK OF CHINA-A

2.92

0.3436426

22092028

BANK OF COMMUN-A

4.65

-0.2145923

35411734

BANK OF NINGBO-A

10.46

-0.9469697

6399950

BAOSHAN IRON & S

4.85

-0.8179959

10687975

GEMDALE CORP-A

1568970

GF SECURITIES-A

ALUMINUM CORP-A

BYD CO LTD -A

21.3

-0.6066262

NAME

PRICE

DAY %

Volume

SAIC MOTOR-A

15.29

-1.861361

12862476

66269039

SANY HEAVY INDUS

10.12

-0.4916421

14147040

-1.452785

35545253

SHANDONG DONG-A

45.5

-0.4376368

4854400

7.09

0.1412429

24379019

SHANDONG GOLD-MI

32.13

4503942

4.57

2.696629

15977040

SHANG PHARM -A

12.42

-0.64

12953943

EVERBRIG SEC -A

12.97

-0.8409786

8749700

SHANG PUDONG-A

9.94

-0.7984032

41832297

GD MIDEA HOLDI-A

13.39

-0.6676558

38548835

SHANGHAI ELECT-A

3.88

0.2583979

2306690

GD POWER DEVEL-A

2.91

-1.689189

80081849

SHANXI LU'AN -A

16.99

-1.791908

7093640

6.69

28625327

SHANXI XISHAN-A

11.2

-1.060071

5990855

12.82

-2.361005

18683197

SHENZEN OVERSE-A

5.84

1.74216

57777635

61.69

1.832288

981243

6.12

-0.3257329

14839855 1243581

CHINA AVIC AVI-A

22.49

-1.876091

1751247

GREE ELECTRIC

26.2

-1.946108

33342810

SICHUAN KELUN-A

CHINA CITIC BK-A

4.28

-0.9259259

23765985

GUANGHUI ENERG-A

19.2

-2.040816

15833993

SUNING COMMERC-A

CHINA CNR CORP-A

4.15

21229602

HAITONG SECURI-A

9.96

-1.48368

58475172

TASLY PHARMAC-A

65.3

0.693909

HANGZHOU HIKVI-A

37.35

0.1072099

2097190

TSINGTAO BREW-A

36.79

-1.367292

2625303

HENAN SHUAN-A

78.52

2.761419

2751687

WEICHAI POWER-A

23.12

0.6968641

15510848 22684519

CHINA COAL ENE-A

6.89

-0.5772006

5236123

CHINA CONST BA-A

4.69

0.2136752

19369453

CHINA COSCO HO-A

3.59

-1.101928

7221298

HONG YUAN SEC-A

17.35

-3.018446

8957510

WULIANGYE YIBIN

22.48

0.9883199

CHINA EAST AIR-A

3.06

-0.9708738

7468900

HUATAI SECURIT-A

9.29

-2.210526

19190115

YANGQUAN COAL -A

13.18

0.841622

5689791

CHINA EVERBRIG-A

3.02

-1.30719

47834467

HUAXIA BANK CO

10.19

0.1966568

18849991

YANTAI WANHUA-A

18.23

-0.5997819

15062115 2342748

CHINA INTL MAR-A

11.86

-1.166667

3069908

IND & COMM BK-A

4.07

-0.245098

33666531

YANZHOU COAL-A

16.37

-0.8479709

CHINA LIFE INS-A

17.29

-1.030338

6902046

INDUSTRIAL BAN-A

17.68

0.1699717

78594588

YUNNAN BAIYAO-A

81.8

0.3680982

949502

CHINA MERCH BK-A

12.28

-0.8878128

28710372

INNER MONG BAO-A

28.12

-0.9510391

12649114

ZHONGJIN GOLD

13.86

-0.4310345

6624737

CHINA MERCHANT-A

11.42

-2.642796

29268495

INNER MONG YIL-A

30.63

2.854265

8173488

ZIJIN MINING-A

3.39

-0.2941176

18609306

6742077

INNER MONGOLIA-A

4.87

-1.01626

34688851

ZOOMLION HEAVY-A

8.07

-1.465201

29520225

30.44

-0.1967213

4237432

-3.677758

20219524

1.231767

5479113 5331946

CHINA MERCHANT-A

25.38

-1.321928

CHINA MINSHENG-A

9.6

-0.5181347

142640167

JIANGSU HENGRU-A

CHINA NATIONAL-A

8.93

-2.190581

28141105

JIANGSU YANGHE-A

62.46

CHINA OILFIELD-A

15.92

0.188798

2859636

JIANGXI COPPER-A

21.92

-0.769579

CHINA PACIFIC-A

19.43

0.5173306

14143076

JINDUICHENG -A

10.89

-1.803427

4217418

16.88

-1.631702

11923174

172.23

1.959507

5980006

