Last chance for Brazil's Rousseff to save mandate: newspaper

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has one last chance to stem a growing political and economic crisis before being forced to step down, one of the country's leading daily newspapers said on Sunday. 

PHOTO: AFP

SEP 14, 20159:44 AM

[RIO DE JANEIRO] Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has one last chance to stem a growing political and economic crisis before being forced to step down, one of the country's leading daily newspapers said on Sunday.

In an unusual front-page editorial, Folha de S.Paulo said Ms Rousseff needs to take "drastic measures" including additional spending cuts and tax increases to make up for a 2016 budget gap that has cost Brazil its investment-grade rating from Standard & Poor's.

Ms Rousseff, a leftist who was re-elected by a thin margin in 2014, is facing impeachment calls as her government struggles with a deep economic recession and a massive corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras that has implicated several of her political allies.

In cabinet meetings on Saturday and Sunday, Ms Rousseff ordered her ministers to find an additional 20 billion reais (S$7.32 billion) in budget savings, Brazilian media said. The cuts will be announced as early as Monday, according to several reports.

Earlier, daily Estado de S.Paulo reported that Ms Rousseff had decided to cut at least 15 billion reais of next year's budget, which was sent to Congress with a deficit of about 30 billion reais.

Folha, which tends to lean center-right, said deep budget cuts are needed for the government to gain credibility before demanding more tax hikes that will face strong popular opposition.

"The country, however, has no choice" but to accept higher taxes, Folha said. "Neither has President Dilma Rousseff: if she bends under the weight of the crisis, she will have no option other than leaving her presidential duties and, eventually, the position she holds." Folha also called for an end to some pension benefits and economic subsidies, as well as temporary cuts in health and education programmes that are currently mandatory.

A spokeswoman for Ms Rousseff declined to comment on the editorial.

REUTERS

    
 

China's Sinopec to shut hotels, ditch cars in graft crackdown

Chinese state-owned energy giant Sinopec Group will sell off most of its hotels by the end of 2017 and get rid of more than 4,000 company cars as part of efforts to root out corruption and waste, it said on Monday. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

SEP 14, 201510:41 AM

[BEIJING] Chinese state-owned energy giant Sinopec Group will sell off most of its hotels by the end of 2017 and get rid of more than 4,000 company cars as part of efforts to root out corruption and waste, it said on Monday.

Since President Xi Jinping's appointment in 2013, the government has cracked down on official corruption and extravagance in China, where the flaunting of personal and often illicit wealth and wasteful public spending have led to widespread criticism of the party.

The big state-owned conglomerates have been a particular focus, and several high-ranking executives or former executives at Sinopec have been investigated or jailed. Sinopec Group is the parent of Sinopec Corp, Asia's largest oil refiner.

In a statement released by the Communist Party's graft-busting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Sinopec said that the latest inspection by anti-corruption teams had been very effective at rooting out problems. "It has hit the nail on the head, grasping the essence and crux (of the issue), helping us to find the root of the disease," it said.

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As part of company efforts to rein in spending, all the hotels it runs will be sold off by late 2017, apart from a"small number" that are competitive or are in exploration areas with no other hotels, it said.

State-owned firms in China tend to be very diversified and often own assets that have nothing to do with their core business.

The number of cars the company operates will also be slashed by 4,300, it added, a move in line with other government-run organisations and departments.

The probe found a series of other problems of waste, including a holiday two executives took to Taiwan in 2013 on the company dime, and four people who did not return to China immediately after a board meeting in gambling hub Macau.

Sinopec is not the only state-owned energy company to have been probed by the graft watchdog.

In a statement released late on Sunday, China National Offshore Oil Corp, better known as CNOOC, listed the steps it was taking to address the problems inspectors had found there, including promising not to use company money to buy high-end cigarettes and liquor.

REUTERS

    
 

Most Singaporeans favour individual responsibility for retirement income: survey

By

Mindy Tantanmindy@sph.com.sg@MindyTanBT

Singaporean workers today are anxious about their retirement prospects, and concerned that their existing planned retirement income can replace only a small share of their pre-retirement income, according to a study on retirement attitudes and expectations in East Asia. 

ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

SEP 14, 201511:34 AM

SINGAPOREAN workers today are anxious about their retirement prospects, and concerned that their existing planned retirement income can replace only a small share of their pre-retirement income, according to a study on retirement attitudes and expectations in East Asia.

The study, which was conducted by the Global Aging Institute (GAI) in partnership with Prudential Corporation Asia, found that 28 per cent of today's workers in Singapore expect to have a lot less income in retirement than they do today. This is more than anywhere else surveyed except Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan.

That being said, most Singaporeans surveyed favour individual responsibility for retirement planning over family responsibility, and do not expect their family to be the main financial source of support in their retirement.

In South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, a majority or plurality of respondents (between 40 and 61 per cent) feel that retirees themselves should be responsible for their own retirement income. In Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and Thailand, a majority or plurality of respondents (between 43 and 66 per cent) feel that government should assume the primary role in retirement security.

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"The findings show that retirees in East Asia find themselves at a difficult juncture. Traditional family support networks have been weakening, yet adequate government and market substitutes have not yet been put in place. The result is growing economic vulnerability. The retirement outlook for today's workers is brighter in most markets, but still highly uncertain. Across East Asia, workers are very anxious about their retirement prospects, but are also very eager to improve them," said Richard Jackson, founder and president of GAI.

In every market, the share of today's workers who expect to receive income in retirement from insurance and annuity products and/or stocks, bonds or mutual funds is rising. In Singapore, 74 per cent of today's workers expect to receive income from these financial assets when they retire.