Introducing municipal bond markets in Malaysia: An assessment of present market characteristics

In developed countries, urban growth has multiplied the demand for investment in basic infrastructure services such as water supply, waste removal, roads and mass transportation. At the same time, decentralization strategies have shifted the responsibility for much of these investments to the local governments. This decentralized investment requires the development of decentralized capital financing. No longer can a central government pay for local investment by raising national taxes or borrowings on international markets and using the funds simply to construct projects at the local level. The introduction of municipal bonds is one of the alternative source of funds to finance the escalating costs of financing local governments. This paper discusses the conditions underlying the development of municipal credit markets, which Malaysia can use to provide a vehicle to narrow the local government's resource gap through debt funding

Pelayanan Kesehatan di Daerah Terpencil Kepulauan (Studi Kasus di Pulau Sapudi Kabupaten Sumenep, Tahun 2009) (Health Services At Remote Islands Area In Sumenep District)

Background: Health services in remote islands are still poor. This study aims to assess the health services in healthcenters and its network in Sapudi island, Sumenep district. Method: This study is a descriptive study that was conducted atpuskesmas Gayam and puskesmas Nonggunong, in Sapudi island. The primary data were collected through Focus GroupDiscussion (FGD) with health workers and community leaders composed of 10 persons in each health centers. The datawere also collected by doing In-depth interview with head of health centers and interview with 30 heads of households inthe sub-district Gayam and NonggunongThe secondary data were from health center reports and profi les. The data wereanalyzed descriptively. Results: The number of nurses and midwives in health centers is insuffi cient, because the areasare quite extensive while the publictransportation is very limited. So, it is diffi cult for people to reach the health centers.Tradisional water transportasions in Nonggunong health centers are not appropriate to the area in Sapudi island. Thepeople\u27s residential area is far, so only on market day people could visit the health centers because of the scheduleof thepublic transportation. Traditional doctors are commonly the fi rst choice when they get health problems. Conclusions: Theavailability of health workers in Sapudi island is still insuffi cient. The available water transportation must be suited to thecondition of each areas. People who want to visit health center are so infl uenced by the availability of public transportationon marketdays. Traditional doctors are the fi rst choice for the people when they get health problems. Recommendations:It is suggested to increase the frequency of health workers to do fi eld visit

An Assessment of Milkfish Marketing in Semarang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

The milkfish (Chanos chanos ) is one of the fishes best suited for culture in brackish water ponds. The culture of milkfish has been practised for several hundred years in Indonesia, particularly in Java island. At present , milkfish has become a popular food fish in Indonesia , especially in Java, and a major portion of them is marketed fresh, while the rest is marketed as processed milkfish. This study evaluates the efficiency in marketing of milkfish in Semarang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia in terms of various significant dimensions such as market competition, market integration and marketing margin. The structure conduct- performance of the market approach is used to measure the marketing efficiency. This approach was developed in the United States as a way to analyze the market organization of the industrial sector, but is was later applied in the agricultural sector. Results of analyses show that the market is efficient, although there are some considerations what should be noted. The market is at least consistent with competitive behaviour, except at the wholesale level. The degree of market integration coefficients is high as indicated by high correlation among county/municipality prices which also implies the existence of pricing efficiency in the markets. Marketing margin anal y s i s indicates that producer's share from the retail price is high and profit margins to the wholesalers and retailers are reasonable. Yet, the marketing system harbours significant flaws particularly credit-tie and unfair tactics which somewhat deny the producers the full benefit of a competitive market. It a p pears that properly-managed producers cooperatives would be able to offer a fair and efficient marketing services to the producers

USM meterai perjanjian dengan 3 institusi di Indonesia perkasa kearifan tempatan - Berita Kampus Jilid 45 Bilangan 03 - ISNIN 26 Oktober 2015

