Wed, Dec 05, 2018 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  INDONESIA

  Retail investors wooed

  The government is looking to boost debt sales to individual investors to free itself from the mercy of fickle global bond funds. Overseas investors own almost 40 percent of the nation’s debt, compared with just 24 percent in Malaysia and 18 percent in Thailand, leaving Indonesia exposed to a rout if foreign funds seek to withdraw their money at the same time. Although the government began offering bonds to retail investors in 2006, they only comprise about 10 percent of total issuance. “We want more retail bonds, because more retail bonds means more investors,” Ministry of Finance Fiscal Policy Agency head Suahasil Nazara said. Nazara declined to offer a forecast for the amount of retail bonds the government would like to sell, but said the debt management office would be “opportunistic” in seeking to tap the market whenever it thought there would be demand.

  SOUTH AFRICA

  Agriculture confidence slips

  Confidence in the agricultural industry declined to the lowest level in nine years in the fourth quarter, as businesses in the sector grew more concerned about weather conditions and the lack of clarity around land-reform policy. The Agribusiness Confidence Index dropped to 42 from 48 in the previous three months, the Pretoria-based Agricultural Business Chamber and the Industrial Development Corp said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. A panel of lawmakers last month resolved that the constitution needs to be changed to make it easier to seize land without paying for it, the latest twist in a divisive debate over how to address racially skewed ownership patterns dating back to apartheid and colonial rule. The potential erosion of property rights and fears of a Zimbabwe-style land grab has added to negative sentiment toward emerging markets and compounded a sell-off in assets.

  INVESTMENT

  Returns face slow 2019

  Slowing economic growth, shrinking central bank balance sheets and continued bouts of volatility would help make next year another poor year for risk-adjusted investment returns, with few obvious havens, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said. “Expect better, but still low returns in 2019” for multi-asset global allocation portfolios, Goldman strategists, including Christian Mueller-Glissman, wrote in a note, while the decline in valuations across asset classes has improved the medium-term outlook. The gloomy outlook matches the experience of what has been a rough year for financial markets. Investors have been rattled by everything from monetary policy normalization to tariff threats to global trade, a slowdown in China and the prospect that corporate-earnings growth has peaked. In what some have called a regime change, bonds have also been poor hedges for equities, upending the classic 60-40 portfolio strategy.

  ELECTRONICS

  Apple eyes rare schemes

  Apple Inc is experimenting with iPhone marketing strategies it rarely uses — such as generous device buyback terms — to help boost sales. Executives in October moved some marketing staff from other projects to work on bolstering sales of the latest handsets, a person familiar with the situation said. The devices might have been selling below some expectations, the person said. Apple has embarked on aggressive trade-in offers that have temporarily reduced the cost of some of its iPhones, a rare step for a company that has been raising device prices to lift revenue and profit.
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