CHINA PETROLEU-A

7.07

-1.532033

29348326

KANGMEI PHARMA-A

CHINA RAILWAY-A

4.97

9981066

KWEICHOW MOUTA-A

CHINA RAILWAY-A

2.77

19849623

LUZHOU LAOJIAO-A

26.32

0.1141118

9146234

2.03

9887788

ZTE CORP-A

MOVERS

CHINA SHENHUA-A

21.45

-0.3252788

6834691

CHINA SHIPBUIL-A

4.64

-1.4862

22812437

NINGBO PORT CO-A

2.5

-0.3984064

5893304

8.63

14521545

HIGH

2504.13

18.9

-2.627512

80532279

LOW

2462.11

CHINA SOUTHERN-A

3.43

-0.867052

7276431

CHINA STATE -A

3.46

-0.5747126

50276234

PING AN BANK-A

CHINA UNITED-A

3.49

-0.8522727

52812859

PING AN INSURA-A

41.15

-0.1940335

11529113

CHINA VANKE CO-A

10.92

-0.7272727

37744202

POLY REAL ESTA-A

11.5

-0.9474591

29453054

CHINA YANGTZE-A

7.07

-1.256983

13552411

QINGDAO HAIER-A

12.71

-1.089494

16103706

10.32

0.8797654

18567871

QINGHAI SALT-A

27.49

-1.786352

5822163

PRICE DAY %

Volume

PRICE DAY %

Volume

CHONGQING CHAN-A

19 2510

INDEX 2462.112

METALLURGICAL-A PETROCHINA CO-A

213

52W (H) 2791.303 (L) 2102.135

2460

10-April

12-April

FTSE TAIWAN 50 INDEX NAME ACER INC

NAME

24.35

-3.180915

15710647

FORMOSA PLASTIC

ADVANCED SEMICON

24.3

0.2061856

11215691

ASIA CEMENT CORP

36.4 -0.1371742

ASUSTEK COMPUTER

NAME

PRICE DAY %

5049239

TAIWAN MOBILE CO

FOXCONN TECHNOLO

78.8

-1.867995

6267695

TPK HOLDING CO L

1433986

FUBON FINANCIAL

41.1

0.2439024

12054077

TSMC UNI-PRESIDENT

325

-5.523256

9590366

HON HAI PRECISIO

78.6

-2.360248

75974610

13.15

-0.754717

42271816

HOTAI MOTOR CO

241

-2.42915

191561

CATCHER TECH

143

-2.721088

11583810

HTC CORP

261.5

1.949318

19000455

CATHAY FINANCIAL

38.6 -0.7712082

20562840

HUA NAN FINANCIA

17 -0.2932551

3591392

YUANTA FINANCIAL

CHANG HWA BANK

17 -0.2932551

7113587

LARGAN PRECISION

772

-2.402023

1514919

YULON MOTOR CO

LITE-ON TECHNOLO

51.3 -0.1945525

3015981

AU OPTRONICS COR

CHENG SHIN RUBBE

97.6

0.8264463

6815775

CHIMEI INNOLUX C

17.8

-1.111111

43081444

MEDIATEK INC

-1.566952

4339706

CHINA DEVELOPMEN

8.03

-1.472393

41708837

MEGA FINANCIAL H

23.4 -0.6369427

12916654

CHINA STEEL CORP

25.6 -0.1949318

8091334

NAN YA PLASTICS

52.8

CHINATRUST FINAN

18.15 -0.5479452

36657068

PRESIDENT CHAIN

CHUNGHWA TELECOM COMPAL ELECTRON

93.2

345.5

0.7633588

4333882

182.5

4.885057

3193663

0.3229279

6217967

QUANTA COMPUTER

59.9

-1.155116

14281613

19.8

-2.463054

14551652

SILICONWARE PREC

32.35

-0.154321

6235665

131.5

0.7662835

3132769

SINOPAC FINANCIA

14.35

1.056338

30969643

FAR EASTERN NEW

30.9

1.644737

5706690

SYNNEX TECH INTL

51.8 -0.3846154

4983153

FAR EASTONE TELE

68.6

0.2923977

3256850

TAIWAN CEMENT

17.75 -0.2808989

10024690

DELTA ELECT INC

FIRST FINANCIAL FORMOSA CHEM & F FORMOSA PETROCHE

TAIWAN COOPERATI

0.7407407

3619980

TAIWAN FERTILIZE

75.9 -0.2628121

1059970

TAIWAN GLASS IND

6048169

16.85

4078435

70 -0.1426534

2666729

27.1 -0.3676471

345247

UNITED MICROELEC

MOVERS

0.7014028

635

2545764

100.5 -0.9852217

19007004

59 -0.8403361

16678757

11.05

WISTRON CORP

5471.32

LOW

5382.52

2667790

-1.339286

32646095

30.5 -0.6514658

4291919

14.45

-1.027397

6842306

-2.152642

5040774

4 5480

INDEX 5433.51 HIGH

Volume

100.5

52W (H) 5639.93 (L) 4719.96

5370

10-April

12-April

April 15, 2013 business daily | 13

MARKETS GAMING STOCKS - DAILY PERFORMANCE (Hong Kong Stock Exchange) 60.4

32.4

16.8 16.7

32.2 60.35

16.6

32.0

Max 32.25

Average 31.964

Max 39.7

Average 39.208

Min 31.8

31.8

Last 32

Min 38.95

Max 60.4

Average 60.395

PRICE

Last 16.68

16.4

19.3

21.5

39.3

19.2

39.1

19.1

21.4 21.3

Max 19.38

Average 19.248

DAY %

YTD %

(H) 52W

(L) 52W

-1.026617584

-0.654787462

106.0899963

BRENT CRUDE FUTR May13

103.04

-1.179629807

-5.00599244

117.4300003

91.54999542

GASOLINE RBOB FUT May13

282.03

-0.377958319

-2.546648238

330.369997

237.7199888

GAS OIL FUT (ICE) May13

866.25

-1.785714286

-5.405405405

1000.75

801.25

4.163

0.579850205

20.56183029

4.18500042

3.072000027

NATURAL GAS FUTR May13

287.55

-0.814045738

-4.904424896

327.1399975

258.5000038

Gold Spot $/Oz

HEATING OIL FUTR May13

1548.42

-0.6551

-6.9716

1796.08

1527.21

Silver Spot $/Oz

27.4075

-0.6255

-8.9754

35.365

26.1513

Platinum Spot $/Oz

1515.39

-0.7668

-0.1555

1742.8

1379.05

Palladium Spot $/Oz

716.68

-0.3822

2.4326

786.5

553.75

LME ALUMINUM 3MO ($)

1898

-0.628272251

-8.441871684

2200.199951

1827.25

LME COPPER 3MO ($)

7610

0.462046205

-4.047408902

8496.75

7219.5

LME ZINC

1914

0.209424084

-7.980769231

2230

1745

16270

1.370716511

-4.630715123

18920

15236

15.8

0.222010783

2.034226671

16.95000076

14.5

638.25

0.749802684

-8.46181427

824

527

WHEAT FUTURE(CBT) Jul13

710.25

0.995378599

-10.51968504

900

664.75

SOYBEAN FUTURE Jul13

1377.5

0.676046044

-1.272173446

1605.75

1217.75

COFFEE 'C' FUTURE Jul13

138.85

-0.215594682

-7.154797727

202.1999969

134.8000031

SUGAR #11 (WORLD) Jul13

17.77

-0.112422709

-9.979736575

24.06999969

COTTON NO.2 FUTR Jul13

86.64

-0.115287065

12.70976974

94.19999695

3MO ($)

LME NICKEL 3MO ($) AGRICULTURE ROUGH RICE (CBOT) May13

Min 19.08

19.0

Last 19.12

Jul13

COUNTRY MAJOR

21.2 Max 21.6

ASIA PACIFIC

CROSSES

Average 21.387

Min 21.15

Last 21.35

21.1

DOW JONES INDUS. AVG

NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX

FTSE 100 INDEX

6392.59

DAX INDEX

7801.59

NIKKEI 225

13485.14

HANG SENG INDEX

CSI 300 INDEX TAIWAN TAIEX INDEX

1.0522 1.5344 0.933 1.3043 98.92 7.9949 7.762 6.1921 54.5725 29.04 1.2387 29.957 41.315 9714 104.088 1.21697 0.85004 8.0914 10.4267 129.03 1.03

-0.4729 -0.3054 -0.4609 -0.6248 0.6773 0.0075 0.0064 0.0662 -0.087 -0.0344 -0.1857 -0.0634 -0.8471 -0.0824 1.1481 0.1545 0.3223 0.2212 0.6378 1.302 0

YTD %

(H) 52W

1.3876 -5.1434 -1.8864 -1.1145 -12.96 -0.1463 -0.1469 0.6218 0.7742 5.303 -1.3966 -3.0844 -0.7503 0.8133 -14.1813 -0.7798 -4.0727 1.5584 0.9946 -11.9817 -0.0097

(L) 52W

1.0625 1.6381 0.9972 1.3711 99.95 8.0039 7.7713 6.3964 57.3275 32 1.2971 30.203 43.975 9904 105.433 1.25692 0.88151 8.4957 10.9254 131.12 1.0314

0.9582 1.4832 0.9022 1.2043 77.13 7.9824 7.7498 6.1857 51.3025 28.87 1.2152 28.913 40.54 9153 74.482 1.20051 0.77553 7.7018 9.6245 94.12 1.029

