Rightways to Success

Tuesday, 11 April 2023

Fighting dengue mosquito with Wolbachia

How do male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes help suppress dengue mosquito population?

Prof Ooi Eng Eong on using Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes to control dengue

Wolbachia mosquitoes have been released in some 39 localities since the “successful” pilot run of a dengue control project in 2017 that significantly reduced cases, according to the Institute for Medical Research (IMR).

The IMR, which is the research arm of the Health Ministry, told The Star that the Malaysian Wolbachia project that was launched on March 28, 2017, saw Wolbachia-carrying Aedes mosquitoes being released at 11 dengue hotspots in the Klang Valley.

“After one year of release, dengue cases decreased significantly,” it said.

IMR said that “after seeing the promising effect of the initial releases and being impressed by the apparent success of the trial”, the Health Ministry’s Disease Control Department, in collaboration with the IMR, has deployed Wolbachia-carrying Aedes to 28 more localities.

“The outcomes of this operational programme serve as the basis for future expansion of releases in additional dengue-prone areas.

“Malaysia is the first endemic country to use Wolbachia mosquitoes for dengue control. The Health Ministry has established a five-year plan for the release of Wolbachia mosquitoes in dengue hotspots as its rollout programme,” it said.

Vector control, consisting of source reduction, chemical control, biological control, and even genetic control, was one of the strategies used to combat Aedes-borne viruses, IMR said.

Biological control consists of using Wolbachia mosquitoes and the “sterile insect technique”.

“The Malaysian approach is a replacement strategy, where both male and female mosquitoes are released to replace the wild Aedes population in the field,” IMR said.

In other words, the “bad” Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are replaced with “good” Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

The female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia prevent the growth of dengue virus in the mosquitoes so that the dengue virus could not be transmitted when mosquitoes bite humans, it added.

IMR said the added benefit of the Wolbachia strategy was that it prevented the mosquito from picking up dengue virus from dengue patients who are asymptomatic.

“The asymptomatic transmission of dengue virus to mosquitoes through mosquito bites has been known for years, but there has been no solution to prevent it, but with the Wolbachia strategy, the solution is there,” it said.

When contacted last month, Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah said that analysis had shown that dengue cases had been reduced by 75% to 100% in the 14 localities where the Wolbachia Mosquito Operation (WMO) had been implemented for at least two years.

“Nevertheless, ongoing evaluation is required to assess the effectiveness of WMO in reducing dengue cases as well as its impact on averting dengue morbidity and mortality in the long term,” he said.

He said the WMO, which was launched in 2019, had also become a novel tool for vector control under the National Dengue Control and Prevention Programme.

Since July 2019, 28 high-dengue burden localities in Selangor (10), Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (7), Penang (4), Kelantan (2), Johor (2), Pahang (2), and Melaka (1) have been selected to implement WMO in a staggered manner.

Wolbachia is a bacterium and a form of biological control that is naturally occurring in 60%-70% of insects, spiders and nematodes.

It is usually introduced into Aedes mosquitoes to prevent the transmission of dengue viruses.

The Wolbachia bacteria stops the dengue virus from replicating, so the mosquito does not spread the virus when it bites.

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Monday, 10 April 2023

Any contagion from US banking crisis?

THE collapse of four banks in the United States and Europe has sent fears of systemic risks throughout the global banking system.

Currently, the risk of contagion in Malaysia is low, given the limited direct and indirect exposure of the domestic banking system as well as the swift action taken by United States and Swiss regulators to contain their respective banking crises.

Banks in Malaysia are also generally well-capitalised with healthy liquidity positions, underpinned by a stable and diversified funding base.

Moreover, Bank Negara keeps a close watch on all banks operating locally as compared to the two-tier system in the United States, said RHB Banking Group regional sector head, group wholesale banking David Chong Voon Chee.

The United States has a dual banking system, with national banks regulated on the federal level and state banks regulated by each state.

Still, we should monitor for second and third order effects from these events, where possible cause-and-effects could lead to market volatility, tighter access to credit and ultimately, slower global growth.

In the United States, Californiabased Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and New York’s Signature Bank, collapsed due to heavy losses on their bond portfolios and a huge run on deposits.

San Diego-based Silvergate Bank, which catered largely to cryptocurrency companies, had voluntarily wound down its operations.

As investors began ditching out anything related to banking risks, Switzerland’s scandal-ridden Credit Suisse also collapsed as its largest shareholder, Saudi National Bank, stopped investing in it.

As a result of the banking crisis in March, 2023, the jump in risk indicators – credit default swaps of major US and European banking names as well as US sovereign credit default swaps – has become worrying.

However, their levels are still far from the highs of the global financial crisis of 2008.

A credit default swap is a financial derivative that allows investors to offset their credit risks with that of another investor.

But volatility outside of rates – in other asset classes like foreign exchange, equities and commodities – remain relatively modest by historical standards, implying that the crisis is not systemic, said United Overseas Bank in a report.

In the case of Malaysian banks, beyond the minimum level of 8% for total capital ratio (TCR), excess capital stands at about Rm196bil, as of January.

Meanwhile, TCR (the ratio of total capital to total risk-weighted assets) at 18.9% in January is way above the prescribed level of 8%.

