Morning Brief

We discuss the importance of keeping institutions independant with economist Dr Nungsari Radhi off the back of the recent news that the newly created Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation has asked Bank Negara to explain its reasons for raising the Overnight Policy Rate by further 25 basis points to 2.25%. Dr Nungsari shares his concerns regarding the possibility of the government meddling in decisions made by independent institutions and just how effective the task force has been in addressing inflation. 

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On the back of Shinzo Abe's shocking assasination, we discuss the ramification of his death and the legacy Japan's longest serving prime minister is leaving behind. William Pesek in Japan shares his views on this and thoughts on the recent upper house election results which saw the ruling conversative government take on a comfortable majority in parliament.

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There are reports that some pharmacies and clinics are low on supply for common medicines like paracetamol, cough syrup and lozenges for sore throat, but is this situation short-lived? And a study commissioned by the insurance industry found that medical treatment costs have increased by around 8-9 percent annually between 2013-2018. How worried should we be about all these issues, and what is the Malaysian Health White Paper update? Questions we ask Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh, President, Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM).

It has been a month since the arrival of the omicron BA 4 and BA 5 sub variants and Malaysia is seeing increase in number of cases. We ask Dr Vinod Balasubramaniam, Senior Lecturer and Co-Lead, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine & Health Sciences on how worried should we be and why should we consider taking the second booster vaccine?

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The Chinese government is due to report GDP growth next week but can the world's second economy achieve the target of 5.5%? We ask Peiqian Liu, China Economist, NatWest Markets on the impact of Shimao Group's default, PBOC's next move and her outlook.

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It’s been about a month since Rafizi Ramli comfortably won the deputy presidency of PKR and while many were expecting the win to result in more acrimony in the party due to his testy ties with party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, it seems temperatures have cooled with no signs of any major tension. We take stock of this development ahead of PKR's  two-day convention that begins on July 16 with Professor Shamsul Baharuddin of Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) to get his take on PKR's prospects.  

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It has been a month since the arrival of the omicron BA 4 and BA 5 sub variants and Malaysia is seeing increase in number of cases. We ask Dr Vinod Balasubramaniam, Senior Lecturer and Co-Lead, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine & Health Sciences on how worried should we be and why should we consider taking the second booster vaccine?

The Chinese government is due to report GDP growth next week but can the world's second economy achieve the target of 5.5%? We ask Peiqian Liu, China Economist, NatWest Markets on the impact of Shimao Group's default, PBOC's next move and her outlook.

It’s been about a month since Rafizi Ramli comfortably won the deputy presidency of PKR and while many were expecting the win to result in more acrimony in the party due to his testy ties with party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, it seems temperatures have cooled with no signs of any major tension. We take stock of this development ahead of PKR's  two-day convention that begins on July 16 with Professor Shamsul Baharuddin of Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) to get his take on PKR's prospects.  

With more than 45 cabinet members resigning from Boris Johnson's government. What are the chances he will survive and who might inherit a divided Tory party? Patrick Diamond, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Queen Mary University of London gives us the answers.

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