Asia Round Up - Malaysia Continues To Record Trade Surplus
Nasdaq
Jun 03, 2008; 5:55 AM

(RTTNews) - Malaysian trade balance data headlined Asian economic dataflow on Tuesday.

According to a report from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia's trade surplus widened to MYR11.5 billion in April from MYR8.0 billion in March. The nation registered 126th consecutive month of trade surplus in April.

Malaysia's exports rose at a faster of 20.9% year-on-year to MYR55.8 billion in April than 7.2% growth expected. On the other hand, imports totaled MYR44.3 billion, an increase of 10% over the previous year, while consensus forecast was 4% increase.

The Bank of Japan said in a report that Japan's monetary base fell 0.9% in May, slightly faster than the 0.8% decline expected. However, it was still better than the 2.8% year-on-year decline in April. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the monetary base increased 13.7% year-on-year.

The Bank of Japan deputy governor nominee Kazuhito Ikeo said that he appreciates the central bank's policy thinking.

In South Korea, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance stated that the government is planning to slash corporate taxes to boost economic growth. The government will reduce the maximum corporate tax rate to 22% from 25%. The Ministry added that the tax rate would fall further to 20% by the end of 2010.

According to the statistical data from the Bank of Korea, foreign exchange reserves fell US$2.28 billion month-on-month to US$258.2 billion in May due to the strengthening of dollar.

In other news, the People's Bank of China said comprehensive increase in prices remains the biggest risk for the Chinese economy.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Land Registry reported that property transactions down 7.4% month-on-month.