This means that banks have substantial buffer in their capital levels where they are able to absorb a significant amount of loans impairment and market volatility, said Bank Muamalat chief economist and social finance, Mohamed Afzanisam Abdul Rashid.

Despite external uncertainties, this indicates that borrowing and lending activities can be conducted seamlessly, while households and businesses are able to access credit from the banking sector without hassle.

Nevertheless, every financing application will be subjected to their eligible criteria including repayment history and the level of indebtedness.

Malaysian banks also usually have a relatively smaller portion of assets in investments while interest rate increase is less drastic, and hence, the mark-to-market losses would be comparatively smaller, said Fortress Capital Asset Management Sdn Bhd CEO Thomas Yong.

If a security was bought at a certain price and the market price dropped later, it would result in an unrealised loss, marking the security down to the new market price would lead to mark-to-market losses.

Malaysian banks also have a large portion of household depositors, while business depositors are diversified across different industries.

Hence, the need for a large amount of liquidity to fund withdrawals is less urgent.

While there will be jitters, banks in Malaysia are well-regulated besides having a diversified depositor base, they also have retailers who are more loyal, said Etiqa Insurance and Takaful chief strategy officer Chris Eng.

The funding base of the Malaysian banking system remained strong, with an aggregate liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and net stable funding ratio of 154% and 118.2% respectively, at the end of 2022.

The LCR seeks to ensure that banks hold sufficient high-quality assets, while the net stable funding ratio calculates the proportion of available over required stable funding.

More than 80% of banks’ high quality liquid assets are in the form of placements with Bank Negara and government bonds, which banks can access and pledge in the interbank market or with Bank Negara for additional liquidity, according to Maybank Investment Bank in a report.

Foreign currency external debt-at-risk was manageable, at Rm80.4bil or 20.3% of total banking system external debt.

Loans under repayment assistance programmes declined to 4.2% of total banking system loans at the end of 2022, from 5.7% at the end of June, 2022.

Loan loss coverage ratio (which indicates how protected a bank is against future losses), including regulatory reserves, remained high at 118.2% at the end of 2022.

Since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, Malaysia’s banking industry has gone through a significant consolidation which brought down the number of banks from more than 60 to about 10 banks by early 2020.

Non-performing loans had led to the creation of Danaharta Nasional to address non-performing accounts while banks concentrated on running their businesses.

Risk management oversight was implemented at a robust pace and Malaysian banks were required to run multiple scenarios for the stress testing of their balance sheets.

This resulted in well-capitalised and highly liquid banks as well as sound credit underwriting standards.

Following the recent banking crisis, banks especially those in the United States and Europe, now need to defend and fight for their credit worthiness.

While fears of contagion are being allayed for now, caution and constant monitoring will prevail.

by Yap Leng Kuen is a former StarBiz editor.

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Sunday, 9 April 2023

Abuse of hegemony is why de-dollarisation is trending

US itself is accelerating the de-dollarization process

De-Dollarization and the Fall of American Hegemony

Ever since the Fed ended its ultra-loose monetary policy and turned to a radical rate hike approach, the international financial market has been in turmoil with many currencies depreciating sharply. That has forced many countries to diversify their foreign exchange reserve assets. – AP

MARKET expectations for the Federal Reserve to end interest rate hikes have picked up as core inflation data in the United States has dropped and the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence index fell from 67 in February to 62 in March – yet worries abound about the outlook for the US economy.

Former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers said recently that it is too early to say that the US has shaken off the financial woes caused by its rapid interest rate hikes. The US economy is likely to experience a serious recession as a result of the recent banking crisis, with little chances of a “soft landing”. With recession expectations picking up, the factors supporting a strong US dollar are disappearing.

Ever since the Fed ended its ultra-loose monetary policy and turned to a radical rate hike approach, the international financial market has been in turmoil, with many currencies depreciating sharply. That has forced many countries to reduce holdings of US Treasuries, diversifying foreign exchange reserve assets.

In mid-march, Russia’s central bank reported that the ruble and “friendly” currencies together accounted for 52% of Russian export settlements at the end of 2022, surpassing the share of the US dollar and euro for the first time on record.

The members of Asean agreed at the end of March to strengthen the use of local currencies in the region and reduce reliance on major international currencies in cross-border trade and investment. On April 1, India and Malaysia agreed to settle trade in Indian rupees.

Data show that the proportion of US dollar reserves and assets in global central banks’ foreign exchange reserves has dropped from 65.46% in the first quarter of 2016 to 59.79% in the third quarter of 2022.

Despite its declining status, the US dollar still accounts for the largest share of global trade settlement, central banks’ foreign exchange reserves, global debt pricing, and global capital flows. However, the abuse of the US dollar hegemony has led many countries to launch a “de-dollarisation” campaign. The more the US dollar is used as a weapon, the faster it will be abandoned by other countries.

It’s unrealistic that some in the United States want to safeguard the benefits brought by the US dollar as a leading international currency, but don’t want to shoulder corresponding international responsibilities. – China Daily/Asia News Network

Image result for Asia News Network, images/pictures

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