Secretary
KPMG publishes HK Budget Summary
On 1 February, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, John Tsang Chun-wah, delivered his fifth Budget Speech to the Legislative Council. KPMG China on Thursday announced the publish of the Budget Summary, which outlines the proposed changes and comments on their implications.
KPMG welcomes the measures proposed in the latest Hong Kong budget, but urges the government to review the long standing narrow tax base structural issue to ensure it can cope with future challenges and remain competitive.
Thailand's CPI for Jan rises by 3.38pc
Thailand's general consumer price index (CPI) for January 2012 stood at 113.21, an increase of 3.38 percent on January 2011 and up 0.39 percent on December 2011, permanent secretary for commerce Yanyong Puangrach said on Wednesday.
Core CPI for the month, which excludes food and energy, rose 2.75 percent on the same month last year and an increase of 0.26 on December 2011 to stand at 107.26, said Yanyong.
Thailand's consumer confidence, inflation both rising
Thailand's consumer confidence index for December went up for the first time in four months, since the great flood began in July, to 21.4 points, while the average inflation rate for 2011 went up to 3.81 percent year on year, permanent secretary for commerce Yanyong Puangrach said on Thursday.
Consumer confidence on future income rose to 43.2 and to 10.1 for job opportunities, Yanyong said.
No grace period for refunding consumers in HK
A legislative proposal to improve consumer protection in Hong Kong – by imposing a cooling-off period in which buyers can cancel a transaction and get a refund – will be shelved because it is "too complicated".
Macau govt to limit gaming tables growth to 3pc per year after 2013
Macau's Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, on Monday announced that the Macau government would restrict the rate of gaming tables growth to no more than 3 percent per year after 2013.
The restrictions will last at least 10 years, he said, until the current gaming concessions expire.
Car tax of HK still faces strong opposition
Hong Kong financial secretary's proposal to increase the first registration tax for private cars still faces strong opposition with the government-friendly liberal party remaining opposed to it despite concessions made by the government.
Of the main parties, only the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and Economic Synergy, with nine and four votes in the Legislative Council respectively, said they would support the change.
Macau's govt vows to increase transparency on imported labour applications
Macau's Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak-yuen said on 12 May that Macau's government will be increasing the transparency in which they operate in regard to imported labour applications.
According to Tam, the Human Resources Office's website would begin publishing detailed data on the number of approved applications starting 18 May.
Air India is the face of the nation, says minister
As part of the recent expansion of India's Cabinet, Vayalar Ravi, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, was given the additional charge of the Civil Aviation Ministry.
"I believe Air India is the face of the nation. But it is in a very poor condition. ... The basic question is how long can Air India run at a loss? My intention is to bring it to a place where it can break even" says Ravi.
US sees China rebalancing trade
US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said that China is taking steps to rebalance its trade policy, though more needs to be done.
On Friday, the China Daily newspaper reported that China plans to cut tariffs on imports as it seeks to stoke domestic demand. Further, China's vice-commerce minister was quoted as saying that an excessive trade surplus was not the goal of Chinese policy. He added that one of China's goals was to maintain balanced trade.
India's GST unlikely to come into force in April 2012
The Indian Finance Ministry on Thursday said the proposed goods and services tax might not come into force with the Direct Taxes Code in April 2012.
The country's central government and state governments have now been engaged for almost four years in developing a roadmap for the rollout of GST, and it has missed the deadline twice.
