China leads the way as world's billionaires get even richer

The United States created 53 new billionaires in 2017, down from 87 five years ago

China produced around two new billionaires a week last year as the fortunes of the world's ultra-rich soared by a record amount, a report said Friday.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-10-china-world-billionaires-richer.html#jCp

China produced two new billionaires a week last year as the fortunes of the world’s ultra-rich soared by a record amount - AFP

 China produced around two new billionaires a week last year as the fortunes of the world's ultra-rich soared by a record amount, Swiss banking giant UBS and auditors PwC said.

Billionaires' wealth enjoyed its "greatest-ever" increase in 2017, rising 19 percent to $8.9 trillion ($7.8 billion euros) shared among 2,158 individuals, said the report by Swiss banking giant UBS and auditors PwC.

But Chinese billionaires expanded their wealth at nearly double that pace, growing by 39 percent to $1.12 trillion.

"Over the last decade, Chinese billionaires have created some of the world's largest and most successful companies, raised living standards," said Josef Stadler, head of Ultra High Net Worth at UBS Global Wealth Management.

"But this is just the beginning. China's vast population, technology innovation and productivity growth combined with government support, are providing unprecedented opportunities for individuals not only to build businesses but also to change people's lives for the better."

The report said China minted two new billionaires a week in 2017, among more than three a week created in Asia.

In the Americas region, the wealth of billionaires increased at a slower rate of 12 percent, to $3.6 trillion, with the United States creating 53 new billionaires in 2017 compared to 87 five years ago.

Currency appreciation saw European billionaires' wealth grow 19 percent although the number of billionaires rose by just 4.0 percent to 414.

Wealth transition from just five families accounted for 30 percent of the continent's wealth expansion, the study said.

It warned of lower economic growth in the United States and China if the trade war between the two countries escalates.

"US and Asia ex-Japan equities could fall by 20 percent from their mid-summer 2018 levels."

Asia challenging US dominance

For China's young billionaires "the country's fundamentals of a huge population and rising technology will continue to offer fertile conditions for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses," the study said.

It there were only 16 Chinese billionaires as recently as 2006.

"Today, only 30 years after the country's government first allowed private enterprise, they number 373 – nearly one in five of the global total."

It said 97 percent of them are self-made, many of them in sectors such as technology and retail.

Billionaires from Asia, especially in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, are now challenging the traditional dominance of Americans as technology entrepreneurs.

"In 2017, they equalled America's level of venture capital funding for start-ups, registered four times as many Artificial-Intelligence-related patents and three times as many blockchain and crypto-related patents as their US counterparts."

Ravi Raju, head of Asia Pacific Ultra High Net Worth at UBS Global Wealth Management, said Asia's billionaires "are young and relentless. They are constantly transforming their companies, developing new business models and shifting rapidly into new sectors."

The report said that globally, self-made billionaires have driven 80 percent of the 40 main breakthrough innovations over the last 40 years.<

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Asia's billionaires led by Chinese tycoons enjoyed the fastest increase in their wealth this year compared to their peers in the rest of the world, a report said Wednesday.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-10-china-world-billionaires-richer.html#jCp

Asia's billionaires see fastest wealth growth: report

September 17, 2014

Asia's billionaires led by Chinese tycoons enjoyed the fastest increase in their wealth this year compared to their peers in the rest of the world, a report said Wednesday.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-10-china-world-billionaires-richer.html#jCp

Vanishing Jobs Growth Spells Deep Trouble for South Korea

 

Not-so-nice figures: Moon has seen his popularity slide amid criticism that he’s hurting employment by aggressively increasing the minimum wage. — AP

Unemployment and jobs growth in South Korea haven’t looked so bad since the wake of the global financial crisis, undermining President Moon Jae-in’s economic agenda.

Data released Wednesday show the unemployment rate jumping to 4.2 percent, the highest since early 2010, and much greater than any economists forecast. Jobs growth slumped to just 3,000 last month, also the worst figure in more than eight years.

Moon, who came into office pledging to create jobs and raise incomes for regular workers, has seen his popularity slide amid criticism that he’s hurting employment by aggressively increasing the minimum wage.

While pay hikes planned for this year and 2019 are here to stay, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said the government would consider adjusting some policies.

He conceded that the jobs market wouldn’t improve much anytime soon.

Disappearing Jobs Growth

• Number of jobs added: South Korea added just 3,000 jobs in August, the least since 2010

Source: Statistics Korea

Moon’s administration points to the fallout from corporate restructuring and the shrinking working-age population as the source of the problems in the labour market. Businesses counter that hiking the minimum wage 16% this year, with another bump of almost 11% to come next year, has made job layoffs inevitable.

Small business owners in particular, from convenience stores to fast-food franchises, have shed workers.

Adding to the economic unease in South Korea is the risk that US President Donald Trump may hit car exporters with auto tariffs, even after Seoul agreed to renegotiate its trade deal with the US.

Unemployment Spike

South Korea's unemployment rate in August reached the highest since 2010

• Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate

Source: Statistics Korea

South Korean bonds climbed and the won fell after jobs figures, which appeared to squash any near-term prospect of the central bank raising interest rates.

The finance minister said economic policies that are geared toward wage-based growth are moving in the “right direction”. Yet the government also acknowledged the need for more communication and market analysis in order to gain trust from companies and the people, he said.

The presidential office described the recent increase in unemployment as inevitable pain that accompanies a change in the structure of the economy, Yonhap News reported.

Like many other countries, South Korea is experiencing a widening gap between the rich and the poor. It’s confounding policy makers and exacerbating political divisions. — Bloomberg

Getting Richer. Getting Poorer

Change in income for the most wealthy and the least wealthy households

• Top 20%
• Bottom 20%

Source: Statistics Korea. Quarterly figures, measures versus year earlier

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Malaysia's economy: stronger but eroding purchasing power

The story is the same everywhere – the rising cost of living has not been accompanied by an increase in wages.

HERE we go again – another set of impressive growth figures. Bank Negara has announced Malaysia’s latest economic growth at a commendable 6.2% in the third quarter of 2017.

The pace of economic growth for the three months up to September was faster than the 5.8% registered in the second quarter of the year.

This growth rate was the fastest since June 2014.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the Malaysian economy posted a growth of 1.8% against 1.3% in the preceding quarter, according to the Statistics Department.

Malaysia’s robust economic growth has been attributed to private-sector spending and a continued strong performance in exports.

To quote Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim last Friday: “Expansion was seen across all economic sectors.”

But try explaining this impressive economic growth rate to the average salaried worker struggling to pay his monthly household bills.

Stretching the ringgit is especially great for those living in urban areas, and Malaysia is increasingly becoming urbanised.

The story is the same everywhere – the rising cost of living has not been accompanied by an increase in wages.

Compounding matters is the depreciation of the ringgit, reducing the purchasing power of the ordinary folk. They can’t buy the same amount of food as they used to previously.

Employers are being forced to cut operating costs to match declining profits.

Job security is becoming paramount. Many are fearful of losing their jobs, as companies cut cost to cope with the challenging business landscape.

And the reality is that many companies are not hiring, as evident from the unemployment rate of 3.4%.

The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) has cautioned that more people would be out of a job this year due to the current economic challenges.

Apart from the challenging landscape, technology has disrupted several brick-and-mortar businesses, forcing them to change their way of doing business.

According to MEF executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan, economic challenges will compel bosses to review their workers’ requirements.

While official statistics show that the economy is charting a strong growth path, the trickle-down effect is not being felt.

Why is the sentiment on the ground different from what the politicians and officials are telling us? Why is there a disconnect in the economy?

Are the figures released by the government officials more accurate and authoritative compared with the loud grumblings on the ground that are anecdotical in nature devoid of proper findings?

We hear reports of supermarkets and hypermarkets closing down, but could that be because their business model no longer works as more Malaysians turn to online shopping, with e-commerce companies announcing huge jumps in traffic?

It is the same with the malls – retail outlets are reporting lower sales and this is compounded by the fact that there is an oversupply of malls.

