British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday boasted that Britain would become a post-recession flagship this year, in what was reported as a swipe at France’s “disastrous” economic policies.
Writing in the Times newspaper, Cameron said Britain was a country on the rise as he warned against “the great mistakes that led up to the great recession — more borrowing, more spending and more debt.”
Though Cameron did not name the “countries currently following that approach,” the Times said it was a “swipe at France” and an “apparent gibe” at French President Francois Hollande.
“Cameron’s dig at France in warning over debt,” the paper said on its front page.
His remarks “will be widely interpreted as an attack on Mr Hollande, who is under pressure as France’s economy continues to struggle,” the daily said.
Cameron wrote: “2014 is when we start to turn Britain into the flagship post-great recession success story.
“With record numbers of new businesses, we can be the enterprise capital of Europe,” he wrote.
NO GOING BACK
“We must not resurrect the dangerous thinking that got us into the mess from which we are now recovering,” the center-right Conservative leader said.
Blaming the previous center-left Labour government, which lost power in 2010, he said the British economy contracted by 7.2 percent during the economic downturn.
“If you doubt how disastrous a return to Labour-style economics would be, just look at countries that are currently following that approach,” he wrote.
“They face increasing unemployment, industrial stagnation and enterprise in free-fall. The opposite of what’s happening here,” he said.
“Our recovery is real, but it’s also fragile, and there are more difficult decisions ahead. A return to that economic madness would devastate this country,” he said.
FRENCH OUTLOOK
While Britain is predicting economic growth of 1.4 percent for last year and 2.4 percent this year, France’s national economics statistics institute INSEE predicted growth of 0.2 percent for last year, while the country’s belt-tightening budget is based on projected growth of 0.9 percent this year.
France’s economy contracted 0.1 percent in the third quarter of last year.
Socialist French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said last month that his government would not copy British economic policies, saying they had created poverty and inequality.
In Britain, unemployment has hit a four-year low, at 7.4 percent.
INSEE said the French unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percent in the three months to September last year to 10.5 percent.
Cameron said his government would reduce the national deficit further this year, cut income taxes, slash red tape for small businesses and invest in infrastructure projects.
He pledged to cap Britain’s overall welfare budget.
“New year is a time for resolutions. Here’s mine: to make 2014 the year in which Britain begins to rise,” he said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks