G20 walks tightrope between growth, deficits

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-28 08:04, China Daily

TORONTO – World leaders agreed on Sunday to take separate paths toward shared goals of lasting growth and safer banks as two years of global crisis give way to a fragile economic recovery.

The leaders of the Group of 20 pose for a family photo at the G20 Summit in Toronto June 27, 2010. [Agencies]

Balance was the buzz word. The Group of 20 pledged to halve budget deficits by 2013 without stunting growth, and clamp down on risky bank behavior without choking off lending.

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But they left room for countries to move at their own pace and adopt "differentiated and tailored" policies that match national economic or political priorities, a sharp reversal from the unity of the previous three crisis-era G20 summits.

"The G20's highest priority is to safeguard and strengthen the recovery and lay the foundation for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, and strengthen our financial systems against risks," the group said in a statement released at the end of meetings here.

The G20 allowed each country space to decide how to proceed with controversial provisions such as taxing banks to recoup bailout costs and implementing tougher bank capital rules.

The G20, which includes emerging economic powers as well as the developed economies, which is where the economic trouble started, united last year to throw trillions of dollars into the battle against recession.

But that unity has begun to fray as countries emerge from crisis at different speeds and with different policy needs. Emerging Asian economies such as China have come roaring back while the US recovery remains tepid and Europe lags behind.

"Now that the worst of the crisis is past, the dewy-eyed vision of G20 countries pulling together to solve global economic problems is steadily giving way to a more pragmatic approach of merging competing perspectives and agendas to fashion imperfect compromises and make incremental progress," said Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former International Monetary Fund official.

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Hu hits out at 'all forms' of protection

Chinese President Hu Jintao has slammed protectionism and urged his G20 partners to ensure exit strategies from economic stimulus programs will not harm the global recovery.

Speaking at a G20 summit in Toronto on Sunday, Hu took aim at the developed world, saying they should promote international trade with greater openness.

"We must take concrete actions to reject all forms of protectionism, and unequivocally advocate and support free trade," Hu told his counterparts from the G20 group of major developed and emerging economies.

He called for a renewal of commitments from countries not to impose new restrictions on goods, investment and services, and urged his partners to "earnestly follow through" on these pledges.

Amid warnings from American legislators seeking to impose trade sanctions on China over its relatively undervalued yuan currency, Hu said trade disputes should be settled through consultation.

"It is important to address trade frictions appropriately through dialogue and consultation and under the principle of mutual benefit and common development," Hu said.

Hu did not touch on the issue of the yuan's value, but said: "Exchange rates of major currencies fluctuate drastically and international financial markets suffer from persistent volatility."

He also weighed in on the debate between the United States and countries such as Germany and Britain - which are seeking rapid deficit reduction - on how to nurture the fragile global recovery from the worst recession in decades.

Despite its mounting deficit, the United States wants stimulus measures to be maintained while Germany and Britain, worried about the escalating budget crisis in Europe, feel deficits needed to be trimmed swiftly.
Hu offered words of caution.

"We must act in a cautious and appropriate way concerning the timing, pace and intensity of an exit from the economic stimulus packages and consolidate the momentum of recovery of the world economy," he said.

Hu also wanted a shift in the focus of the G20, the premier global economic forum, from coordinating stimulus measures to coordinating growth and from addressing short-term contingencies to promoting long-term governance.

"We should strengthen coordinating of macroeconomic policies among G20 members, keep the right intensity of our policies and support countries hit by the sovereign debt crisis in overcoming the current difficulties," he said.

The sovereign debt turmoil in Europe was triggered by a Greek budget crisis and has threatened to spread across the eurozone, undermining the stability of the euro and the strength of many European banks.

© 2010 AFP

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A bold and calculated move

Malaysia’s global sukuk issue a huge RM4bil success

Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah

 

THE announcement to launch a global sukuk on May 19 was greeted with a lot of questions, doubts and scepticism. This was due to uncertainties caused by the sovereign debt crisis, particularly in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland, which accentuated concerns over a double-dip recession.

Notwithstanding this, we went ahead with the launch after taking into consideration the factors in favour of Malaysia. These include the strong demand for good quality sovereign debt papers in the market; Malaysia’s credit risk spreads, which had narrowed considerably; the country’s good credit story supported by sound economic fundamentals; and clear economic transformation agenda under the New Economic Model.

It was a calculated and bold move. We were proven right when the issue was oversubscribed by nearly six times the initial size of US$1bil (RM3.25bil).

The issue was a huge success with a final sukuk size of US$1.25bil (RM4.06bil). It was Malaysia’s first in the international debt market after a lapse of eight years and was accorded emas, a special recognition given to foreign currency denominated issues in the Malaysian capital market.

