Morning Brief

It’s been a rough January for Japan - it experienced a severe earthquake in the Ishikawa prefecture on New Year’s Day affecting manufacturing supply chains, and a corruption scandal is putting the political stability of the government at risk. Will January set the tone for the rest of the year for Japan? We discuss this with Tokyo-based journalist William Pesek.

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The government has launched an ongoing review of the Public Service Remuneration System for salary and allowance adjustments. The SSPA hopes to address the long-standing issue with civil service recruitment to ensure salaries are competitive enough to attract the best talents and address the increasing cost of living. Abdul Rahman Mohd Nordin, Secretary-General of CUEPACS, shares his thoughts.

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This week, former US president Donald Trump secured another win at the New Hampshire Republican primary, despite rival challenger Nikki Haley pouring resources into the state. Does Haley have a path to the presidential ticket? We discuss how the presidential race could shape up with Wendy Schiller, Professor of Political Science at Brown University.

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Bank Negara maintained the overnight policy rate at 3.0% following its first Monetary Policy Committee meeting of 2024, meaning no change since May 2023. Ray Choy, Chief Economist at Malaysian Rating Corporation analyses how this might affect the FBM-KLCI, the value of the ringgit and the overall Malaysian economy.

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The Prime Minister has called for an end to the "old bureaucracy" between the Ministry of Higher Education and the nation's public universities. Will this spark a paradigm shift in the governance of higher education? We speak to academic Dr. Sharifah Munirah Alatas about much-needed reforms to foster the independence and autonomy of public HEIs.

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Although it has been 3 weeks since the launch of PADU, registration for the database has been underwhelming, standing at some 4.5% of the targeted number. What accounts for the tepid response? Tai Zee Kin, a Digital Political Communications Consultant, imparts insights on how to enhance the effectiveness of the government's messaging strategy.

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The AI boom in 2023 led to a rebound in US stocks, especially for the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Meanwhile, the concept of ESG has been picking up pace in recent years and investments are expected to continue to soar. Abel Lim, Executive Director and Head of Wealth Management Advisory and Strategy at UOB shares his perspective on these two themes and how will they impact investment strategies.

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There were initial expectations that the reign of King Dollar would come to an end as the Federal Reserve looked set to cut rates as early as March. However that prognosis is less certain as macroeconomic data point to inflation remaining stubbornly high while Fed minutes confirm that the  timing of the cuts is hard to forecast. What then is the outlook of the US dollar and other major currencies? Saktiandi Supaat, Head of FX Research, Global Markets, Maybank Group tells us.

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Mohamad Safiq Rosli was the first person to be charged under Malaysia’s anti-stalking law for stalking a woman for 8 years. A Magistrate’s Court subsequently declared that he was of unsound mind when committing the crime and ordered him to be detained at a psychiatric facility at the Sultan of Selangor’s pleasure. Criminal lawyer Sreekant Pillai explains the details of this case and its implications going forward.

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The International Energy Agency has raised its 2024 global oil demand growth forecast to 1.24 million barrels per day, the third consecutive upward adjustment in recent months. Fernando Valle, a Senior Equity Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence breaks down the factors at play including geopolitics, demand and even the climate, that might impact prices this year.

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