Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whose approval rating has fallen by a third since a landslide election victory in August, said his focus for this year will be to create jobs and fight deflation to revive Japan’s stuttering economy.
“Our honeymoon period is over,” Hatoyama said in a New Year statement released yesterday. “I’d welcome severe criticism.”
Hatoyama’s tenure has been dogged by deteriorating ties with the US, whose troops help defend Japan, and Cabinet bickering over spending priorities for a government laden with the world’s largest public debt. His personal reputation was tarnished last month when two former aides were charged with falsifying his campaign finances and he was forced to pay about ¥600 million (US$6.5 million) in gift taxes.
Japan unveiled a record US$1 trillion budget on Dec. 25 designed to lift the spending power of households and switch the economic focus from public works spending. The extra yield on 30-year government bonds compared with two-year notes is trading at close to a four-year high, reflecting concern the administration may struggle to contain a debt load that is approaching 200 percent of GDP.
“I’ll devote myself to enacting an extra budget and next fiscal year’s budget speedily,” Hatoyama said. “Economic recovery, securing jobs and defeating deflation are the people’s urgent hopes.”
Japan’s jobless rate rose for the first time in four months in November to 5.2 percent and consumer prices fell for a ninth month. A government report on Dec. 28 showed that monthly wages slumped for the 18th straight time.
Hatoyama’s Cabinet had an approval rating of 50 percent in a Nikkei newspaper survey published on Monday, down from 75 percent in September. The Dec. 25-Dec. 27 Nikkei Inc and TV Tokyo Corp poll canvassed 1,597 households.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s economy is improving after a “volatile” year that saw it shrink for the first time since 2001, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said.
GDP fell 2.1 percent last year, Lee, 57, said in his New Year message on Thursday. That’s in line with the government estimate for a contraction of 2 percent to 2.5 percent. The trade ministry forecasts the economy will expand 3 percent to 5 percent this year, an estimate reiterated by Lee.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS