Thousands of Croatians with loans denominated in Swiss francs yesterday took to the streets of Zagreb to protest the increased debt burden caused by a surge in the Swiss currency.
The police estimated that up to 10,000 people took part in the protest by demonstrators accusing the Croatian government and central bank of failing to protect borrowers.
Franak, the association of borrowers behind the protest, also called for the resignation of Croatian central bank governor Boris Vujcic.
Swiss franc loans became popular in several central European nations in the 2000s, when interest rates on the currency were low.
About 60,000 Croatians, who still have such loans, have seen their borrowing costs soar since Switzerland in January lifted a three-year cap on its currency, causing it to soar.
The protesters marched on Zagreb central square, where they split into two groups — one heading to government buildings and the other to the central bank offices.
“Thieves, thieves,” demonstrators outside the central bank chanted.
Many protesters carried banners bearing slogans such as: “Against loan sharks. We want our dignity back,” and “Stop debt slavery.”
Switzerland’s unpegging of the Swiss franc from the euro wreaked havoc on currency markets, bankrupting several foreign exchange traders.
Croatia reacted by fixing the Swiss franc rate for payment of loans at 6.39 Croatian kunas (US$0.91) for a year, below its pre-surge level.
Croatian banks are to bear the cost of the operation, estimated by the central bank at about 52 million euros.
Talks between the borrowers, banks and the Croatian Ministry of Finance on finding a lasting solution ground to a halt in late March.
The borrowers are demanding the conversion of their loans into kuna and a return of the interest rates to the level at which they stood when the loans were contracted.
Croatia joined the EU in 2013, but the former Yugoslav republic of 4.2 million people, which has been mired in recession for the past six years, has yet to adopt the euro.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts