AEC Feed

Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines should consider a merger, said an equity analyst.
According to Maybank Kim Eng’s regional aviation analyst Mohshin Aziz, it was his personal opinion this would make both airlines more cost efficient to operate.
“This is my firm view,” he said.
Speaking at an Invest Asia 2019 presentation last week, he said this would first need a change in mentality of people that an airline had to represent their respective countries.
“A merger between them will see a lot of improvements in terms of scheduling. Besides, relocation of assets can also be optimised,” he said.
“If the full service carriers can move away from this mentality, it will be very good for the business,” he said.
Maybank Kim Eng would like to clarify that the view(s) expressed by the analyst quoted in this article do not represent the house view and position of Maybank Kim Eng.
Malaysia and Singapore airlines were once together, then known as Malaysia–Singapore Airlines (MSA), was the flag carrier of Malaysia and Singapore. 
According to Wikipedia, MSA came about in 1966 as a result of a joint ownership of the airline by the governments of the two countries.However, MSA ceased operations after six years in 1972 when both governments decided to set up their own national airlines, Malaysian Airline System and Singapore Airlines. – The Star 

February surge fails to lift foreign investments 
A surge of long-term equity inflows in February failed to reverse a weak start for foreign investments into the Philippines as fewer multinational firms sent funds to their local units coupled with an increase in capital withdrawals, the central bank said on Friday.
In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that total foreign direct investments (FDIs) reached $1.4 billion (Bt44.18 billion) in the January-February period, lower by 15.7 per cent than the $1.6 billion net inflows registered in the comparable period last year.
“The decrease in FDI net inflows during the period was due mainly to the 67.1-percent decline in nonresidents’ net equity capital investments as placements decreased by 31.5 percent, while withdrawals grew by 236.5 percent,” the central bank said.
Equity capital placements during the period came mostly from Japan, China, South Korea, Mauritius and the United States.
By economic activity, equity capital infusions were mainly invested in financial and insurance services, transportation and storage, real estate, administrative and support services, and manufacturing industries.
Meanwhile, net placements in debt instruments increased by 12.9 per cent to $1 billion from $896 million in the first two months of 2018. Reinvestment of earnings grew by 10.1 per cent to $155 million during the period.
Total FDIs for all of 2018 reached $9.8 billion, which represented a 4.4-per cent decline from the $10.3 billion recorded in the previous year. – Philippine Daily Inquirer

OCBC sees slowdown in housing loans 
OCBC Bank, like the other two Singapore lenders, is feeling the chill of last year's property cooling measures with its mortgage book “reduced visibly” for the first quarter of 2019.
“Our housing loans outstanding have reduced visibly on quarter and on year,” chief executive Samuel Tsien said during the bank's results announcement on Friday. “Housing demand is there but it's not as strong as before.”
OCBC's total housing loans stood at S$64.8 billion (Bt1.5 trillion) at March 31, 2019, up from $64.5 billion at end-2018. It was $64.2 billion as at March 31, 2018. Mr Tsien said the Singapore home loans contraction was “less than a billion” (in Singapore dollars) year on year.
In addition, Mr Tsien said OCBC, whose home loan market share remains over 20 per cent, isn't keen to fight for more of the pie by cutting rates.
“Sometimes, the pricing is not worth our participation in the market,” he said. – The Straits Times

Indonesia posts $2.4 bn surplus in first quarter
Indonesia posted a surplus in its balance of payments for the second successive quarter thanks to the improvement in the current account deficit and surge in capital and financial accounts, Bank Indonesia (BI) has announced.
The balance of payments surplus was recorded at US$2.41 billion (Bt76.05 billion)in the first quarter, lower than the $5.41 billion surplus recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
BI spokesman Onny Widjanarko said in a statement that the lower surplus was due to payment of the government’s global bonds that reached maturity.
The surplus contributed to the increase in foreign exchange reserves to $124.53 billion, up from $120.65 billion recorded in the previous quarter.
The current account deficit stood at 2.6 percent of GDP, or equal to $7 billion, in the first quarter as the trade balance reversed to a surplus of $1.1 billion after deficits were booked in the previous two quarters.
“The decline in the current account deficit was thanks to the increase in the trade balance surplus, which was in line with the surplus increase in the nonoil and gas trade balance as well as improvements in the oil and gas trade deficit,” said Onny.
Onny added the trade balance surplus in the first quarter was due to the decline in imports compared to exports, in line with the government’s import control policies that were rolled out last year, such as the wider mandate for 20 percent blended biodiesel as well as the higher import tax for 1,147 consumer goods. – The Jakarta Post