PRICE

DAY %

YTD %

(H) 52W

(L) 52W

3.63

-2.156334

15.23809

3.94

2.29

1202940

CROWN LTD

12.67

-0.627451

18.74414

12.9

8.06

1658238

17.54999924

AMAX HOLDINGS LT

0.045

#N/A N/A

13645500

69.94999695

BOC HONG KONG HO

25.8

0.78125

7.05394

27.1

20.85

14279154

World Stock MarketS - Indices PRICE

DAY %

MACAU RELATED STOCKS NAME ARISTOCRAT LEISU

DAY %

YTD %

(H) 52W

(L) 52W

14865.14

0.4249357

13.4385

14887.51

12035.08984

3300.156

0.08804299

9.29429

3306.95

2726.68

-0.3670431

8.389213

6533.99

-0.8897776

2.485418

8074.47

-0.4725016

29.72493

13568.25

8238.96

22089.05

-0.05529094

-2.506383

23944.74

18056.4

2462.112

-0.63619

-2.411455

2791.303

2102.135

7821.63

-0.4625871

1.586205

8089.21

6857.35

VOLUME CRNCY

0.3

13.20755

0.42

0.215

5.65

-0.1766784

-5.676123

6.74

2.8

50000

CHINA OVERSEAS

21.85

1.157407

-5.411257

25.6

14.624

24982149

CHINESE ESTATES

13.42

3.072197

10.64009

13.68

7.697

440000

CHOW TAI FOOK JE

10.44

-1.323251

-16.07717

13.4

8.4

1930377

EMPEROR ENTERTAI

2.21

2.314815

16.93122

2.49

1.1

275000

FUTURE BRIGHT

2.19

-2.666667

79.50819

2.75

0.65

1817399

CHEUK NANG HLDGS

COUNTRY

PRICE

AUD GBP CHF EUR JPY MOP HKD CNY INR THB SGD TWD PHP IDR AUDJPY EURCHF EURGBP EURCNY EURMOP EURJPY HKDMOP

CENTURY LEGEND

-0.9287926

5.436572

35.7

16.94

5289421

HANG SENG BK

GALAXY ENTERTAIN

125.1

0.4819277

5.391747

131.5

99.2

1167857

5229.76

HOPEWELL HLDGS

30.45

0.4950495

-8.421053

35.3

19.049

868572

5914.43

HSBC HLDGS PLC

82.05

-0.06090134

0.9225054

88.45

59.8

7408337

HUTCHISON TELE H

3.78

0.265252

6.179777

4.05

2.98

1440000

LUK FOOK HLDGS I

23.45

0.8602151

-3.893441

30.05

14.7

1236993

MELCO INTL DEVEL

13.38

-0.8888889

48.50166

13.96

5.12

3012700

MGM CHINA HOLDIN

16.68

0.2403846

25.61869

18.449

9.509

2298254

3.43

0.8823529

-7.297298

3.249

1304000

NEPTUNE GROUP

MIDLAND HOLDINGS

0.139

-2.112676

-8.552629

0.226

0.084

12790000

KOSPI INDEX

1924.23

-1.311417

-3.646382

2042.48

1758.99

S&P/ASX 200 INDEX

5013.535

0.1291374

7.842308

5163.5

3985

4937.21

0.2629226

14.37498

4985.852

3635.283

FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI

1698.53

-0.4985238

0.5672209

1716.47

1526.6

NZX ALL INDEX

944.359

0.6011403

7.063752

946.292

755.149

SJM HOLDINGS LTD

19.12

-0.8298755

PHILIPPINES ALL SHARE IX

4299.2

0.6704023

16.22664

4299.2

3238.77

SMARTONE TELECOM

12.96

-0.3076923

WYNN MACAU LTD

21.35

1.184834

ASIA ENTERTAINME

4.72

BALLY TECHNOLOGI

JAKARTA COMPOSITE INDEX

Min 16.44

39.5

92.55

NAME

Average 16.673

21.6

WTI CRUDE FUTURE May13

CORN FUTURE

Max 16.74

CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES

NAME

METALS

60.3

Last 60.3

19.4

Commodities ENERGY

Min 60.3

39.7

38.9

Last 39.1

16.5

NEW WORLD DEV

12.88

1.098901

7.154738

15.12

7.95

11882792

SANDS CHINA LTD

39.1

-1.387137

15.16936

41.05

20.65

7214062

SHUN HO RESOURCE

1.44

2.857145

1.67

1.03

SHUN TAK HOLDING

4.01

-0.9876543

-4.295944

4.65

2.56

2107258

6.222222

22.15

12.34

4787764

-7.954545

17.38

12.5

1387000

1.909304

25.5

14.62

4994966

2.832244

54.24837

6.127

2.4

239722

49.76

-0.48

11.29501

52.7

41.74

389822 1500

HSBC Dragon 300 Index Singapor

644.19

0.49

3.72

STOCK EXCH OF THAI INDEX

1526.61

0.6460928

9.675769

1601.34

1099.15

HO CHI MINH STOCK INDEX

494.27

-1.944174

19.4668

518.46

372.39

BOC HONG KONG HO

3.34

-0.2985075

8.794791

3.59

2.7

Laos Composite Index

1330.68

-0.22943

9.541727

1455.82

980.83

GALAXY ENTERTAIN

4.18

5.289672

4.57

2.25

4640

16.98

1.981982

19.83063

17.49

10.92

3016473

INTL GAME TECH

Shanghai Shenzhen Composite index is listing the biggest companies by market capitalisation. All data supplied by Bloomberg unless otherwise indicated.

JONES LANG LASAL

100.02

0.1702554

19.15654

100.91

61.39

157219

LAS VEGAS SANDS

54.97

-0.954955

19.08579

58.3216

32.6127

4346214 2383229

MELCO CROWN-ADR

23.21

-0.9389671

37.8266

23.69

9.13

MGM CHINA HOLDIN

8.108107

2.44

1.36

5000

MGM RESORTS INTE

12.86

-0.5413766

10.4811

14.11

8.83

6009837

SHFL ENTERTAINME

15.45

-0.7707129

6.551724

18.37

11.75

245543

SJM HOLDINGS LTD

2.52

0.3984064

9.090912

2.85

1.65

3100

127.16

0.6331117

13.04116

129.6589

84.4902

1298474

WYNN RESORTS LTD

AUD HKD

USD

14 |

business daily April 15, 2013

Opinion

China’s unlikely rival: Japan William Pesek

Bloomberg View columnist

f all the nightmares Chinese President Xi Jinping figured he would have to face, a resurgent Japan Inc. surely wasn’t among them. A major slowdown in the Chinese economy? Yes. Social instability? Absolutely. Debilitating pollution? Check. Rampant corruption eating away at the Communist Party’s legitimacy? You bet. An economically vibrant Japan emboldened to challenge China for leadership in Asia? Hardly. With an assertive Shinzo Abe at the helm, though, Japan may be poised to do just that, in ways that could upend the dynamics of Asia’s future. The emphasis here is on “may”. For all the excitement over “Abenomics,” it’s still a vague and unimaginative blueprint to end Japan’s 20year funk. Still, let’s say the optimists prove right and Abe ends deflation and restores Japan’s economic clout in the region. It’s doubtful that the steady, “peaceful” rise to dominance envisioned by China includes sharing power with a renascent Japan. The Japanese recovery the world has long sought could well make Asia a much more dangerous place. This is the minefield into which John Kerry will wander as he embarked on his maiden trip to Asia as U.S. secretary of state. In Seoul, Kerry grappled with North Korea’s threats and tried to reassure a key U.S. ally. In Beijing and Tokyo after that, he encounters Asia’s budding Cold War first-hand.

Love fest Kerry’s Beijing stop will be contentious as he prods Chinese officials to rein in North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, revise currency policies that Washington deems unfair, and shut down an army of hackers attacking computer networks around the globe. Tokyo will be a love fest, with Abe keen on strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance. The contrast won’t be lost on Xi, who just began his 10-year term as Chinese leader. The yen’s 22 percent plunge against the U.S. dollar over the past six months, a drop that began with Abe’s candidacy, is bad news for Chinese exporters.

While China’s economy is bigger, Japan’s still generates US$5.9 trillion worth of output and features a stable of globally active technology, transport and pharmaceutical companies. Amid weak global growth and rising Chinese wages, a more competitive Japan could reclaim the exportmarket share that China now takes for granted. By opening the monetary floodgates as never before, Abe’s new Bank of Japan chief, Haruhiko Kuroda, could push the yen much lower still. China might even feel compelled to devalue the yuan, which would enrage the U.S. Even more than Japan’s gross domestic product, though, the confidence that a recovery would lend to Abe,

who has never forgotten his nationalist roots, is something that Xi should fear. The optimism the Japanese prime minister has managed to generate with his policies has driven his approval ratings into the 70 percent range. His Liberal Democratic Party seems headed for a big win in upper-house elections in July. Once secure in his premiership, Abe may well rediscover his obsession with creating a “Beautiful Japan”. That’s the catchall phrase that Abe trotted out early in his first stint as prime minister in 2006. The euphemism encompasses a wide range of controversial policies – from downplaying or denying Japan’s atrocities during World War II, to inserting more patriotism into school curriculums, rewriting Japan’s pacifist post-war constitution and generally flexing muscles in Asia.

Stiffening spine

China and Japan should keep economics and politics as separate as possible

It’s hard to exaggerate how devastated the political establishment in Tokyo was to see China’s economy surpass Japan’s in 2010. That Japan shares the same credit rating as China is a deeply sore point for the conservative lawmakers who make up Abe’s LDP. Abe is anxious to restore the pride drained by two decades of economic stagnation, and in the post-war period before that. Visiting Washington in February, he pledged to “bring

