GREECE
Debt extension needed
Athens must negotiate with private bondholders to extend the repayment period of its debt, an economic adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a Greek newspaper on Saturday. If the nation pursues such talks, it would make it easier for Germany to agree extending the repayment period of the loans the debt-laden country has obtained under a 110 billion euro (US$154 billion) EU-IMF bailout, Real News quoted Lars Feld as saying in an interview. Lowering the interest rate on the country’s bailout loans is not likely to be part of the package, he added. His comments came before euro zone leaders meet on Friday to hammer out a comprehensive package of measures to deal with the debt crisis. EU heads of government are expected to sign off on the deal at a meeting in Brussels on March 24 and March 25.
BANKING
Spanish banks scramble
Spain’s ailing regional savings banks are scrambling to raise billions of euros of fresh funds to meet strict new capital requirements by a Thursday deadline. The country’s 17 savings banks, known as cajas, are weighed down by loans that turned sour after the collapse of a housing bubble in 2008 and are at the heart of fears the country could need an Irish-style international rescue. Last month the government approved stricter rules on the amount of rock-solid core capital that banks must hold on their balance sheets, seeking to shore up confidence in the battered economy. Under the new rules, savings banks must raise the proportion of core capital they hold to 8 percent of total assets from the current 6 percent or 10 percent if they are unlisted.
ENERGY
US gas prices could rise
US natural gas prices may rise as the world’s biggest economy recovers and stricter pollution laws prompt a shift to the fuel, Deutsche Bank AG said. “Tighter US Environmental Protection Agency rules on coal, stronger gross domestic product and the potential for liquefied natural gas [LNG] exports all point to an eventual recovery in gas prices,” said Washington-based analyst Adam Sieminski in a report on Friday. Proposed US anti-pollution laws may boost demand for natural gas by 57m3 a day as gas-fired units replace coal-fired generators, Deutsche Bank said. The US economy may grow by 3.5 percent this year and 4 percent next year, from 2.8 percent last year, it said. Surging crude oil prices and the contractual ties of most international gas prices to oil increases the potential for US LNG exports, it said. Gas prices outside the US and UK are typically linked to crude oil prices.
FINANCE
Singapore-ASX deal touted
Singapore Exchange Ltd, pursuing a takeover of ASX Ltd, said the deal would help companies trading on the Australian stock exchange attract money to expand. “We need to help listed companies’ investors get easier and cheaper transactions,” chief executive Magnus Bocker said yesterday on Australian Broadcasting Corp’s Inside Business program. The Singapore bourse offered on Oct. 25 to buy ASX in a cash-and-share transaction then valued at A$8.4 billion (US$8.5 billion), a 42 percent premium to ASX’s share price at the time. The Singapore exchange, seeking approval for the transaction, expects to file an application to Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board within 10 days, Bocker said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last