- Selangorians live the longest in Malaysia
- The US takut of rate cuts while the UK do not give a f***
- Thai Airways’s low cost airline will be disbanded.
IN Malaysia
Jeng, jeng, jeng, starting next year, 2,000 GLC will be audited
As part of the slew of initiatives that come with the approval of the Audit Act 1957 amendment bill in July 2024, in order to clamp on public spending, auditor-general Wan Suraya Wan Radzi announced that her department would audit 2,000 government-linked companies (GLC) starting next year. Wan Suraya added that no GLC will be excluded on the audit. With this, you can start saying goodbyes to the annual end-of-the-year overseas conferences/team building/holiday trips. She also said that the National Audit Department (NAD) is shifting towards thematic audits, and is now focusing on critical areas such as food security and sustainable development goals (SDGs). ‘Everybody claims to be SDG-compliant, but now we will see whether this is true,’ she said. No shit. GLCs can say goodbyes to their annual practice of greenwashing too.
While we are on the topic of audit, just an easter egg for you, in response to the statement by the police that Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISB) has never paid taxes ever, the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) stated a total of 60 audits had been conducted on GISB in previous assessment years and fines have been issued for failing to pay taxes. LHDN reiterated that GISB did not receive any special treatment all these years.
Selangorians have the longest life expectancy
According to the Abridged Life Tables for 2022-2024 released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM), Selangor residents live the longest in Malaysia, averaging 78 years while Terengganuans (I know it is a mouthful) have the shortest lifespan, at 72.7 years. The district with the highest life expectancy was Petaling in Selangor at 80.2 years as recorded this year. Other than that, not surprisingly, women tend to live longer than men by up to 4.2 years. The release of this new data set by DoSM supported the Retirement Fund Inc. (KWAP) decision to review the retirement age in this country.
Just a bit of fun, perhaps the reason why Selangorians enjoyed a long life is that they are in the company of ‘interesting’ people, thus making their lives happier. Recently, Japanese adult film star Rae Lil Black paid a visit to the Klang Valley, donning a headscarf and she even enjoyed nasi kandar. If men had their ways, we would live longer as men are simple, we do not need complex things to live a long life.
Shorts
- Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) announced a 4.75% profit rate for its fixed-price fund, Amanah Saham Malaysia 3 (ASM 3), for the financial year ended Sep 30, 2024. ASM 3 outperformed Maybank’s 12-month foxed deposit benchmark return by 206 basis points, where the latter recorded a return of 2.69%. A sum of RM837.89 mil will be distributed to 650,487 ASM 3 unit holders.
- MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF) said that foreign investors have been cashing in on their investments in local equities last week, after being net buyers for the previous six weeks. MIDF added that a net outflow of RM527 mil was recorded last week, where financial services (-RM193.7 mil), technology (-RM137.3 mil), and consumer products and services (-RM50.7 mil) registering the highest net outflow.
- Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has put a three-year timeline to change to a new interbank rate for pricing financial contracts. BNM is pushing the market to use the new Malaysia overnight rate (MYOR) and Malaysia Islamic overnight rate (MYOR-i) announced in 2022, instead of the existing Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate (Klibor) in pricing financial contracts. The move to choose MYOR compared to Klibor is because the former is a more robust benchmark compared to the latter which is calculated based on non-transaction inputs, amongst others.
Around the S.E.A.
Should we start panicking?
While the US Federal Reserve has been creating the narrative that the recent interest rate cut was the prequel for an economic soft landing, however, Universa CIO Mark Spitznagel thought otherwise. Spitnznagel said that the rate cut announced by the Fed is the first out of many drastic reductions in interest rates. Spitznagel added that the Fed has maintained the rate for too high and too long, which creates a situation where the market is bound to crash, referring to the next crash to be akin to the 1929 Wall Street Crash dubbed the Black Thursday. However, do take Spitznagel’s statement with a pinch of salt as his firm is an RM66 bil hedge fund that makes a profit from ‘black swan’ events. So, to tell the whole world that the market is nearing the kiamat already is good for his business.
Source: https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/728361
While the players in the US market have been labelling the rate cut as the boogeyman, people in England thought otherwise. Former Bank of England Governor from 2003 until 2013, Mervyn King has lambasted the Bank of England for keeping the interest rates too low for too long, which led to inflation. But, he said that the central bank has got things in order and increased the interest rate, thus taming inflation. At the moment, the Bank of England has set its interest rates at 5%, compared to the Fed’s 4.8% and Bank Negara Malaysia’s 3%.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevy2dw47gyo
Shorts
- Thai Airways’ low-cost subsidiary, Thai Smile Airways will be discontinued for good and all of Thai Smile’s 20 Airbus A320 planes have been transferred to its parent company. After being established in 2013 and up to the year-end of 2022, Thai Smile has accumulated a loss of USD617.83 mil which led to its liquidity crash in 2023 and subsequent disbandment. It is an open secret that the airline industry is cutthroat, operating with laser laser-thin margin. While other airlines are either surviving or consolidating, one soon-to-be new airline in the block is confident that it can stay competitive while offering cheaper fares. Previously, Sarawak Premier Abang Johari announced that it will offer cheaper fares after its planned takeover of MASwings, by deploying a ‘new business model’.Let’s not be delulu eh Sarawak.
Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/corporate/40041907
- In a rare occasion of Russo-American unity, SpaceX has autonomously shuttled American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the US state of Florida. While Russia and the US have continuously threatened to nuke each other on land, but in space, there is no such animosity. Previously, a Russian Soyuz capsule landed in Kazakhstan, bringing along an American astronaut who was rescued from the ISS after the Boeing Starliner capsule that he used to travel to the ISS broke down and was deemed too risky to return to Earth using the Starliner.
Source: https://thesun.my/world/spacecraft-carrying-russian-us-astronauts-arrives-at-iss-IH13058077
For your EYES only
Having a stressful beginning of the week? Just enjoy the beauty of Moo Deng, a pygmy hippopotamus, living in Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Si Racha, Chonburi province, Thailand that gained Internet popularity due to her meme images.
AHHH#moodeng pic.twitter.com/09v1hsUGEu
— Moo Deng | Fan Page (@MooDengSOL) September 29, 2024
