AEC Feed

Management of the Becici Peak tourism destination in Muntuk, Yogyakarta, expects to receive more foreign tourists following Thursday’s visit of former United States president Barack Obama.
“We hope this destination will go global after his visit,” Becici Peak operations head Sugandi said, as quoted by kontan.co.id.
Sugandi said no unusual preparations were carried out to welcome the 44th US president, besides cleaning the area and adding more flowerpots. 
Becici management also expanded the presence of internal officials from 40 people during regular holidays to 50 people on the day of Obama’s visit.
During his visit, Obama and his family enjoyed the view from Becici Peak at 380 metres above sea level for around 15 minutes, and did not interact with local officials or Becici Peak management.
Becici Peak is located in a pine forest and is under the management of 40 local residents, who were originally pine sap tappers.
After the forest became a tourist attraction in 2015, tapping activities ceased and the tappers turned to tourism management of the 4.4-hectare forest. – The Jakarta Post 

SBV ‘might’ lift credit growth targets

Vietnam’s central bank may consider lifting credit growth targets for several banks to support economic growth, according to Bao Viet Securities.
Bao Viet Securities analysts said in a report that there was immense pressure on the government to loosen monetary policy as Vietnam was determined to achieve the GDP growth target of 6.7 per cent for the full year, however, fiscal policy was struggling with disbursement of public investment.
Until the end of May, disbursement of public investments reached 88 trillion dong (Bt139 billion), only equivalent to 30.6 per cent of the full year’s estimate, according to the General Statistics Office.
Bao Vie Securities said when fiscal policy did not support growth well, pressure would intensify on monetary policy.
 Lifting credit growth targets for several banks might be an option to consider, the analysts said.
When monetary policy was loosened, the liquidity of the banking system would be increased, which would create favourable conditions for government bond issuance. 
The state treasury, to date, has completed more than 70 per cent of the bond issuance plan for this year.
Credit growth reached 7.5 per cent in the first six months of this year, according to the General Statistics Office. 
The central bank set the credit growth target at 18 per cent this year. – Viet Nam News 

Alibaba to raise stake in Lazada to 83 per cent 

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is planning to raise its stake in online mall Lazada to 83 percent from 51 percent at present in a bid to strengthen its foothold in Southeast Asia.
To do so, Alibaba plans to invest US$1 billion, which would bring its total investment in Lazada to $2 billion.
The investment from Alibaba shows its optimism about online retail in Southeast Asia. 
Based on an analysis by Google and Temasek Holdings last year, the region’s internet economy was predicted to grow to $200 billion by 2025.
“The e-commerce markets in the region are still relatively untapped, and we see a very positive upward trajectory ahead of us,” Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba, said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.
The Chinese e-commerce leader said it will purchase shares from certain Lazada shareholders at an implied valuation of $3.15 billion.
Founded in 2012, the Singapore-based startup Lazada operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Lazada had about 23 million active buyers as of March 2017. - Philippine Daily Inquirer