Kerjasama antara institusi pendidikan tinggi Malaysia dan Indonesia diperkukuhkan lagi melalui penandatanganan Perjanjian Kolaborasi Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) dengan Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Universitas Langlangbuana (UNLA) dan Universitas Pasundan (UNPAS) sempena Persidangan Antarabangsa Kearifan Tempatan 2015 di Bandung pada 14 Oktober 2015

Malaysian Market Model for Palm Oil: Some Policy Simulations

Malaysian palm oil market is vulnerable to the market variables and policy instruments. This study is undertaken to model Malaysian palm oil market and evaluate the impact of the market variables and policy instruments on Malaysian palm oil market. Eleven structural equations and six identities are specified and identified. The structural equations are estimated by means of the two-stage least square with principal component employed in the first stage regression. The effects of variations in the market variables and policy instruments on Malaysian palm oil market are obtained by simulating the market models and by deducting the simulated values from the base solutions. The results show that estate production is determined by production lagged one period, current price, domestic price lagged four to six periods and rubber price. The adjustment coefficient of estate production is low at 0.2834. The price elasticity of estate supply is inelastic at 0.1721. Smallholder production is influenced by production lagged one period, domestic price lagged five and six periods and re-planting grant. The price elasticity of supply for smallholder and its adjustment coefficient are inelastic at 0.0577 and low at 0.1924 respectively. Domestic demand is determined by the price of groundnut oil, Malaysian industrial production index and domestic demand lagged one period. The elasticities of domestic demand with respect to own price and substitute prices are inelastic. The adjustment coefficient of domestic demand is also low at 0.4872. Except for the United States and the rest of EEE, price of Malaysian palm oil in the world market is an important determinant of Malaysian palm oil export to the importing countries. Export of Malaysian palm oil is also influenced by prices of its substitutes, industrial production index in each country and lagged of one period of its export. The elasticities of the export demand to all of the countries with respect to own price and its substitute prices are inelastic. The main determinants influencing Malaysian palm oil price in the world market are world consumption of palm oil and lagged one period of Malaysian palm oil price in the world market rubber price. The adjustment coefficient of estate production is low at 0.2834. The price elasticity of estate supply is inelastic at 0.1721. Smallholder production is influenced by production lagged one period, domestic price lagged five and six periods and re-planting grant. The price elasticity of supply for smallholder and its adjustment coefficient are inelastic at 0.0577 and low at 0.1924 respectively. Domestic demand is determined by the price of groundnut oil, Malaysian industrial production index and domestic demand lagged one period. The elasticities of domestic demand with respect to own price and substitute prices are inelastic. The adjustment coefficient of domestic demand is also low at 0.4872. Except for the United States and the rest of EEe, price of Malaysian palm oil in the world market is an important determinant of Malaysian palm oil export to the importing countries. Export of Malaysian palm oil is also influenced by prices of its substitutes, industrial production index in each country and lagged of one period of its export. The elasticities of the export demand to all of the countries with respect to own price and its substitute prices are inelastic. The main determinants influencing Malaysian palm oil price in the world market are world consumption of palm oil and lagged one period of Malaysian palm oil price in the world marke

Capacity Utilisation in the Malaysian Palm Oil Refining Industry

This thesis examines the economic structure and performance of Malaysian palm oil refining industry with emphasis on both capacity utilisation (CU) of the individual refineries and the overall industry. The specific objectives of the study are: firstly, to explain the general economic development of the palm oil refining industry particularly from the perspective of policies that have been instrumental in shaping the progress of the industry; secondly, to elucidate the general market structure characteristics of the industry; thirdly, to assess the industry's performance pertaining to its CU from the perspective of its demand for the four factor inputs, namely; capital, labour, electricity and fuel; finally, to draw policy implications and recommendations. The structural dimensions studied are the degree of market concentration and the extent of capacity utilisation in the palm oil refining industry. The industry concentration is measured by using concentration ratio or indices commonly used by industrial economists, to show simple descriptive statistics of concentration ratio of the larger firms in the industry. The economic capacity output of the refining industry is analysed using the framework of cost and production function following Berndt and Hesse. The economic theory employed in the study is to specify, estimate and interpret the capacity output (CO) and CU measure of the twenty-one refineries within the oil palm refining industry for 1990 and 1991, using pooled time-series and cross-sectional data. CU is defined as the ratio of actual output to capacity output that measures the output gap that exists when actual output differs from capacity output. The framework is empirically implemented by estimating the restricted translog variable cost function with single output. The parameter estimates of the factor demand function are derived using the Ordinary Least Square technique, and elasticities of substitution of the parameter estimates are computed to evaluate the refinery's demand for inputs. The capacity output is estimated through an iterative technique, using the C-Ianguage Programming package, as it is not possible to be estimated through analytical or closed-form solution. The effect of change in price of the variable inputs on capacity output and CU is also being assessed. The result of the four-firm concentration ratio indicates that the market share of the largest few firms from 1988-1992 comes to 40 per cent. It shows strong attributes of a workably competitive market where there is lack of government supervision, unstable market share, flexible pricing, low barriers to entry, very little collusion and very low profit. The CD estimates point to pervasive and chronic excess capacity in all the refineries examined with the exception of one firm whose CU ratio was more than unity in both years, 1990 and 1991. This indicates the sluggishness of investment in this particular sector of the economy. Demand condition for the four factor inputs has been found to remain inelastic. An examination of the effects of change in price of electricity, fuel, labour and capital on CU shows an insignificant effect on the refiners' decision to refine. These findings imply that investment in capacity and capacity utilisation by all the refineries in the industry may be influenced by factors that are external to the refineries, for instance increased demand and price of RPO in the world market, or a decrease in domestic price of CPO, regardless of the price of the inputs

Empirical Test of Macroeconomic Variables and Stock Market Returns in Asian Emerging Market

There has been a number of documented evidence examining the relationship between macroeconomic variables and stock returns in developed countries. However, the effect of changes in macroeconomic variables on Asian stock markets is an interesting area to research with, therefore there is a need to address such issue in these developing countries. This study attempts to investigate the relationships among stock prices, exchange rates, interest rates, trade balances, expected inflation, industrial production and money supply, by using data from six selected Asian countries namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia. The Multi index model (MIM) and the Error Correction Model (ECM) were applied to capture the dynamic relationship among these variables over the period of 1 990- 1 to 2000-4. The analysed were divided into two specifications -efficient market (Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia) and the less efficient market (Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia). The empirical results of this study indicate that consistent with many studies in developed markets, stock prices and macroeconomic variables are integrated in the long run. However in the short run, the results are country specific. The general performance of Hong Kong market is caused by interest rates and money supply. For Singapore, the results showed that trade balances, interest rates and money supply were the factors for stock pricing. Interest rates, exchange rates and money supply appeared to be the factors influencing the stock price fluctuations in Malaysia. While for Philippines the results indicated that stock prices are affected by lag exchange rate, lag trades balances and lag interest rates. For Thailand the results found that expected inflation, exchange rate and interest rate were the factors for stock pricing. For Indonesia, the finding showed that interest rates and money supply were dominant factors in pricing stock returns. Overall, for the efficient market the findings found that interest rates and money supplies appeared to be the major common factors affecting stock price fluctuations. However, in the less efficient market, the result indicated that interest rates were the only common factor affecting prices in Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia stock market. The results documented in this study provide better insights on the relationship between stock markets and major economic variables in selected Asian countries. Such evidence, lead to better decisions for investors with cross border investments and to policy marker on how to adjust policies in order to minimize stock prices volatility subsequently improve market's performance. These findings raise several important implications for stabilizing the stock market. Firstly, the result appeared to suggest country specific macroeconomic variables influencing stock markets and secondly, there was one or two common macro economic variables influencing the Asian countries