China’s CPI to grow

HONG KONG: China’s consumer price index (CPI) will likely grow around 4.5 per cent this year,

surpassing China’s upper target of three per cent for 2007 People’s Bank of China (PBoC) assistant governor

Yi Gang said. In a report in the China Securities Journal, Wang Xiaoguang, an economist at a think tank under the National Development and

Reform Commission, was quoted

as saying China’s CPI will likely

rise by 4.3 per cent this year and 3.5 per cent next year. — AP

Japan trade surplus

TOKYO: Japan’s trade surplus hit a record high on solid exports in September, despite the steepest drop in US-bound exports in nearly four years amid woes in the world’s biggest economy. The data showed that Japan, the world’s second largest economy, is branching out to compensate for weakness in the US, long its key market. — AFP

Growth slows

KUALA LUMPUR: An influential think-tank on Wednesday cut its economic growth forecast for Malaysia in 2008 to 5.4 per cent, citing external uncertainties. General elections widely expected to be called early next year may prop up domestic demand but there will be fallout

from high oil prices and a slower global economy. The IMF recently lowered its forecast for US growth in 2008 to 1.9 per cent, and predicted global economic growth would ease to 4.8 per cent next year, from 5.2 per cent this year. — AP

Exports look up

JAKARTA: Indonesia is set to enter the ‘next stage’ of its export recovery, 10 years after the 1997 Asian financial crisis crushed its once-formidable export growth. As a major trade fair was launched aiming to lure cashed-up buyers from abroad, minister Mari Pangestu said that the government was now focusing on seeking to boost non-commodity exports. — AFP