back a strong Japan”. Anyone who thinks this process will go smoothly is dreaming. “This could be destabilising in the region and further undermine prospects for improving relations,” says Jeff Kingston, the head of Asian studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University. It also would complicate U.S. President Barack Obama’s pivot toward Asia. No economic relationship is more important than that between the U.S. and China, the “Group of Two”. Yet no friendship in the region matters more to Washington than its bond with Tokyo. A sustained period of heightened acrimony between China and Japan, already at odds over disputed islands, means even less cooperation on trade, currencies and security. An emboldened Japan would be more prickly about outside advice, including from the U.S. Worse, it could overplay its hand, nudging its American ally into a confrontation with nucleararmed China. There’s plenty of blame to go around, of course. China’s periodic displays of great-power vanity raise hackles throughout Asia. Its heavy-handed approach to territorial disputes and trade has undercut efforts to develop a more stable regional consensus and institutions like those that ended conflict in Europe after World War II. If a

crisis develops in Asia, leaders really have nowhere to go to settle disputes and step back from the brink. Even if China’s new leader wanted to strengthen ties with Japan, a plethora of domestic challenges may limit his manoeuvring room. Xi must address official corruption, a widening gap between rich and poor, an increasingly activist media and pollution that’s choking Beijing. As problems mount, there will be a natural inclination to lash out internationally. Japan, China’s wartime coloniser, is an obvious target. Ceding ground to Tokyo would be devastating for Xi’s standing in Beijing. China and Japan must be careful not to back each other into a corner. Both nations should keep economics and politics as separate as possible. They should agree to regularly scheduled summit meetings, as do Beijing and Washington. Pledging to increase bilateral financial and trade ties would help ensure economic interests survive any geopolitical differences. Also, it’s time to decide on a framework to negotiate a truce involving a group of islands that Japan calls Senkaku and China calls Diaoyu. Kerry should worry about reconciling the ambitions of North Asia’s two giants, before the region faces a true nightmare. Bloomberg View

editorial council Paulo A. Azevedo, Tiago Azevedo, José I. Duarte, Emanuel Graça, Mandy Kuok Founder & Publisher Paulo A. Azevedo | pazevedo@macaubusinessdaily.com Editor-in-Chief Tiago Azevedo DEputy Editor-in-Chief Vitor Quintã Associate editor Michael Grimes GROUP SENIOR ANALYST José I. Duarte Newsdesk Luciana Leitão, Stephanie Lai, Tony Lai EDITOR AT LARGE Alex Lee Creative Director José Manuel Cardoso WEB & IT Janne Louhikari Contributors James Chu, João Francisco Pinto, Larry So, Pedro Cortés, Ricardo Siu, Rose N. Lai, Zen Udani Photography Carmo Correia, Manuel Cardoso Assistant to the publisher Laurentina da Silva | ltinas@macaubusinessdaily.com office manager Elsa Vong | elsav@macaubusinessdaily.com Agencies Bloomberg, Reuters, AFP, Xinhua, Lusa, Project Syndicate Printed in Macau by Welfare Ltd.

Business Daily is a product of De Ficção – Multimedia Projects Address Block C, Floor 9, Flat H, Edf. Ind. Nam Fong Av. Dr. Francisco Vieira Machado, No. 679, Macau Tel. (853) 2833 1258 / 2870 5909 Fax (853) 2833 1487 Email newsdesk@macaubusinessdaily.com Advertising advertising@macaubusinessdaily.com Subscriptions sub@macaubusinessdaily.com

April 15, 2013 business daily | 15

OPINION

Financial globalisation wires in reverse? Business

Leading reports from Asia’s best business newspapers

Korea Herald

Martin Baily Susan Lund

Chair in Economic Policy Development at the Brookings Institution

Principal with the McKinsey Global Institute

President Park Geun-hye assured foreign investors that South Korea will remain a safe and stable place for business in a meeting held amidst growing concerns over North Korea’s threats of a war. Ms Park met with business representatives of the U.S., Europe, Japan, Germany and France. The new president stressed that Seoul was keeping a staunch watch on any provocation through close cooperation with the U.S., China and the international community. “I would like to say, with conviction, that a stable environment will continue to be made in which you can feel secure and make investment and conduct business,” Ms Park told the participants.

Asahi Shimbun Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is pressing the government to cut fiscal deficit, after delivering what he describes as a monetary policy of a different dimension. “[Government finances] probably cannot be maintained,” Mr Kuroda said. “The fiscal deficit needs to be reduced.” Mr Kuroda noted that Japan is saddled with by far the highest level of debt among members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. He said the government needs to lower the ratio of public debt balance to gross domestic product, which now exceeds 220 percent.

Times of India The European Union wants the Indian government to allow zero duty import of cars to the country. The proposal, which has come at the behest of the German lobby that includes global giants like Mercedes, BMW and Audi, has so far been resisted by the government but it has set off fresh fears in the industry that the government may agree to cut tariffs to as low as 5 percent to 10 percent from the notified rate of 60 percent. “We hope India does not give in,” Vishnu Mathur, head of Siam, the auto industry lobby group, was quoted as saying.

Jakarta Globe International rating agency Fitch Ratings has bestowed an “A” mark upon Garuda Indonesia, the country’s flag carrier, citing the airline’s market leadership in the fullservice carrier industry and the growth potential of its low-cost carrier unit. The outlook is stable, Fitch said. “Garuda dominates FSC [full-service carrier] flights between cities in Indonesia and, together with its low-cost carrier operation, commanded about 28.2 percent of the total domestic market at end-2012,” Fitch said in a statement. Fitch said Garuda would likely remain the market leader.

or three decades, financial globalisation had seemed inevitable. New information technologies made it possible to conduct transactions halfway around the world in the blink of an eye. Savers gained the ability to diversify, while the largest borrowers could tap global pools of capital. As national financial markets grew more intertwined, crossborder capital flows rose from US$0.5 trillion in 1980 to a peak of US$11.8 trillion in 2007. But the 2008 crisis exposed the dangers, with the globalised financial system’s intricate web of connections becoming a conduit for contagion. Crossborder capital flows abruptly collapsed. Almost five years later, they remain 60 percent below their pre-crisis peak. This pullback in cross-border activity has been accompanied by muted growth in global financial assets (despite the recent rallies in stock markets around the world). Global financial assets have grown by just 1.9 percent annually since the crisis, down from 7.9 percent average annual growth from 1990 to 2007. Should the world be worried by this decline in cross-border capital flows and slowdown in financing? Yes and no. After the outsize risks of the bubble years, these trends could be a sign that the system is reverting to historical norms. As we now know, much of the growth in financial assets prior to the crisis reflected leverage of the financial sector itself, and some of the growth in cross-border flows reflected governments tapping global capital pools to fund chronic budget deficits. Retrenchment of these sources of financial globalisation is to be welcomed. But not all of the current retreat is healthy. Surprisingly, emerging economies are also experiencing a slowdown; the development of their financial markets is barely keeping pace with GDP growth. Most of these countries

have very small financial systems relative to the size of their economies, and, with small and mediumsize enterprises (SMEs), households, and infrastructure projects facing credit constraints, they certainly have ample room for sustainable market deepening.

Plans undermined A powerful factor underlying the drop in cross-border capital flows is the dramatic reversal of European financial integration. Once in the vanguard of financial globalisation, European countries are now turning inward. After expanding across national borders with the creation of the euro, euro zone banks have now reduced cross-border lending and other claims within the euro zone by US$2.8 trillion since the end of 2007. Other types of cross-border investment in Europe have fallen by more than half. The rationale for the euro’s creation – the financial and economic integration of Europe – is now being undermined. Current trends seem to be leading toward a more fragmented global financial system in which countries rely primarily on domestic capital formation. Sharper regional disparities in the availability and cost of capital could emerge, particularly for smaller businesses and consumers, constraining investment and growth in some countries. And, while a more balkanized financial system does reduce the likelihood of global shocks creating volatility in far-flung markets, it may also concentrate risks within local banking systems and increase the chance of domestic financial crises. So, is it possible to “reset” financial globalisation while avoiding the excesses of the past? Successfully concluding the regulatory reform initiatives

currently under way is the first imperative. That means working out the final details of the Basel III banking standards, creating clear processes for cross-border bank resolution and recovery, and building macro-prudential supervisory capabilities. These steps would go a long way toward erecting safeguards that create a more stable system. But additional measures are needed. The spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund represent a pivotal moment for shifting the debate toward a second phase of post-crisis reform efforts – one that focuses on ensuring a healthy flow of financing to the real economy.

Promoting reform A crucial part of this agenda is the removal of constraints on foreign direct investment and foreign investor purchases of equities and bonds, which are far more stable types of capital flows than bank lending. Many countries continue to limit foreign investment and ownership in specific sectors, restrict their pension funds’ foreign-investment positions, and limit foreign investors’ access to local stock markets. Eliminating these barriers

would increase the availability of long-term financing for business expansion. More broadly, officials in emerging economies should restart reforms that enable further domestic financialmarket development. Most countries have the basic market infrastructure and regulations, but enforcement and supervision is often weak. Progress on this front would enable equity and bond markets to provide an important alternative to bank lending for the largest companies – and free up capital for banks to lend to SMEs and consumers. Deepening capital markets would also benefit local savers and open new channels for foreign investors to diversify. Given that Europe led the recent rise and fall of financial globalisation, any effort to reset the system should focus on measures to restore confidence and put European financial integration back on track. The recent crisis in Cyprus underscores the urgency of establishing a banking union that includes not only common supervision, but also resolution mechanisms and deposit insurance. Determining the right degree of openness is a thorny and complex issue for every country. Policymakers must weigh the risks of volatility, exchange-rate pressures, and vulnerability to sudden reversals in capital flows against the benefits of wider access to credit and enhanced competition. The right balance may vary depending on the size of the economy, the efficiency of domestic funding sources, and the strength of regulation and supervision. But the objective of building a competitive, diverse, and open financial sector deserves to be a central part of the policy agenda. The ties that bind global markets together have frayed, but it is not too late to mend them. © Project Syndicate

16 |

business daily April 15, 2013

CLOSING Coutinho calls for casino licences inquiry Japan, U.S. agree on TPP talks Testimony in a Nevada lawsuit about how Las Vegas Sands Corp. got its Macau gaming licence has prompted calls here for more openness on how the 2002 liberalisation process was handled. “The government should set up an independent panel to find out what happened when the licences were awarded, José Coutinho, a directly elected member of Macau’s legislative assembly, told Reuters. In a rare comment last week, Beijing said the licence process had been an internal matter for Macau. Hong Kong Businessman Richard Suen is claiming US$328 million from LVS for his claimed role.

