ECONOMY
Much work ahead: WB
World Bank (WB) president Jim Yong Kim says growth in the global economy is proceeding in a positive way but there still is a lot of work to be done to make sure it lasts. Kim said on Tuesday it was important for the US to solve its budget-debt brawl early next year because any kind of uncertainty has an impact on the global economy, particularly in developing countries. He said some European countries’ economies were bouncing back compared with nine months ago and concern about the slowdown in developing countries’ economies seems to be abating, with China, for example, doing better.
INDIA
Industrial output weak
Industrial output grew by a weaker-than-expected 2 percent in September from a year earlier, hit by sluggish demand during the normally high-spending religious festival season, data showed on Tuesday. Manufacturing output, which accounts for more than three-quarters of the Index of Industrial Production, edged a meager 0.6 percent higher in September from a year earlier, the government’s statistics unit reported. Consumer price inflation last month also climbed 10.09 percent from 9.8 percent the previous month, fueled by vegetable prices that climbed nearly 46 percent from a year earlier, data showed.
CANADA
Larger surplus expected
Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty said on Tuesday he expects a much larger budget surplus of C$3.7 billion (US$3.5 billion) when he eventually takes the country out of the red in two years. “We’re on track to get back to balance in 2015,” he said in a statement. He expects a C$17.9 billion deficit this year before reaching surplus in 2015 to 2016. Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to fall to a pre-recession level of 27.6 percent two years later, and then continue dropping.
SOUTH KOREA
Jobless rate unchanged
The jobless rate stood at 3 percent last month, unchanged from the previous month even as government data showed an increase in job creation from a year ago. However, unemployment among young people aged 15 to 29 rose marginally to 7.8 percent from 7.7 percent in September, Statistics Korea said. The total number of employed people stood at 25.54 million last month, up 476,000 from a year earlier, and higher than the previous month’s year-on-year gain of 463,000.
INTERNET
Twitter to offer customization
Twitter said on Tuesday it would offer its users the ability to create custom “timelines” for fresh perspectives on the Twittersphere. In addition to a standard timeline, users can craft new ones designed to follow new topics on the messaging platform. Twitter last week raised some US$1.8 billion in one of the largest public share offerings in the tech sector.
BEVERAGES
Starbucks to pay US$2.7bn
An independent arbitrator ordered Starbucks on Tuesday to pay US$2.7 billion for a failed coffee venture with Kraft Foods, after the two split on a coffee supply deal in 2011. Starbucks was found at fault for ending its deal with Kraft, then controlled by food giant Mondelez International, after Kraft had distributed bagged Starbucks coffee to supermarkets and other retailers under contract for 12 years. The money covers both damages and interest and attorneys’ fees, and will go to Mondelez.
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],”
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
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