Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents President, Lim Boon Ping, said that the property market is expected to witness at least a 10% reduction at the end of the Movement Control Order (MCO) enforced by the Government of Malaysia. He made this statement during the online ASEAN Real Estate Forum. Ping stated that Malaysia's property prices could reduce by a maximum of 20%. K Soma Sundram, the Secretary General of ASEAN Real Estate Networking Alliance (ARENA) stated that there will be potential buyers waiting for the MCO to end to capitalize on properties sold b...

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is expected the hold an auction this week for a five-year Variable Rental Rate (VRR) Government of Pakistan (GOP) Ijara Sukuk to raise PKR 75 billion. The SBP published a revised auction schedule for Ijara Sukuk, according to which it is expected to conduct another auction in the month of April 2020. Last week the SBP rejected all bids in the auction for GOP Ijara Sukuk as it had reduced the policy rate by 200 basis points (bps). According to the SBP, the auction received bids worth PKR 176.897 billion again...

Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim, a former Secretary General of Malaysia's Ministry of Finance, has asked the Government of Malaysia to implement three major construction projects that have been in the pipeline for a while. The former Secretary General suggested that the three major construction projects - the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) and National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP) - could kick-start the Malaysian economy’s recovery from the impac...

Fitch Solutions (Fitch) has downgraded Indonesia's 2020 economic growth forecast to 2.8% from its initial estimate of 4.2% due to the expected deceleration in consumption and investment growth as global economic expansion declines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fitch also noted that the collaborative steps taken by the Government of Indonesia and Bank Indonesia (BI) may not be enough to mitigate the severe impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on jobs and public health. In addition, Fitch also forecasted Indonesia’s private consumption to reduce to 1.2% in 2020 from...

In the light of potential Sukuk issuances in South Africa, Maahir Jakoet (MJ), a Portfolio Manager at Old Mutual Investment Group’s Customised Solutions, stated that in the wake of market uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa was set to see an expansion in its Sukuk market in 2020.  This was to be backed by increasing requirements for Government funding to rebuild the economy post COVID-19, adding that Sukuk supported sustainable development without the bo...

The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has designed immediate measures to assist the private sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and sectors of the economy which are mostly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.  The financial stimulus from these measures is expected to exceed SAR 70 billion, consisting of exemptions and the postponement of some government fees to provide liquidity to the private sector, thus allowing them to sustain the continuity of their economic activities. Vital measures introduced within the SAR 70 billion p...

Upon a lengthy and rigorous audit for 18 months, the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Assessment Institute of the Indonesian Ulema Council (LPPOM MUI) has recently issued a Halal certification for modern multi-format retailer, Matahari Putra Prima (MPPA). This Halal provision includes meat and poultry products under the hyfresh brand, fruit and vegetable products under the hyfresh brand, bakery products under the Bakemart brand, and ready-to-eat products under the Delibon Café brand. With the receipt of the Halal certification, MPPA becomes the first modern ret...

In line with the IMF’s downward revision of Indonesia’s economic growth forecast for 2020 to 0.5% (compared to the 2019 estimate of 5.0%), the Government of Indonesia announced its bleak expectations for the economy last week.  Indonesia’s Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, stated that up to 5.2 million people could be unemployed this year, with between 1.1 million and 3.78 million Indonesians expected to fall into poverty.  According to data from Indonesia’s Manpower Ministry and the Workers Social Security Agency, u...

Indonesia's tourism industry is expected to see a loss of USD 10 billion in revenue this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic has almost crippled the industry, according to Wishnutama Kusubandio, the Minister for Indonesia’s Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry. Wishnutama stated that Indonesia saw 16 million tourists visiting the country during 2019 generating USD 20 billion revenue. He added that that the number of foreign holiday makers visiting Indonesia is forecast to tumble to 5 million this year, reducing the potential revenue by a half of what was earne...

S&P Global Ratings (S&P) has revised Indonesia’s Credit rating outlook to ‘Negative’ from ‘Stable’, citing the emerging financial risk faced by Indonesia as the country has stepped up its government spending to cushion the impact of COVID-19. According to S&P, the downgrading of Indonesia’s credit rating has been triggered by the weakened external position of the country following a considerable depreciation of the IDR.  In addition, S&P has cited that the government’s debt burden will be significantly higher over the next few years as a result of strong cou...