GREECE
Unpaid taxes add to gloom
The government has finally made progress on balancing its spending, but data released on Tuesday show it is facing a new debt threat in the form of unpaid taxes, which have soared more than 66 billion euros (US$90 billion). According to Ministry of Finance figures, more than 3.3 million Greeks — one-third of the population — have trouble keeping up with tax payments. “The number of non-payers has rapidly increased since the beginning of the year. We are looking for solutions,” a ministry official said. The sum is nearly equivalent to one-third of the country’s annual output.
SOUTH AFRICA
Recession fears raised
The national economy has contracted for the first time since the global crisis first hit five years ago, raising the specter of recession in Africa’s most developed economy. Statistics released by the government on Tuesday show that the economy shrank 0.6 percent in the first quarter, a stunning reversal from the previous year, as well as the rapid boom being experienced by the continent as a whole. In the final quarter of last year, domestic growth was 3.8 percent.
TRADE
Pacifc pact outdated: Lamy
Plans for a vast free-trade pact across the Pacific area and including the US and Australia are “good,” but “old-fashioned,” former WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said yesterday in comments to Fairfax newspapers. However, Lamy was enthusiastic about a US-EU free-trade pact under negotiation, the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Lamy, who stood down from leading the WTO in September last year, also said cutting tariffs was no longer the force it once was for advancing trade.
VENEZUELA
Some airline debt to be paid
The government has decided to settle a small part of its US$4 billion debt with international airlines, many of which have cut back or halted services to the oil-rich country, citing repatriation issues caused by Caracas’ strict currency controls. The government offered to settle US$7 million owed since 2012 to Colombia’s Avianca airline at a 30 percent discount. The government’s total debt with AeroMexico, Insel Air, Tame Ecuador and Aruba, which it estimated to be less than US$200 million, would be subject to additional discounts decided on a case-by-case basis.
FOOD
Pilgrim’s Pride eyes Hillshire
Pilgrim’s Pride launched a US$5.58 billion takeover bid for Hillshire Brands on Tuesday that would expand its business beyond fresh and frozen chicken into a variety of packaged meats, including Ball Park hot dogs and Jimmy Dean sausages. Pilgrim’s Pride said its offer of US$45 per share for Hillshire would allow both companies to cut costs by merging some operations and become a “protein leader” that sells more types of meat. Chicago-based Hillshire said it would review Pilgrim’s proposal as part of its fiduciary duties.
FOOD
Carlyle may buy Oyatsu
Carlyle Group LP is in talks to buy Oyatsu Co, the Japanese maker of crispy snacks, sources said. Carlyle may pay at least ¥25 billion (US$246 million) for Oyatsu, one source said. Oyatsu is based in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, and best known for its Baby Star snack, which is made using the byproducts of noodle manufacturing. Founded in 1948, the firm posted sales of ¥18.2 billion in the year to July 31 last year.
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
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
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