Morning Brief

00:30 - Headline GDP's numbers for China look alarming but for a deeper dive of the numbers, we speak to Yue Su, Economist, at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as to whether warning bells should sound or if there are bright spots in the economy. 08:35 - Citigroup post better 2nd quarter earnings that beat street expectations but some signs of the possible storm ahead as trading earnings decline while corporate and institutional banking revenue was flat.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia has approved over RM29 billion worth of FDI in the first quarter of 2019; an increase of more than 73%. For more insight, we speak to Ong Kian Ming, Deputy Minister for International Trade and Industry, about how much of this is a result of the substitution effect, FDI trends, and whether or not Malaysia will have to fear US retribution.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:30 - The Public Accounts Committee will call in several government agencies and ministries, following discrepancies detailed in the Auditor-General's report. 06:32 - The National Audit Committee has disputed claims by the Finance Minister that outstanding GST refunds amounted to RM19.5 billion as of June last year.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hypermarkets are either closing down or re-looking at existing business models as higher operational cost and competition from smaller outfits take a bite out of their profits. We discuss what their options are and what lessons can we learn from other markets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:31 - Transport Minister Anthony Loke said that firms can only collect a maximum 20% commission off fares paid to drivers using e-hailing applications in light of the different terminology used on services charged by the e-hailing companies. He also said that the maximum commission that can be levied on taxi drivers is 10%. 08:07 - Former AirAsia Group Bhd chairman Datuk Pahamin Ab Rajab along with several other businessmen is seeking about RM 1 billion from a Japanese lender to support its takeover bid for Malaysia Airlines through its vehicle, Najah Air. If the deal materialises, the Japanese lender will become the main funding source for Najah Air’s takeover bid of the airline. It is understood that the group plans to take up a minority stake in the airline in a debt-for-equity swap and wants control of the board and management. Putrajaya has received 4 offers to take over Malaysia Airlines but no decision has been made on the offers as the government needs to carefully consider all the proposals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hypermarkets are either closing down or re-looking at existing business models as higher operational cost and competition from smaller outfits take a bite out of their profits. We discuss what their options are and what lessons can we learn from other markets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The diplomatic feud between Japan and South Korea seems to have deepened as Japan has restricted the materials vital to make mobile and TV components as well as chemical exports and the transfer of manufacturing technologies to Korea. A meeting between the two countries have seen little progress to bridge the divide. After the meeting, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry disputed a Korean official’s statement that Seoul had asked Japan to withdraw the restrictions. Their row is expected to threaten global supplies and prices of microchips, smartphone displays, and memory chips. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has called the situation an "unprecedented emergency" and told business leaders to prepare for a drawn-out crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims, Malaysia's overall unemployment rate of 3.3% and youth unemployment of 10.9% is nothing to be concerned about. To discuss this, and the challenges facing the labour market, we speak to Dr. Mohd Yusof Saari, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Management at Universiti Putra Malaysia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1.11 - France has approved a 3% digital tax on tech companies making more than 750 million euros globally, with 25 million euros made in France. 3.51 - The US has relaxed the global Huawei ban, saying companies with the appropriate license will be able to sell products to Huawei, as long as it does not affect national security. We speak with Brock Silvers, Managing Director of Kaiyuan Capital, for his insight.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Government rejects Maju's offer to take over Plus after EPF and Khazanah says no but the saga looks set to continue with another new offer on the table.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0.48- Malaysia's tourist arrivals rose 2.7% in the first quarter of the year, but saw a drop-off in arrivals from Saudi Arabia. 8.14- Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has laid down two conditions for anyone interested in taking over Malaysia AirlinesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Morning Run crew speak with CIMB economist Song Seng Wun on Temasek's performance, particularly in the context of capital flowing out of so-called ''risky" assets like stocks and into safe havens like bonds and cash as well as expectations for Singapore's export-oriented economy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Morning Run crew discusses looming policy measures in the local ride-hailing industry to regulate drivers and their cars by speaking with Grab Malaysia country manager Sean Goh.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bharat Joshi, Investment Director at Aberdeen Asset Management in Indonesia tells us about Jokowi's reform agenda whilst taking a deeper dive on the economy and its reliance on palm oil and coal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bharat Joshi, Investment Director at Aberdeen Asset Management in Indonesia tells us about Jokowi's reform agenda whilst taking a deeper dive on the economy and its reliance on palm oil and coal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to HSBC Research, policy easing may be less potent this time than in the past because of elevated global uncertainty and already high debt levels. However, Frederic insists that Asean is a region of "remarkable resilience." Also, The Morning Run crew discusses IBM buying Red Hat in $34 billion deal -- its largest acquisition yet.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has hit back against those who claimed UMNO's Supreme Council should have had a say in his return to the party's top post, saying such a move would be unfair. We speak to Amir Fareed, Director of Strategy from KRA Group, about the Malay political landscape, as well as talk about an UMNO-Bersatu tie-up.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June saw inflows of foreign funds into Ringgit debt as the Feds turned dovish. To find out if this a trend while having a deeper dive on the outlook of the Malaysian bond market for 2nd Half of 2019, we speak to Winson Phoon, Head of Fixed Income Research at Maybank Kim Eng.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the manufacturing sector contracts, the pick up will be seen in the services sector.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

