ID :
29433
Mon, 11/10/2008 - 17:40
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/29433
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EFFICIENT INTERMEDIATION OF ASEAN SURPLUS SAVINGS CAN PROMOTE INTRA-REGIONAL INVESTMENT
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 (Bernama) -- A more efficient intermediation of Asean's
surplus savings can promote greater intra-regional investments to finance
infrastructure development and greater alignment of national regulatory
approaches to reduce cost of operating in the regional market, Securities
Commission chairman Zarinah Anwar said Monday.
Asean has the financial resources to grow its capital markets at a
quicker pace and has a high savings rate of 35 percent, which is nearly double
that of the North American Free Trade Agreement and one-and-a-half-times higher
than European Union.
"However, intra-regional foreign direct investment is low," she said at the
opening of the Asean Infrastructure Financing Mechanism Conference by Deputy
Prime Minister Najib Razak.
"Our collaboration at the regulators level as well as the progress in
facilitating infrastructure players to tap our capital markets can be a
catalyst to fast-tracking and accelerating the growth and integration of
capital markets in the region," she said.
Currently, Asean accounts for only 2.1 percent of global market
capitalisation, with its total market capitalisation representing only half of
the region's nominal 2008 gross domestic product of US$1.5 trillion.
Also, Asean has only 120 public-listed companies (PLCs), with a market
capitalisation of more than US$1 billion, as compared with more than 4,100 firms
worldwide, he said.
By global standards, Zarinah said Asean markets and their PLCs were small
relative to the size of their economies.
This reflects the gap in market-based mechanisms to efficiently
intermediate
regional savings to support intra-regional economic development, she said.
She also noted that the region's capital markets can be positioned to
evolve
into an important source of financing for infrastructure projects by fostering
investor confidence in the reliability of the disclosure on the risk exposure of
underlying assets.
This could be achieved through the promotion of good governance and risk
management, application of high standards and best practices and in the
integrity of member countries' markets, she added.
-- BERNAMA
surplus savings can promote greater intra-regional investments to finance
infrastructure development and greater alignment of national regulatory
approaches to reduce cost of operating in the regional market, Securities
Commission chairman Zarinah Anwar said Monday.
Asean has the financial resources to grow its capital markets at a
quicker pace and has a high savings rate of 35 percent, which is nearly double
that of the North American Free Trade Agreement and one-and-a-half-times higher
than European Union.
"However, intra-regional foreign direct investment is low," she said at the
opening of the Asean Infrastructure Financing Mechanism Conference by Deputy
Prime Minister Najib Razak.
"Our collaboration at the regulators level as well as the progress in
facilitating infrastructure players to tap our capital markets can be a
catalyst to fast-tracking and accelerating the growth and integration of
capital markets in the region," she said.
Currently, Asean accounts for only 2.1 percent of global market
capitalisation, with its total market capitalisation representing only half of
the region's nominal 2008 gross domestic product of US$1.5 trillion.
Also, Asean has only 120 public-listed companies (PLCs), with a market
capitalisation of more than US$1 billion, as compared with more than 4,100 firms
worldwide, he said.
By global standards, Zarinah said Asean markets and their PLCs were small
relative to the size of their economies.
This reflects the gap in market-based mechanisms to efficiently
intermediate
regional savings to support intra-regional economic development, she said.
She also noted that the region's capital markets can be positioned to
evolve
into an important source of financing for infrastructure projects by fostering
investor confidence in the reliability of the disclosure on the risk exposure of
underlying assets.
This could be achieved through the promotion of good governance and risk
management, application of high standards and best practices and in the
integrity of member countries' markets, she added.
-- BERNAMA
