UNITED STATES
Budget deficit shrinks
The US federal budget deficit for the just-ended fiscal year shrank by US$207 billion from the prior year, but still marked its fourth straight year above US$1 trillion, the US Congress’ budget referee estimated on Friday. The deficit equaled about 7 percent of US economic output, down from 8.7 percent last year, 9 percent in 2010 and 10.1 percent in 2009, but it was still greater than in any other year since 1947, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said. Economists generally consider any deficit that exceeds 3 percent of US gross domestic product to be unsustainable in the long term. CBO said a US$75 billion surplus last month helped to hold the full-year fiscal deficit to US$1.09 trillion, compared with a US$1.297 trillion deficit last year. Last month’s surplus was just the second month in the black for the US government since September 2008, when the country was in the throes of a financial crisis.
SPAIN
Moody’s cuts bank ratings
Moody’s Investors Service on Friday lowered its ratings on four Spanish banks owned by a government fund due to expected losses in the financially strapped country. Spain’s banks and government are struggling as the country suffers through its second recession in three years and its overall unemployment rate is at nearly 25 percent. Moody’s lowered its senior subordinated debt ratings on Catalunya Banc, NCG Banco, Banco de Valencia S.A and Bankia, along with its parent company Banco Financiero y de Ahorros, to a junk grade “C” status. This rating is typically given to debts that are in default and show little prospect for recovery of the principal or interest.
INDIA
World Bank offers loan
The World Bank on Friday offered India a US$500 million loan aimed at improving access to secondary education and enhancing its quality, a statement said. The government plans to use the funds to construct 11,000 new secondary schools and repair 60,000 existing ones, while upgrading 44,000 primary schools into secondary schools. The major focus would be on “quality of education... the country needs its young people to get good quality secondary education,” said Onno Ruhl, the World Bank’s country director for India.
EUROPEAN UNION
States back financial tax
Six EU states have so far sent letters to the European Commission backing a controversial financial transactions tax (FTT) which needs the support of nine to proceed, EU sources said on Friday. France and Germany are leading the drive on the FTT, writing last week to European Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta and EU colleagues seeking an “enhanced cooperation” accord to allow the tax to go ahead. Alongside France and Germany, the EU sources said Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Slovenia had now also sent similar letters to the Commission. With six on board, the starting threshold of nine could be reached soon, they added, saying Estonia and Greece were believed to also favor the introduction of the tax. In June, the Commission tried to introduce the tax — aimed at curbing the market excesses that led to the 2008 global financial crisis — but failed to get enough support from all 27 EU states.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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