TRADE
Nigeria, Brazil sign deal
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed an agreement to boost cooperation on energy, aviation, agriculture, electricity, infrastructure development and defense. The two leaders “pledged to work together toward attaining a more balanced, diverse and mutually beneficial trade relationship,” according to a joint statement issued after they held talks on Saturday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The two countries also set up a commission to “promote trade and investment.” Trade between Brazil, South America’s biggest economy, and Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and most populous country, is US$9 billion a year, Rousseff told reporters. Brazilian interests in Nigeria include assets of Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-controlled oil producer, which has operated in the West African country for 14 years and plans to expand its operations there, Rousseff said.
SOFTWARE
Tycoon donates US$2.3bn
Indian software tycoon Azim Premji on Saturday said he has given US$2.3 billion to an education charity that he controls, reportedly the biggest charitable donation in the country’s recent history. It is his second recent big donation after giving almost US$2 billion to the charity in 2010, and came shortly after he joined the Giving Pledge club set up by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett. In Saturday’s donation, the chairman of software firm Wipro transferred shares worth US$2.3 billion from the company to a trust which controls the education charity Azim Premji Foundation, a company statement said. The charity seeks to boost the quality of India’s overstretched education system by improving teacher quality and setting up model schools.
CHINA
Shares program expanded
Authorities will expand the nation’s short-selling program on Thursday by allowing selected brokerages to borrow shares from institutional investors, the Shanghai Securities News reported. Eleven brokerages will be able to borrow shares in a pre-approved pool of 90 publicly traded companies, according to the report, which cited China Securities Finance Corp (中國證券金融公司, CSFC). The state-owned agency was set up to provide securities firms with funds and stock for short-selling and margin trading. These brokerages will be allowed to borrow shares from CSFC and re-lend to customers. The preapproved pool of securities comprises 50 companies listed in Shanghai and 40 in Shenzhen, with a total market capitalization of 9.3 trillion yuan (US$1.49 trillion), according to the report.
EUROZONE
French deficit OK: report
Germany will accept a higher-than-permitted public deficit in France for this year if Paris can credibly show it will stick to EU rules next year, Der Spiegel newsweekly reported yesterday. On Friday, the European Commission slashed its growth forecast for France to 0.1 percent for this year and said the deficit would come in at 3.7 percent, higher than the 3 percent ceiling allowed under EU rules. French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici has said the “conditions were right” for seeking more time from Brussels to get its deficit below the 3 percent limit. However, Germany, Europe’s top economy and political powerhouse, believes that Paris should be let off the hook “if France can credibly prove they will stick to the limit next year,” Der Spiegel said, citing a top official.
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last