DEVELOPMENT
Japan to aid Mekong states
Japan yesterday pledged US$7.4 billion in aid over the next three years to help five Mekong states, in an attempt at fostering development in a resource-rich region also being courted by China. “The stability and prosperity of East Asia will not be possible without the stability and prosperity of the Mekong region,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told a joint press conference after the six-way summit in Tokyo. “The Japanese government will recognize the Mekong region as a significant destination of assistance and continue its cooperation strongly.” Noda met the five government leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, as Japan’s export-dependent economy is on the lookout for cheap labor and investment to power growth.
INDUSTRY
GE tops Wall Street forecasts
General Electric Co topped Wall Street’s profit and revenue forecasts for the first quarter, helped by strong demand for energy equipment and railroad locomotives. The largest US conglomerate said on Friday industrial orders had risen 20 percent in the quarter and that selling prices had improved in most of its businesses. This should help CEO Jeff Immelt achieve his goal of boosting profit margins this year. He confirmed the company’s growth forecast for this year, saying: “Everything we see in the first quarter supports double-digit earnings growth.” GE reported net income of US$3.03 billion, or US$0.29 per share, down from US$3.43 billion, or US$0.31 per share, a year earlier. Factoring out one-time items, earnings came to US$0.34 per share, topping the analysts’ average forecast of US$0.33 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
FOOD
McDonald’s income rises 5%
McDonald’s ever-evolving mix of affordable menu items and new offerings, like the Chicken McBites, is helping the chain solidify its dominance in the fast-food industry. The world’s biggest hamburger chain said on Friday that its net income rose 5 percent in the first quarter, in line with Wall Street expectations. McDonald’s Corp said global sales rose 7.3 percent at stores open at least 13 months, driven by gains from all regions. The figure is key metric because it excludes the impact of newly opened stores. In April, the fast-food chain expects the figure to increase another 4 percent.
BUDGET CUTS
Spain to scrap free medicine
Spain’s cash-strapped government on Friday approved reforms to scrap free medicine for pensioners and charge students higher fees, aiming to save an extra 10 billion euros (US$13 billion) a year. The reforms tread on sensitive ground, since Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had promised to safeguard pensioners’ purchasing power, while cuts in health and education have already sparked street protests. Traditionally Spaniards do not pay to visit the doctor and only pay part of the cost of medicine, with an exception for pensioners who currently pay nothing. Now pensioners will have to pay 10 percent of the cost at the pharmacy, up to a maximum of 18 euros a month, depending on their income. Spaniards in employment will see their contribution rise from 40 to 60 percent of the cost of the medicine. The government said 3 billion euros will be saved through education reforms, allowing regional governments to expand class sizes by 20 percent and raise university fees to an average 1,500 euros from 1,000 euros.
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],”
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
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