Japan and the United States have agreed on a deal to allow Tokyo to join talks on a U.S.-led Asia-Pacific free trade pact that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is making a keystone of his strategy to open Japan’s economy and spur long-sought growth. “Japan and the U.S. agreed,” Mr Abe told reporters as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Japan yesterday. He added that he wanted Tokyo to join talks as soon as possible. The bilateral deal brings Japan closer to entering talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact, which Japan hopes to participate in as early as July.

Greece to receive fresh funds As troika concludes bailout review of reform progress

n inspection team of international lenders has finished its review of Greece’s austerity programme, paving the way for another 10 billion euros (US$13.1 billion) aid payment, a source with knowledge of the talks said yesterday. The deal reached on Friday, concludes the first review by the so-called “troika” of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank since they unlocked fresh aid in December, staving off a chaotic bankruptcy. In exchange for the December deal in Greece’s 240-billion euro bailout, Athens passed a fresh round of austerity measures. “The third review mission of the programme was completed in Athens with a staff level agreement,” one delegate with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. The official added the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers and the IMF’s board would each likely discuss the agreement in May, a condition for the money to actually be paid. Klaus Regling, the head of the euro zone’s rescue funds, said on Friday the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), under which Greece’s rescue is handled, stood

ready to disburse 10 billion euros to Athens once conditions were met. “Greece would get 2.8 billion euros after the milestones have been met. In addition, 7.2 billion [euros are] available in bonds to recapitalise the banks. This is based on a tranche already approved last December,” he told reporters. Greece has received about 200 billion euros in rescue loans since its first bailout in May in 2010. But despite imposing a 75-percent debt cut on private-sector bondholders and receiving debt relief from its official lenders last year, it is still far from a return to the bond markets.

Portugal, Ireland Ireland and Portugal, on Friday, won extra time to pay back emergency loans, trying to become the first countries to rebound from Europe’s debt crisis. Both got seven extra years to repay creditors, European finance ministers agreed at meetings in Dublin. Portugal can only lock in the concession once it enacts new budget cuts to make up for savings that were thrown out by the country’s highest court last week. “This deal is extremely important for Portugal because it allows the

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with troika officials

country to create enough space to issue a 10-year bond and that in turn is a crucial step in our process to regain full bond market access,” Portuguese Finance Minister Vítor Gaspar told reporters. European governments are keen on selling both countries as crisis-

Cyprus c.bank chief calls for its independence Government warned not to sack bank governor

Mr Demetriades said the government is attacking the institution’s independence

yprus’s central bank governor said yesterday he was willing to work with the government to pull the island out of its economic crisis, provided the bank’s independence was respected. A rift between Governor Panicos Demetriades, appointed last May by the communist former administration, and the ruling centreright government has deepened in recent days and pressure has grown on him to resign over his handling of the crisis. In the past week, the Cypriot parliament started an investigation against Mr Demetriades, President Nicos Anastasiades’s government withdrew the appointment of his deputy, and three central bank

officials resigned. The ongoing saga drew a scathing response from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi, who wrote to the Cypriot president telling him any attempt to effectively sack the governor could land Cyprus in the European Court of Justice. “My intention to work with the country’s democratic institutions is a given,” Mr Demetriades was quoted as saying in an interview with the Phileleftheros newspaper. “We are ready to respond to every call for cooperation and coordination for the benefit of this country always, however within the framework of total respect towards the central bank’s independence, as stipulated by the ECB.” Under European Union law, a

management success stories as they struggle to keep aid plans for Greece and Cyprus on track and gear up for a possible bailout of Slovenia as well. Ireland aims to exit its bailout at the end of the year, while Portugal’s programme ends in May 2014. Reuters

governor can only be dismissed if he no longer fulfils the conditions required for the performance of his duties, or if he is guilty of serious misconduct. The investigation launched by Cypriot lawmakers this week is seeking to find out whether Mr Demetriades supplied enough information during an investigation into the demise of Cyprus’s two biggest lenders, which left the economy in disarray. The collapse of the Mediterranean island’s banking system imposed massive losses on depositors in order to qualify for a 10 billion euro (US$13 billion) bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The departures in the past week from the regulator’s board have slimmed the six-member board to two, including Mr Demetriades. However, executive power rests with the governor so while they add to the pressure on Mr Demetriades to quit, they are not expected to affect policy-making. The government, in power for under two months, has sought to play down accusations it was intervening with the central bank’s duties. Reuters