Australia posted its first monthly trade deficit in almost a year in February as exports fell after floods hurt coal production and imports rose steeply, figures showed yesterday.
Seasonally adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed a deficit of A$205 million (US$211 million) from a downwardly revised surplus of A$1.433 billion in January.
Exports fell 2 percent, while imports jumped 5 percent as the country posted its first deficit since March last year.
Key factors influencing the change between January and February were a fall of A$543 million in exports of metal ores and minerals and a bounce of A$561 million in imports of fuels and lubricants, economists said.
The floods that hit Queensland caused significant damage, halting mining and cutting key transport infrastructure, with business forecasting the disaster could cost the economy up to A$8.3 billion in lost coal production.
Economists, though, said the trade balance should quickly swing back into surplus once coal exports are restored.
“The impact of the disasters in Queensland will be temporary, and temporary on the impact on the trade balance and the impact on the [economic] growth numbers of first quarter GDP,” JPMorgan’s Helen Kevans said.
Meanwhile, the central bank kept interest rates unchanged at 4.75 percent yesterday, in line with expectations, saying a strong local currency was likely to help keep a check on inflationary pressures.
The Reserve Bank of Australia last hiked the cash rate in November in a pre-emptive move against inflation amid the threat of rising commodity prices and a tightening labor market.
Australia, the first major Western economy to raise interest rates after the global slump, has hiked its cash rate by 175 basis points since October 2009 as it rides a mining boom driven by Asian demand, helping it dodge recession.
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