The global sukuk has three objectives: to establish a new US dollar benchmark as pricing guidance for corporate fund raising, to profile Malaysia’s credit story in international capital markets, and to showcase the country as a global Islamic financial hub. The issue successfully met these objectives.

In line with Malaysia’s leadership in Islamic finance, the issue was structured as a syariah-based Ijara − an asset-based Islamic instrument, which pays sukuk-holders returns from the rental of 12 government-run hospitals.

The purchase price is equivalent to the proceeds raised by the special purpose vehicle – 1Malaysia Global Sukuk Sdn Bhd (the trustee/issuer).

It is a sale and lease-back arrangement, where the Federal Land Commissioner as the land owner of the 12 hospitals would sell the asset to the trustee which will lease the assets to the Government. Rentals received will be used to make periodic payments to sukuk investors.

Upon maturity, sukuk holders will be paid the redemption sum through the proceeds received from the Government as the obligor who will purchase the rights, interest, benefits and entitlements on the lease assets from the Trustee. (See chart on transaction structure)

The sukuk was assigned a rating of A- by Standard and Poor’s and A3 by Moody’s. The credit ratings reflect Malaysia’s sovereign credit worthiness backed by a deep and liquid domestic capital market, a well-managed and resilient financial system, strong external position, net external creditor position as well as a diverse and competitive economy.

The global sukuk roadshows started off with a team lead by Second Finance Minister, who met investors in Jeddah, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The second team led by the Finance Ministry secretary-general saw investors in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and finally in New York, where the sukuk size and pricing were finalised.

During the roadshows, the teams met investors in groups and also had one-on-one interactions with key investors. Investors raised questions on Malaysia’s fiscal sustainability, economic fundamentals as well as the reform agenda of the Government. The teams took the opportunity to explain Malaysia’s economic policies, the accommodative monetary policy as well as impressed upon the investors the reform agenda and growth prospects that will be realised through the New Economic Model.

Fundamentals intact

Investors were convinced that Malaysia’s fundamentals remained intact, with strong fiscal position and credible economic growth from enhanced reform initiatives under the New Economic Model.

These meetings were well-received and generated significant interest among investors in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States, despite increased uncertainty and market volatility created by the debt crisis in Greece.

The high-level delegations were instrumental in raising Malaysia’s profile and entrenching its growth prospects among key investors and decision-makers.

As a result, the issue attracted bids from a diverse group of over 270 investors around the world with most bids from Asia and the Middle East.

The final distribution reflected the wide interest among global institutional investors for Malaysia’s debt papers. (See table on final distribution of global sukuk )

It also reinforced Malaysia’s lead position in the global sukuk market, accounting for 65% of global outstanding sukuk.

The initial proposed size of the global sukuk was US$1bil, which was upsized to US$1.25bil after receiving bids of about six times over the initial cover, making it the largest global sovereign sukuk ever.

The five–year sukuk was priced on May 27 to yield 3.928%, the lowest yield for an Asian sovereign issue in the last five years.

In New York, where the pricing was to be decided, the global markets had turned volatile threatening to scuttle the whole exercise. However, with a strong order-book from Asia and the Middle East, a small window of opportunity appeared when the market stabilised.

Bold and quick decisions were made to capitalise on it. The price “whisper” began at around the Treasury+200 basis points range and the order-book started to fill up and demand momentum was sustained.
With such an encouraging order-book, the pricing guidance was issued at Treasury+190 basis points and finally the issue was priced to yield 3.928%.

The final pricing at Treasury+180 basis points was very competitive, given the uncertainty and volatility of markets caused by the ongoing Greek debt crisis.

The spread on the five-year sukuk due in June 2015 further narrowed by six basis points a day after listing, reflecting robust demand for Malaysia’s dollar debt.

It was challenging to launch and conclude the largest sovereign sukuk ever at the lowest price for an Asian sovereign issue in the last five years. Despite the volatile markets, there was overwhelming response to the global sukuk, reflecting investor confidence in Malaysia’s credit story and growth prospects.

We must sustain this confidence by implementing all reform measures, however painful it may be in the short term. We must sacrifice for the greater good of the nation in the long run.

The success of the global emas sukuk is indeed an international recognition and endorsement of Malaysia’s credit story and confidence in the reform agenda of the New Economic Model under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“Our sukuk offering was priced at the lowest yield achieved by an Asian sovereign in the past five years notwithstanding volatile market conditions. We also had wider investors base from Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the US. This is a great achievement for Malaysia.”

● Tan Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah is the Finance Ministry’s secretary-general of Treasury.