Briefs

The urban centre of Vientiane’s Kasy district will be relocated to an area near Kasy Road to allow for construction of the Laos-China railway. 
Flat land in the Kasy Road area has been allocated, requiring the relocation of about 400 houses and government offices that line Road 13 North, director of the provincial Public Works and Transport Department Soumountha Somchanmavong said on Friday. 
Dirt roads have already been built in the area where the town will be relocated, he said. -– Vientiane Times 

Indonesia’s banking industry forecast to post| 11% surge in totat assets in 2017 

Referring to business plans already submitted by banking players, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) has predicted that the Indonesian banking industry will post a surge in growth this year. 
OJK chairman Muliaman Hadad said on Friday that the banks’ total assets would grow by 11.28 per cent to 7.35 quadrillion rupiah (Bt2 trillion) in 2017. 
Loans would total 4.99 quadrillion rupiah, up 13.25 per cent, while third-party funds would increase by 11.94 per cent to 5.3 quadrillion rupiah. 
“The banks’ business plans have still shown some optimism,” he said at the year-end presser at the OJK office in Jakarta. – The Jakarta Post 

Jakarta aims to steer nation into global |supply chain for manufacturing 

Indonesia aims to make its manufacturing a key part of the global supply chain, the National Development Planning Agency has said. 
De-industrialisation has been a widespread concern in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy for more than a decade. 
Indonesia wants to integrate its economy more deeply into the world trade system, meeting demand for manufactured goods in the future, National Development Planning head Bambang Brodjonegoro said during a year-end press conference at his office on Saturday. 
To do this, the country needs to produce more quality products, he added. – The Jakarta Post