India's Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has presented her maiden annual budget, in the face of an economic slowdown and record-high unemployment levels. We speak to Pramod Amthe, Head of Equity Research at CGS-CIMB Securities in India, for his insights into the budget.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roshan speaks to Steven Schwartz, Head of Asia-Pacific Sovereigns​ at Fitch Ratings, about Fitch’s Sovereign Ratings Outlook for Asia Pacific, particularily Malaysia. Steven discusses headwinds and risks for the Asian region as well as concerns for Malaysia, in particular the GST shortfall, oil revenue dependence and how the country compares to its peers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roshan speaks to Steven Schwartz, Head of Asia-Pacific Sovereigns​ at Fitch Ratings, about Fitch’s Sovereign Ratings Outlook for Asia Pacific, particularily Malaysia. Steven discusses headwinds and risks for the Asian region as well as concerns for Malaysia, in particular the GST shortfall, oil revenue dependence and how the country compares to its peers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Islamic banks in Malaysia are poised to benefit from digitisation because of their lack of branches, according to Moody's. This will allow such banks to save costs and add more to expansion. While Malaysia is an Islamic Banking leader, Indonesia will quicken its pace given its large population and increasing banking and internet penetration.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Troubled Deutsche Bank is flushing out poor quality loans to a "bad bank" which allows them to improve the quality of their loan book and lend out more. The are also radically changing their business focus by abandoning the mission to be the "Goldman Sachs of Europe" and focusing more on the bread and butter corporate lending business. Also, Samsung is facing challenges on many fronts: trade tensions affecting the chip business, more competition in the display business as well as overall structural issues in chaebols.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The policy to have Felda go into fast moving crops and livestock alongside palm oil is not new but would come in handy for diversification. Also, the Ministry of Education explains that YTL's "free" internet connection to schools comes with hidden costs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Malaysia's economy faces a soft patch due to trade tensions, we ask Julia Goh, Economist at UOB Malaysia if she  expects the regulators to cut rates at July's MPC meeting and what other tools does Bank Negara have at its disposal to boost the economy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

July 12th is the deadline for e-hailing drivers to obtain a public service vehicle or PSV license, as required by the Ministry of Transport. About 10,000 drivers have passed and obtained this license over 16,000 applicants. If far too few e-hailing drivers obtain this license, the number of drivers on Grab and other platforms could fall which means longer wait times and higher fares. We speak to Arif Asyraf Ali, President of Grab Drivers Malaysia Association about his experience and observation over the licensing process.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0:51 - Last week marked the third anniversary of the Brexit referendum, yet the story is still far from conclusion. The UK is in the process of figuring out who will become the next Prime Minister and while the impact of Brexit is still too early to tell, some patterns have emerged. We speak to Jonathan Portez, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at King's College on how Brexit has affected the UK thus far. 8:24 - Ride sharing platform Ola has been licensed to operate in London, adding to the number of e-hailers operating there including Uber. It would be interesting to watch the next move of SoftBank, which has stakes in both Uber and Ola.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Chairman of the Election Commission, Azhar Azizan Harun, highlights that data linkages have to be made and voter statutes confirmed for automatic voter registration to be implemented smoothly. Meanwhile, Chairperson of Bersih 2.0 is opposed to the idea of compulsory voting and feels that not voting is also a right.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak to Datuk Liew Vui Keong, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Legal Affairs about the motion for MP's to declare their assets and planned legislation to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Local Police have made their first arrests, after two days spent compiling forensic evidence on the group of protesters who stormed the Hong Kong Legislative Council building on Monday. We speak to Professor Cabestan about what to expect following the protests, including the likelihood of a China crackdown.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following the news that the current Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, may soon head the European Central Bank, we speak to Fernandino Giugliani, writer on European economics, about what this might mean. Fernandino weighs in on whether Lagarde’s nomination raises a concern about the ECB’s independence. He also discusses how Madame Lagarde’s policies may compare to that of current President Mario Draghi. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0:08 - YTL Communications has accused the Education Ministry of breaching contractual obligations, over the supply of internet connectivity to 10,000 schools nationwide. 