AUSTRALIA
Business investment falls
Business investment fell twice as fast as economists predicted last quarter, signaling the central bank’s targeted transition to growth outside mining is yet to gain traction. Capital spending fell 4.4 percent from the final three months of last year, compared with a median forecast for a 2.2 percent drop, data showed yesterday. Companies predicted they would invest A$104 billion (US$80 billion) in the year ending June 30 next year, a 25 percent fall from the estimate a year earlier.
INVESTMENT
FDI falls in Latin America
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean fell 16 percent last year, reversing a decade-long growth trend as the region’s economies slowed, a UN panel said on Wednesday. Investment in the region fell to US$158.8 billion last year from a record US$190 billion in 2013, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said. It was the first drop since 2009 and a sharp reversal in a trend that saw investment expand rapidly over the course of a decade, from US$46.9 billion in 2003.
ECONOMY
EU plans spending increase
The EU is planning a 1.6 percent increase in spending next year as the bloc gears up for contributions to an investment fund meant to kick-start economic growth. The European Commission proposed an EU budget of 143.5 billion euros (US$156.1 billion) for next year, compared with 141.2 billion euros earmarked for this year. The new spending program includes 500 million euros in guarantees for the planned European Fund for Strategic Investments.
AUTOMAKERS
Renault says strike over
French car giant Renault on Wednesday said a 13-day strike over wages that crippled operations at its factory in western Turkey had ended following an agreement with the strikers. The company said operations at Turkey’s biggest car plant, located in Bursa near Istanbul, had resumed on Wednesday morning. Under the agreement, the company plans to pay workers a lump sum of 1,000 Turkish lira (US$380) within one week and complete a study into improving pay conditions within one month. Management also agreed to grant workers a performance-based annual cash bonus.
REAL ESTATE
Irish property prices rise
Irish residential property prices rose by 0.6 percent last month to push prices 15.8 percent higher year-on-year following falls earlier this year that briefly slowed a recovery from a 2008 real-estate crash. Property prices in Dublin, which led the recovery, climbed 1 percent on the month to stand 20.2 percent higher than a year ago. While prices across Ireland are 38 percent below their 2007 peak, the central bank introduced restrictions on mortgage lending in January to try to ensure price rises do not return to unsustainable levels.
CHINA
Coal production decreases
Coal production in the world’s biggest coal-consuming nation fell by 6 percent in the first four months of this year as the economy slows and the government makes a concerted push to reduce carbon emissions. The National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday said that imports of coal also fell, plummeting 38 percent. The nation uses roughly half of all of the world’s coal production for power generation, heating and industry.
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