NEW ZEALAND
Construction spurs growth
Building work in quake-damaged Christchurch helped drive New Zealand’s economy to its fastest rate of growth in more than six years, government agency Statistics New Zealand said yesterday. The economy grew 3.8 percent in the first quarter from the same quarter a year ago and 1 percent from the previous quarter, it said. The quarterly rise took annual growth for the year to March 31 to 3.3 percent, it said. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand predicts that economic growth would moderate next year.
ECONOMY
Ireland still at risk: IMF
Ireland faces significant challenges as it begins a tentative economic recovery, the IMF said on Wednesday in its first review since Dublin exited an international bailout program in December last year. The IMF forecasts the Irish economy would grow 1.7 percent this year and increase 2.5 percent on average from next year. However, based on current growth and revenue forecasts, Dublin will still require further austerity to reduce the deficit to 3 percent by next year under EU rules. The IMF also warned that nonperforming loans at Irish banks, which stood at 27 percent at the end of last year, were hindering lending.
BANKING
Housing crash spurs suits
Investors led by BlackRock and Pacific Investment Management are seeking to recoup about US$250 billion in losses since the US housing bubble burst from so-called trust banks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The two major investment firms filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against units of Deutsche Bank and US Bancorp for their roles as trustees overseeing the bonds for investors who bought the securities, the report said. Other banks sued include units of WellsFargo, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings and Bank of New York Mellon, which are said to have managed more than 2,000 bonds issued between 2004 and 2008.
AUTOMAKERS
Rolls-Royce plans buyback
Britain’s Rolls-Royce plans to launch a £1 billion (US$1.7 billion) share buyback, saying that with no major acquisitions on the horizon, it would return to investors the proceeds from a recent disposal. A £1 billion share buyback is equivalent to about 5 percent of Rolls-Royce’s current £19 billion market capitalization. The company, which yesterday said it was on track to meet guidance for this year and next, also said it would reduce group capital expenditure to 4 percent of underlying revenue over the next three to five years, from 4.9 percent at the end of last year.
IRAQ
China eyes contingencies
Major Chinese oil firms have prepared evacuation plans in case spreading violence in a key energy provider to the Asian giant threatens their operations, state media reported yesterday. China has more than 10,000 workers on a wide range of projects in the nation, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said on Wednesday, although most are in the south, far from the current fighting. The ministry has issued security warnings and guidance to firms operating in Iraq, Hua said, adding: “We don’t want to see that the situation will come to what it was like in Libya when we had to carry a large-scale evacuation” in 2011.
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