4:28 - The Edge reports that a group of businessmen, led by Former AirAsia Chairman Datuk Pahamin Abdul Rajab, have met with the Prime Minister to express their interest in helping the government turn Malaysia Airlines around. -See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia Airport has submitted plans to expand the Penang International Airport under the new Regulated Asset Base framewok as new funding and investment models are explored. Also, with a potential contribution of 3 billion ringgit to the Malaysian economy, Airbnb is big business and helps homeowners with their mortgage but still remains unregulated. We discuss the merits of this new economy model and take a deeper dive on the regulation imposed by other countries on this service.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0:32 - Both manufacturing and services PMI numbers are falling globally, is this the first sign of a slowdown and are there any policy tools that can help avert a potential crash? Rajiv Biswas, APAC chief economist at IHS Markit helps to answer that question. 5:45 - IMF Chief Christine Lagarde has been nominated as the next head of the European Central Bank (ECB). We discuss the skills and experiences that she brings to the table in challenging times for the EU.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amendments have been proposed to the Peaceful Assembly Act, to remove street protesting as a criminal offence. We speak to Lim Wei Jiet, Secretary-General of the National Human Rights Society, for his insights.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With trade war tensions continuing, we ask Ranjan Sharma, head of ASEAN TMT at J.P. Morgan about the substitution effect and who stands to benefit in this region.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We ask whether there should be a full-blown asset declaration to the public rather than stopping at the Speaker for MPs. Given that corruption is a toxic problem for the nation, deterrence and punishment also take precedence over privacy. The Morning Run Crew also discusses the new appointees to Khazanah's board, which reflect a pivot to both tech and China.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia's public sector performance has been on a downward trend since 2014. The World Bank has raised concerns over the sustainability of our civil service wage bill as a result, as part of their latest economic monitor report. For more insight, we speak to Rajni Bajpai, Lead Public Sector Specialist at the World Bank Group, for her thoughts on Malaysia's civil service.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said that Malaysia is making a movement towards the decriminalisation of drugs and reiterated that this does not mean the ‘legalisation of drugs.’ This means the removal of criminal penalties for those who are caught possessing and using a small quantity of drugs for personal use. Malaysia has some of the harshest laws on drug possession, so this move would be very significant. We speak to Psychiatrist, Dr. Mohd Fadzli Mohamad Isa for more insights.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at The Singapore Institute of International Affairs tells us that there no hard details from the G20 Summit in Osaka, which in the end was hijacked by a surprise visit to the DMZ in the Korean Peninsula by US President Donald Trump.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Current talk of the US elections is dominated by observations of an extremely crowded Democratic field, with more than 20 candidates vying for the party's nomination. Following the first debates, which saw 10 candidates face off at a time, we speak to Capri Cafaro, Executive in Residence at American University's School of Public Affairs, and former Ohio Senator, for her insight into what the debates may mean, in an age of social media.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The sugar tax in Malaysia kicks in on the 1st July 2019. Plans for the sugar tax were proposed at the tabling of the 2019 budget last year to promote ‘healthy living’ amongst a population that has some of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in South East Asia. We speak to Troy Donnell, Executive Director at Nielsen Malaysia to get a sense of how a sugar tax might impact consumer behaviour.Also, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs has highlighted four of Pakatan Harapan's manifesto promises, which may prove unrealistic- including cost of living, affordable housing, and PTPTN.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:37 - The Armed Forces Fund Board has issued a statement to clarify its decision to vote against FGV’s director remuneration resolutions. 07:27 - The Health Ministry has announced a move to decriminalize personal drug use.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:54 - The race for the Democratic presidential nomination shifted into high gear after the first round of back to back debates. The candidates had their say on a number of pressing issues, from healthcare, to climate change, to their views on big corporations. 04:03 - It is the first day of the G20 summit in Japan, where world leaders will gather in Osaka until the 29th to discuss important global issues. The main topic is on everyone’s minds is, of course, the US-China trade war. For more insights, we speak to Jahangir Aziz, Chief Emerging Market Economist at J.P. Morgan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:37 - Malaysia’s high level tech jobs are going unfilled. We speak to Ong Geok Eng, an IT Manager at Robert Walters Malaysia 08:28 - Should a young person gain work experience before entering politics?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:24 - What do we do with Malaysian Airlines? The airline industry is indeed a difficult one to be in, so for more insight we speak to Khair Mirza, Associate Director at Modalis Infrastructure Partners. 07:50 - Malaysia has some of the longest transit times in Southeast Asia, when it comes to e-commerce deliveries. Listen in for more on this. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Student debt is a problem facing not just Malaysians, but also other countries in the Asian region. To discuss the cost of higher education as well as other factors that contribute to ballooning student debt, we speak to Professor of Development Economics at Universiti Malaya, M. Niaz Asadullah.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia's government thinks a RM6.2 buyout of four toll highways is cheaper than a longer-term RM18b compensation bill. But it's a much broader discussion. The Morning Run crew unpacks the issue.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With US Shale producers pumping away furiously and global demand sagging, OPEC and other oil producers are wringing their hands in despair. We speak to Rob Barnett, a Senior Analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, for more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.