International restaurant chains such as Hong Kong’s dim sum outlet Tim Ho Wan and South Korean bakery Tous Les Jours and South Korean barbeque restaurant Bulgogi Brothers have ceased operations.

But then again, it could be that their offerings and prices had failed to compete effectively against the local choices.

According to the central bank, demand is anchored in private-sector spending.

“On the supply side, the services and manufacturing sectors remain the key drivers of growth,” Muhammad said.

Looking ahead, the governor said that the economy this year is poised to register strong growth and likely to hit the upper end of the official target of 5.2%-5.7%.

The trickle-down effect is not being felt simply because there is uneven growth in the various sectors of the economy.

The property sector, which provides the biggest multiplier effect, continues to be in the doldrums.

The weak ringgit has had a big impact on the price of food, especially processed food and beverages that make up 74.3% of Malaysian household spending.

It was reported that Malaysia had imported a whopping RM38bil worth of food between January and October last year.

In recent weeks, the ringgit has strengthened to about RM4.16 against the US dollar. But it is still far from RM3.80 to the dollar and the outlook of the currency remains uncertain.

We can’t even hold our heads up against the Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah – two currencies that have appreciated against the ringgit.

The headline economic numbers are showing good growth, but Malaysians’ purchasing power has dropped and our living standards have eroded. That is the bottom line. We are living in denial if we do not admit this.

This column first appeared in StarBiz Premium.

Source: On the beat by Wong Chun Hai, TheStaronline

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Make public TPPA cost, says Jomo

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/01/12/jomo-make-public-tppa-cost/

KUALA LUMPUR: A former senior United Nations official and economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram said that while there are benefits to signing the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), the cost of such an agreement must also be made known to the public.

He said at the 2016 TPPA Forum organised by the Malaysian Economic Association that gains from signing the TPPA in terms of economic growth were only “very modest” because Malaysia was already an open economy.

“These were also based on very questionable assumptions. Having more trade does not mean more economic growth. You have to note that having more trade may mean you export more but the country will also import more. So the (net) trade gains are very modest and the economic growth (accrued) is very very low,” Jomo said.

“However, there are huge risks involved because this is not just a trade agreement but more of a partnership agreement and most of the other requirements of the TPPA will introduce many constraints on the ability of Malaysia and others to catch up and accelerate growth and to develop the economy,” he said.

He said while there were various models to stimulate the outcome of the TPPA on the country, there was no disagreement among the different models that the increased trade benefit in terms of economic growth were only very modest.

“There will be increased trade but the benefits in terms of economic growth will only be realised only after 10 years and some countries may not even benefit in terms of growth,” Jomo said.

Jomo also said that there will be some impact on local companies that will face challenges because there will be fewer constraints on international companies.

However, the chief negotiator from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry Datuk J Jayasiri said that there will be gains for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) if they have enough capacity.

“SME Corp is helping in the upgrade of local SME’s capabilities while Matrade is promoting SMEs extensively to capitalise on the opportunities overseas,” Jayasiri said.

Jomo said that there should be an objective discussion on the matter noting that the gains were being described in such as way that the benefits were being presented without talking about the cost.

“We need to go into any deal with our eyes wide open and to be fully aware of the risks and cost as well as the potential benefits and the likelihood of achieving those benefits. So we have a slightly one-sided picture of what we do get from the TPPA,” he said.

“For people to say that we can pull out of this TPPA after six months of being in it is very deceptive. That is not the way the world works and is a very naive assumption. Say if somebody here doesn’t swim we cannot throw him into the deep end of the pool and say he will learn how to swim,” he added.

On another matter, Jayasiri said that Malaysia will be able to maintain export duties that will be imposed from the TPPA.

“For us in the Ministry, we feel that any market opening measures mean that exporters will have opportunities to go into new markets. If markets are closed it will be difficult for exporters to go into those countries,” Jayasiri said.

“Say if we are out of the TPPA, and our competitors are in the TPPA then it means our exporters will be at a disadvantage so it means we have to be in the TPPA to enjoy the preferential treatment through this,” he added.

By Daniel Tan The Star/Asia News Network

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