Standard & Poor’s (S&P) raised Hong Kong’s long-term credit rating to its highest “AAA” rating from “AA+” yesterday, applauding the Chinese territory’s financial management and growth prospects, but the debt ratings agency — which also upgraded China’s long-term debt rating to “AA-” from “A+” earlier yesterday — warned that Hong Kong faces risks stemming from its continuing economic integration with China.
“We believe that the upgrade of China and Hong Kong’s excellent credit metrics support [the territory’s] creditworthiness at the highest rating level of ‘AAA,’” S&P credit analyst Kim Eng Tan (陳錦榮) said in a statement. “Few governments weathered the global economic downturn better than Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong, an export-driven financial hub which maintains semi-autonomous status in China, has healthy fiscal reserves and “above-average growth potential for a high-income economy,” the ratings agency said.
“Strong growth in mainland China and deepening economic and financial links have boosted Hong Kong’s economic growth prospects,” it said. “The main credit weaknesses are Hong Kong’s reliance on volatile revenue sources and the potential risks associated with weaker institutions in lower-rated China.”
S&P said China’s long-term ratings were stable and its “AA-” ratings reflect Beijing’s low debt level, strong asset sheet and “exceptional growth prospects.”
The international agency said those strengths outweighed the potential for liabilities in the banking system if there were an extended economic slowdown.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained