Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

From Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s one day visit to Singapore to the Myanmar junta preparing for elections. Dr. Felix Tan, Political Observer, Nanyang Technological University shares his analysis on those headlines and more. 

In our first episode of Under The Radar, we talk about REIT managers and what’s next as they put their FY 2022 earnings behind them. Our guest for today is from OUE Commercial Reit, which has a property portfolio  comprising approximately 2.2 million square feet of prime office and retail space, and 1,643 upper upscale hotel rooms in Singapore and Shanghai. The real estate investment trust company recently announced their earnings for FY 2022 earlier this week, where net property income increased some 8.6% on a yearly basis to S$103.3 million. And as the travel resumes and borders reopen, we want to find out what’s next for the company in 2023.  On Under The Radar, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Han Khim Siew, CEO of Commercial Reit for more.

Imagine having spent one’s entire life - time and money - into building a business, with the assumption or hope that their children will want to inherit and keep the enterprise within the family, only to be surprised to learn their kids aren't interested in taking over the family business. What can businesses do - fold it up? There is another option and Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish recently spoke with Daniel Lee, Senior Consultant, Nihon M&A Center Singapore on how succession planning can ensure the survival of your legacy and family business.

The US and China economies are in focus today with Federal Reserve officials set to meet later today to decide on their next monetary policy move. Observers are now expecting the Fed to raise interest rates by 25 basis points after the series of outsized hikes.  But when and at what point will the Fed pivot away from their hawkish stance?  In the meantime, earnings continue to drive stock movements with earnings from Mcdonalds and General Motors on deck for the day. To what extent can this batch of earning reports help investors gain clues on the state of the US economy? Back in Asia, China’s budget deficit jumped to a record 8.96 trillion yuan (S$1.7 trillion) last year to bolster its economy. But how would that change for 2023 as authorities dial back on their strict COVID-19 containment measures? On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian spoke with Oriano Lizza, Sales Trader at CMC Markets for more.

We’re going to talk all about watches today. According to a new industrial report,, sales of second-hand luxury watches will overtake new models within a decade as buyers seek rate timepieces from brands such as Rolex and Audemars Piguet.  Swiss-based industry analyst and consulting firm LuxeConsult forecast that the market for vintage and pre-owned watches will surge to some 79 billion euros in 2033, more than three times the 25 billion euros sold last year. In anticipation of a hotter secondary market, we want to find out which are the watches investors should resell versus those that they should keep in the long term. Also - should emotions play a part in the decision process?  On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Mr Oliver Muller, Consultant and Advisor at LuxeConsult, as well as Dr Bernard Cheong - he’s one of Singapore’s most prominent watch investors who has been collecting watches since the late 1970s, and also the founding partner of Lifeline Medical Group.

In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Jonathan Frewin, Senior Journalist with BBC World Service Partner Hub in Londonto talk about some of the top stories they are tracking this week, including a series of strikes in the UK, with teachers being the latest to join the group, what will happen as the European Commission present proposals for the European Union to tackle the energy crisis as well as respond to US and Chinese subsidies, the final 747 jumbo jet to be manufactured by Boeing will be delivered to its customer and finally, what to expect from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China this weekend. 

Today we’re going to set our sights on a market that may be fairly unique to our listeners - Uzbekistan!  You might be wondering why we are talking about Uzbekistan, and that’s because Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was here in Singapore recently on his first state visit to the country. During his visit, both countries agreed to work on the promotion of bilateral economic relations.  And on the business side of things, the Singapore Business Federation and the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan also co-organised the Singapore-Uzbekistan Business Forum.  In fact, 18 agreements were signed between Singapore and Uzbekistan companies for collaborations ranging from capacity building in traditional sectors such as transport and logistics, to new areas such as renewable energy. But what exactly are the opportunities within Uzbekistan, where can Singapore businesses come in, and what’s in it for them? On Market View, Prime Time’s Timothy Go –  who’s opening a hotel in Uzbekistan this year – and finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Soo Wei-Chieh, Executive Director of Global Division 3 at the Singapore Business Federation. 

In the Spotlight on Prime Time, we focus on two major economies - the US and China.  Timothy Go is joined by Pushan Dutt, Professor of economics and political sciences at INSEAD who gave his insights on the US GDP data that came in firmer-than-expected, so what will the Fed do next? Plus, with the US hitting its debt ceiling, what’s going to happen next and how will that impact Singapore and the region? Finally, in China, with its population declining, is their period of rapid growth likely over? Produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg)

Accounting for about 75% of global primary energy use, cities are by far the biggest producer of greenhouse gas emissions. Given that they are the main source of demand and the owners of municipal infrastructure, how can cities be smarter in the way they design, build and operate infrastructure in ways that encourage greater efficiency and sustainability? Prime TIme's Timothy Go speaks with Caspar Herzberg, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Revenue Officer, AVEVA to find out. He is also the author of the book ‘Smart Cities, Digital Nations’, where he shares his perspective on challenges in smart city projects and shared a vision of why smart cities are essential.

Prices in the Housing Board resale market rose at a slower pace of 2.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2022, compared with 2.6 percent in the third quarter. It was the slowest quarter-to-quarter price growth in 2022. On the Straits Times the Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent, Hairianto Diman speaks withIsmail Gafoor, Chief Executive Officer of PropNex Limited to find out more.