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Malaysia Garments Wholesale Merchants Association president Datuk Ang Say Tee
said the global economic meltdown had affected all local businesses and next year would
be tough. “Merchandisers have started reducing the import volume of garments and this
will definitely lead to a downtrend in retail sales,” he said. He projected that garment
imports would drop by 30% to 40% in 2009 and about 20% of the staff in both garment
manufacturing and retail sectors will be retrenched. (Star)

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US non-farm payrolls recorded 533,000 job losses in November, from a loss of 320,000
in October, bringing the year’s total job losses to 1.9m. This exceeded market expectations
for a loss of 325,000 jobs in the month.
• Job losses were spread across a wide variety of industries- manufacturing, leisure and
hospitality, construction and even, in the midst of the holiday shopping season, retail.
Also seeing sharp declines were professional and business services, and financial
services, at the heart of the current crisis.
• Government hiring has stayed strong throughout the downturn, adding another 7,000
jobs in November. Education and health services also grew payrolls, with a gain of
52,000 employees.
• The unemployment rate rose to 6.7% from 6.5% in October. (CNN Money)

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US home foreclosures recorded 1.35m in 3Q, driving the foreclosure rate up to 2.97%,
the Mortgage Bankers Association said. That’s a 76% increase from a year ago, according
to the group’s National Delinquency Survey. At the same time, the number of homeowners
falling behind on their mortgages rose to a record 6.99%, up from 5.59% a year ago, the
association said. This means that one in 10 borrowers in: place America are either
delinquent or in foreclosure. (CNN Money)

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India’s central bank slashed key interest rates by 1% point on 6 Dec amid signs of
slowing economic growth and damaged investor confidence following the recent terror
attacks in Mumbai. The cut will bring the benchmark repo rate from 7.5% to 6.5%. That’s
the lowest since June 2006 and down from an October high of 9%. Reverse repurchase
rate was lowered from 6% to 5%. (SBT)

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Malaysia’s manufacturers may face a “tough year” in 2009 as the global recession cuts
demand for computer chips, components and electronic goods, a trade group said after a
survey of local businesses. Next year will be “a very trying time, a tough year,” Datuk
Mustafa Mansur, the president of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers. “We will feel
the impact.”
• Four-fifths of the respondents in the trade group’s survey expected new orders and
sales forecasts to be “strongly” or “moderately” hurt by the global recession.
• About 77% of the survey’s respondents said their capital investments would be
“negatively affected,” Mustafa said. Job retrenchments were also expected, he said.
(Star)

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The Bank of Canada lowered its benchmark interest rate, the target rate for overnight
loans between commercial banks, by 75bps to 1.50%, the lowest since 1958 and signalled
more action may be needed as economic growth sputters amid a “broader and deeper”
global slump. (Bloomberg)

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There is an downward trend in companies granting salary increases and bonuses for their
employees in 2009, in view of the global economic uncertainties, a survey by the
Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) indicated.
· The overall average forecasted salary increase for executives in 2009 was lower at
5.53% compared with an earlier forecast of 5.78%.
· For non-executives, the number is expected to be at 5.59% for next year from the 5.85%
estimated earlier.
· The actual salary increase for 2008 was at 6.09% for executives and 5.69% for nonexecutives.
· Forecasted salary increase for executives in the manufacturing sector was lower at
5.50% compared with the 5.56% in non-manufacturing sector.
· In terms of bonus, 72.1% of the respondent companies estimated it would be granted to
non-executives in 2009 while 59.8% forecast the payment for executives.
· The average forecasted bonus payment for non-executives in 2009 was lower at 1.78
months compared with the 1.99 months estimated earlier.
· The bonus payment for executives will be at 1.98 months in 2009 as against 2.10
months forecasted before.
· About 90% of the respondent companies granted a bonus to their employees this year
with the average contractual bonus for non-executives at 1.74 months and 1.85 months
for executives. (Bernama)

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Minister of International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said several
industries in the manufacturing sector especially those involved in the steel industry have
begun to experience a drop in demand by as much as 30 to 60%. However, it is not as bad
as what has been happening in other countries where there have been layoffs in the
sector. The associations taking care of the sector have requested the banks in the country
to extend the loan payment term for their players or reschedule their repayments to enable
these players to repay their loans. (Bernama)

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IATA has reduced this year’s projected industry losses to US$5bn, from its earlier
projection of US$5.2bn. But the picture, going into next year, is ugly, with Asia-Pacific
carriers could see their losses doubling from this year’s forecasted US$500m to more than
US$1.1bn by the end of 2009.
· Global industry revenues are expected to decline to US$501bn in 2009, a fall of
US$35bn from the US$536bn in revenues forecasted for 2008.
· Yields will decline by 3% (and an even worse 5.3% when adjusted for exchange rates
and inflation).
· Passenger traffic is expected to decline by 3% in 2009, following growth of 2% in 2008 -
the first decline since 2001. Cargo traffic is expected to fall by 5%, following a drop of
1.5% in 2008.
· The 2009 oil price is expected to average US$60 per barrel, totalling up an industry bill
of US$142bn. This would be US$32bn lower than in 2008, when oil averaged US$100
per barrel. (SBT)