JAPAN
Economy to expand: Cabinet
The government yesterday said the world’s No. 3 economy was on track to expand 2.5 percent in the fiscal year starting in April, thanks to fresh stimulus and a recovery in overseas markets. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet approved the forecast — higher than an estimate of 1 percent growth for the current year to March — yesterday morning, government officials said. Last week, the central bank raised its growth forecast for the same fiscal year to 2.3 percent from a previous 1.6 percent estimate, as it announced an open-ended asset-buying program and new inflation target aimed at ending the deflation that has haunted the economy for years.
SINGAPORE
High investment target set
The government is targeting as much as S$13 billion (US$11 billion) of investment commitments in manufacturing and services this year, even as the city-state struggles with rising business costs amid curbs on the hiring of foreign workers. The country lured fixed-asset investments of about S$16 billion last year, the Economic Development Board said yesterday in its annual review. The government is also targeting as much as S$8 billion in business spending this year from manufacturing and services industries such as information and communications, education and healthcare. Investments this year should help generate between 19,000 and 22,000 skilled jobs and add as much as S$18 billion to GDP annually when completed, the board said.
SOUTH KOREA
Consumer sentiment up: poll
Consumer confidence climbed to its highest level in eight months as president-elect Park Geun-hye pledged to boost economic growth and increase welfare spending. The sentiment index rose to 102 for this month from 99 last month, the Bank of Korea said yesterday. A reading above 100 indicates optimists outnumber pessimists. The consumer confidence index is based on responses from 2,013 households across the nation.
FRANCE
EADS representative named
The government on Sunday named Anne Lauvergeon, the former boss of nuclear group Areva, to represent it on the board of European aerospace giant EADS. The Ministry of Economics announced that the group had proposed naming both her and former European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet to the board. Shareholders must still approve the decision, the ministry said. Earlier on Sunday, Le Journal du Dimanche, citing a source close to the government, reported that Lauvergeon was President Francois Hollande’s choice for the group’s presidency. It also reported that Germany backed the government’s choice.
FRANCE
Traded deficit reduced
The nation has trimmed its record trade deficit, Minister of Trade Nicole Bricq said yesterday in a press interview, thanks to resistant exports of agricultural, aeronautical, pharmaceutical and luxury products. Asked by the daily Figaro if last year’s trade deficit would be smaller than the record high of more than 73 billion euros (US$98.2 billion at current exchange rates) seen in 2011, Bricq replied: “Yes,” adding that: “In 2012, our exports were underpinned mainly by agrofood, aeronautics, pharmaceuticals and luxury goods.” Like Germany, the country would have to look beyond the eurozone for growth prospects, even though the 17-nation bloc currently represents 60 percent of the nation’s foreign trade.
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
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
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