SINGAPORE
GDP growth to slow in 2012
Singapore yesterday predicted sharply lower economic growth of 1 to 3 percent next year from an estimated 5 percent this year amid an export slowdown and warned the situation could worsen. The downbeat projections for next year came as it released third-quarter figures showing GDP grew an annual 6.1 percent, an improvement from 1 percent in the second quarter. The Ministry of Trade and Industry said it expected the nation’s electronics industry and other sectors that rely heavily on overseas orders to remain under pressure despite support from Asia’s better-performing economies. Electronics exports tumbled 17 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, according to statistics released by a trade promotion body, International Enterprise Singapore. Even the financial-services sector will be affected by heightened uncertainties in the external environment, it said.
THAILAND
Full-year GDP estimate cut
Thailand’s economic growth accelerated in the third quarter on the back of stronger exports, but devastating floods have forced the government to cut its forecast for the full year, official data showed yesterday. GDP rose 3.5 percent year-on-year in the three months through September, after climbing a revised 2.7 percent in the previous quarter, the National Economic and Social Development Board said. However, the board revised its full-year growth forecast to 1.5 percent, down from its prior forecast of 3.5 to 4 percent growth, blaming the massive floods that are still affecting large areas of the country. The flooding, triggered by months of unusually heavy rains, have killed more than 600 people and damaged the homes and livelihoods of millions around the country.
AIRLINES
Korean Air fined US$5.5m
Australia’s Federal Court yesterday hit Korean Air with a A$5.5 million (US$5.5 million) penalty for price fixing, after the carrier admitted it agreed with other airlines on some cargo charges. Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission has pursued a number of international airlines for cartel conduct related to air freight, and the penalty brings to A$52 million fines issued against the airlines involved. The competition watchdog brought proceedings against Korean Air Lines in March last year, alleging it had reached understandings with other international airlines on cargo carriage. Korean Air, which cooperated with the investigation, is the eighth international carrier to have settled its case in the long-running investigation.
EUROPEAN UNION
Current account in surplus
The eurozone posted its first current account surplus in almost two years in September, the European Central Bank (ECB) said yesterday. The current account balance moved into a surplus of 0.5 billion euros (US$0.7 billion) following a deficit of 5.9 billion euros in August, a slight upward revision from previous data, the ECB said. The eurozone last posted a current account surplus in January last year. The current account on the balance of payments, which includes imports and exports in both goods and services plus all other current transfers, is a closely tracked indicator of a country or area’s ability to pay its way in the world. It is crucial for the long-term confidence of investors and trading partners. However, the data, which have historically been subject to large revisions, showed that the eurozone’s deficit had widened sharply in the past year.
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
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts