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SINGAPORE–Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and older workers are main beneficiaries of the country’s 2012 budget, which was formulated to restructure and upgrade the local economy while building an “inclusive society”. Revealed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Friday, this year’s budget showed that Singapore’s economy expanded by 4.9 percent in 2011. This figure was within …

Thailand’s new finance minister, Kittiratt Na-Ranong, talks about Greece, the Thai economy and regional cooperation. As Greece goes hat-in-hand for its second EU and IMF bailout in as many years, Thailand’s new finance minister, Kittiratt Na-Ranong, who is also deputy prime minister, offered a bit of friendly advice yesterday: ditch the euro — you’ll struggle now, but in the long …

Baidu Inc. (BIDU), owner of China’s dominant search engine, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ predictions as companies boosted spending on online advertising to reach users in the top Internet market. Profit excluding certain items was 95 cents per American depositary receipt, compared with 90 cents, the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net income climbed 77 percent to 2.05 billion …

Sina Corp. (SINA) gained, helping Chinese shares traded in New York to a five-month high, after analysts recommended buying the nation’s Internet companies as users climb and their stock trades cheaper than peers in the U.S. Sina, which runs the Twitter-like Weibo service in China, jumped the most in two weeks, while E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (DANG), China’s largest Internet …