BRAZIL
Key interest rate raised
The central bank on Wednesday raised its key interest rate a half a percentage point to 11.75 percent as it turned the screw further on climbing inflation. The increase — which put the rate at the highest in the G20 group of developed and emerging economies — was expected, given inflation of 5.9 percent last year, well above the government target of 4.5 percent. It was likely, though, to undermine government efforts to slow the appreciation of the real, whose soaring value against the US dollar is sapping exports.
SOUTH KOREA
Foreign reserves hit record
The nation’s foreign currency reserves hit a record high for the second straight month. The Bank of Korea announced yesterday that the country’s official foreign reserves totaled US$298 billion at the end of last month. That was up US$1.7 billion from the previous high of US$296 billion in January. Asian countries lead the world in reserve holdings. The central bank attributed last month’s gain to higher operating profits on the reserves and gains in the euro and sterling against the greenback.
SOUTH KOREA
Industrial output rises fast
Industrial output was stronger than expected in January on strong overseas demand, with semiconductor and automakers leading the way, official figures showed yesterday. Mining and industrial production increased 4.6 percent from the preceding month following a revised 3.1 percent monthly increase in December, Statistics Korea said. The January rise was the largest since the same figure in September 2009.
RETAIL
Carrefour expects more sales
Carrefour SA, the world’s second-largest retailer, forecast an increase in sales and profit this year after matching its revised guidance for profit growth last year. Current operating income rose 9.3 percent to 2.97 billion euros (US$4.1 billion) last year, from a restated 2.72 billion euros, the Paris-based grocer said yesterday in a statement, in line with a January estimate. Net income rose to 433 million euros from 276 million euros, trailing the 695.5 million euro average estimate of 19 analysts surveyed.
UNITED KINGDOM
Murdoch gets nod on BSkyB
The British government has tentatively accepted plans by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to buy full control of British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said approval was conditional on BSkyB spinning off Sky News as an independent company. News Corp would retain a 39.1 percent stake in Sky News, the same as its current stake in BSkyB. The plan is still subject to consultation before gaining final approval. News Corp would then be free to make an offer for the remaining BSkyB shares.
INSURANCE
Buffet enters Indian market
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is entering the Indian insurance market as a corporate agent for Bajaj Allianz, the companies said. Berkshire made no investment in Bajaj, but will sell policies for Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, beginning with auto insurance, Bajaj spokesman Santosh Balan said yesterday. Insurance for India’s fast-growing auto market accounts for over 50 percent of Bajaj Allianz’s premium income, which amounted to 20.9 billion rupees (US$465 million) from April through December last year Balan said. Berkshire India, will focus on direct sales via Internet and telemarketing and get commissions per regulatory norms.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day