INDONESIA
Inflation jumps to 8.36%
The nation’s inflation rate jumped to 8.36 percent year-on-year from 6.23 percent in November and its trade balance swung to a deficit after the country’s new president hiked fuel prices by 30 percent a month earlier, data showed yesterday. Transportation cost adjustments last month that pushed up food prices during the holiday season were the main reason for the higher-than-expected inflation, the Statistics Agency said. The trade balance also suffered, as it swung to a deficit of US$425.7 million from a small surplus of US$20 million in October as prices of commodities, the resource-rich country’s key exports, slumped.
AUTOMAKERS
GM vehicles recalled
General Motors Co (GM) on Thursday announced a recall of more than 92,000 additional vehicles over ignition switch problems blamed for 42 deaths. The latest recall affects about 83,572 trucks in the US from the 2011-2012 model year, as well as vehicles from 2007 to last year that were repaired with faulty parts. Including vehicles in Canada and Mexico, the total number of recalls comes to 92,221. Models affected include the Chevrolet Silverado, Avalanche, Tahoe and Suburban, as well as the Cadillac Escalade and the GMC Sierra and Yukon.
AVIATION
Dubai overtakes Heathrow
Heathrow has lost its crown as the world’s busiest airport for international passenger traffic. Dubai has knocked London off the top spot, figures from the Airports Council International show. A total of 68.9 million passengers had passed through Dubai International compared with 67.8 million at Heathrow as of Dec. 22, despite a late slowdown in traffic with one important destination, trouble-hit Russia. “Given the traffic achieved in the first 11 months, together with some of the busiest days on record in December, we are confident of ending the year above the 70 million mark and confirming our position as the world’s busiest international airport,” Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths said.
ENERGY
Egypt repays debts
Britain’s BG Group yesterday said it had received a US$350 million payment from the Egyptian government following the country’s decision to repay outstanding debts to the energy industry. Egypt has delayed payments to oil and gas firms, as its economy has been hammered by almost four years of instability since a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. It said on Wednesday that it had paid US$2.1 billion of its debt to foreign energy companies, in a bid to ease the country’s worst energy crisis in decades. BG said the payment reduced the company’s domestic receivables balance in Egypt to about US$920 million and it was working with the government to reduce it further.
STEEL
Iron ore mine restarted
Tata Steel Ltd restarted one of its biggest iron ore mines in India, four months after the nation’s top producer was ordered to suspend operations pending lease renewal. The company on Thursday began mining at its Noamundi tenement in the eastern state of Jharkhand, spokesman Chanakya Chaudhary said. Mumbai-based Tata Steel expects to reach the mine’s capacity by start of next week, he said. The shortage resulting from mine closures in the state and in neighboring Odisha had prompted the company to boost iron ore imports in the year ending March 31, raising input costs of the key steelmaking ingredient.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last