VENEZUELA
Inflation hits 63.4 percent
Venezuela’s inflation rate has soared to 63.4 percent — the highest in Latin America — the Central Bank announced on Tuesday. It was the first time the figure was announced since May. Critics charge that President Nicolas Maduro’s government has withheld data for its political benefit. The government has yet to give a GDP forecast for this year, with the last projection coming eight months ago, when it predicted growth of 4 percent.
FRANCE
Budget forecast pushed out
Finance Minister Michel Sapin said yesterday that Paris would not get its budget deficit down to the EU limit of 3 percent of GDP until 2017 — two years later than originally forecast. France had promised Brussels that it would return to 3 percent next year, but Sapin said the deficit would come in at 4.3 percent next year — a far cry from the maximum permitted. For this year, Sapin said the deficit would be 4.4 percent of GDP. Sapin also revealed that growth this year would be a sluggish 0.4 percent, following two quarters during which the economy stagnated completely.
BRAZIL
Moody’s drops outlook
Ratings agency Moody’s lowered its outlook for Brazil on Tuesday, in the latest blow to President Dilma Rousseff’s economic record, just weeks before voters decide if she will be re-elected. Moody’s dropped its outlook for Brazil from “stable” to “negative,” citing sustained poor growth and forecasting “little sign of a return to potential in the near term,” coupled with “a marked deterioration in investor sentiment.” The agency nonetheless confirmed a “Baa2” government bond rating for Latin America’s largest economy.
INFRASTRUCTURE
US$19bn pledged to UEMOA
Countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on Tuesday secured commitments from Gulf states to invest US$19 billion in infrastructure projects across the eight-nation bloc. Pledges agreed at a UEMOA forum in Dubai came mostly from the UAE firms, which are to enter public-private partnerships to implement the vital projects in a range of sectors, including roads, railways, airports, energy and food security, and water, a statement released at the forum said.
AVIATION
Lucio Tan to buy back stake
The Philippines’ second-richest man will regain full control of Philippine Airlines by buying back a 49 percent stake from San Miguel, the firms said on Tuesday, in a deal reportedly worth US$1 billion. Lucio Tan (陳永裁) is to take back the stake he sold to San Miguel two years ago, according to disclosure statements filed with the stock exchange that did not disclose the price.
INTERNET
PayPal to accept bitcoins
EBay Inc’s PayPal service will start accepting bitcoins, opening up the world’s second-biggest Internet payment network to virtual currency transactions. “We’re announcing PayPal’s first foray into bitcoin,” Bill Ready, the head of EBay’s Braintree unit, said at Techcrunch’s Disrupt SF conference on Monday. “Over the coming months we’ll allow our merchants to accept bitcoin. On the consumer side it will be a sleek experience.” The move could enable PayPal’s 152 million registered accounts to transact using the virtual currency, spurring wider acceptance of bitcoin, Wedbush Securities Inc analyst Gil Luria said.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI