SINGAPORE …. MONTHLY COMMERCIAL REPORT – MAY 2012 ...

discussed the upcoming review of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) in June, to
further improve its quality and smoothen its implementation.
SBF inks MOU with Sri Lanka business community
The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Sri Lanka
Singapore Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (SLSBC), to promote the development
of closer trade and economic relations. This follows the MOU signed between SBF and Sri Lanka Board
of Investment in February, aimed to deepen collaboration between the private sectors and strengthen
institutional relations between both countries.
Asean+3 set to double swap fund size
CHINA, South Korea, Japan and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
are expected to announce an agreement on doubling the size of their regional currency swap deal to
US$240 billion. The finance ministers and central bank governors of these 13 countries met in Manila for
a meeting, at the end of which they are likely to release a joint statement approving an earlier proposal by
their deputies to increase the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) fund. The fund - launched
two years ago in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the kind of liquidity crisis that struck South-east Asia in
1998 - currently stands at US$120 billion. Singapore will be represented by Deputy Prime Minister and
Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, according to a joint statement yesterday from the Ministry
of Finance and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Collectively known as the Asean+3, the 13
countries are also expected to agree on making themselves less dependent on larger entities such as the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a Dow Jones report that quoted portions of a draft of the
joint statement.
The plan is to increase the amount that each country can tap for support to 30 per cent this year, up from
20 per cent currently, without having to have a parallel aid package in place from the IMF. Asian
Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda said that he believed the worst of the eurozone debt crisis
was over, adding that he did not expect any serious impact on Asian economies from Europe's financial
problems in the near future. Therefore, he said that assistance measures for Asia such as the CMIM and
the Asian Development Fund were "sufficient" to help Asian economies cope for the time being.
PART IV BILATERAL
Telenor may leave India as fee spat spurs write-off
Telenor says it may have to exit India, the world's second-largest mobile market, after the country's
telecommunications regulator proposed an 11-fold increase in licence fees. Fornebu, Norway-based
Telenor will write down its remaining fixed and intangible assets in India amounting to 3.9 billion kroner
(S$840 million) as a "precautionary measure", the company, the Nordic region's biggest phone operator,
said in a separate statement. At stake is Telenor's 140 billion rupee (S$3.2 billion) investment in India,
and the fate of its more than 40 million customers. Investors have called on Telenor to pull out of the
country. Telenor's licences in India were cancelled in February, and the regulator later recommended
reauctioning the spectrum at higher prices.
West Bengal rolls out schemes to woo S'pore investments
Underlining the appeal of Singapore in India, the state of West Bengal is courting more businesses and
investments from here.