TRADE
Japan seeks Myanmar ties
Japan’s foreign minister will suggest that Myanmar enter negotiations on a bilateral investment accord when he holds talks with the country’s top officials this week, Kyodo News reported yesterday. The talks would mark another step as Myanmar gradually reconnects with the rest of the world after decades of tight military rule. A series of reforms have been initiated by Myanmar President Thein Sein aimed at pushing for the lifting of decades of Western sanctions and attracting much-needed foreign investment in the country. In Naypyidaw, Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba will discuss the investment accord, which would promote cross-border investment and allow trade disputes to be settled under international frameworks, Kyodo said, citing a government source.
MINING
Indonesia strike ends
Workers at Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc’s mine in Indonesia will gradually return to work this week to end a three-month strike that has crippled output and exports from the world’s second-biggest copper mine, union officials said yesterday. Some workers have started a traditional stone burning ritual and removed a road blockage that kept other workers from accessing the Grasberg mine in the central highlands of Papua island in eastern Indonesia, Juli Parorrongan, a union spokesman, said via telephone yesterday. The union had planned to mobilize workers to return to the mine on Saturday, but some of them are celebrating Christmas with their families in Papua, which is predominantly Christian. Many workers at the Grasberg mine are Papuans. In mid-December, workers reached a deal including a 37 percent pay rise over two years and extra benefits.
FRANCE
Growth slows to 0.3 percent
The nation’s economy, the eurozone’s second largest, grew at a weaker pace than previously estimated in the third quarter as companies cut spending. GDP rose 0.3 percent from the second quarter, when it fell 0.1 percent, Paris statistics institute Insee said on Friday. It had previously reported a gain of 0.4 percent. In the year, the economy expanded 1.5 percent, down from 1.7 percent in the previous quarter. The economy is probably already in recession, with output shrinking this quarter and next, Insee said last week. While business confidence dropped to the lowest in one-and-a-half years this month and manufacturing contracted, government leaders have refused to use the word recession, saying France is in a “slowdown” or an “air pocket.” Investment growth slowed to 0.2 percent in the third quarter from 0.6 percent in the previous three months, the report showed. Consumer spending increased 0.3 percent after dropping 0.6 percent in the second quarter and exports advanced 0.8 percent, up from 0.7 percent.
THAILAND
Flood crisis funding sought
The government will seek Cabinet approval this week for a 350 billion baht (US$11.12 billion) budget for infrastructure and water management to prevent a repeat of the country’s recent flood crisis, a top official said on Saturday. The government’s post-flood rehabilitation task force would propose the budget for flood prevention and infrastructure upgrades to restore investor confidence as soon as possible, the head of the task force, Veerapong Ramangkuland, said in a televised speech. Veerapong said the fund would allow the government to raise and allocate necessary funds to fast-track the work and prevent further damage to the economy.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure